We haven't paid much attention to natural disasters so let's start by looking at possibilities for planning for a hurricane. I am writing this 8/24/11 with an impending hurricane which has a good probability of passing close to or through our region. What do we need to consider in advance of such a storm? Various types of incidents requiring our direct response? Possible sheltering and feeding of area residents? Extended period of power loss with use of generators? Members needing to attend to their own situations which may cause a reduction in firefighting staffing?
Hurricanes are severe tropical cyclones with sustained winds of at least 74 miles per hour which generate extended periods of heavy rainfall on the order of 6 to 12 inches or more. The Hudson Valley has experienced few direct hits since hurricanes generally lose their power once they make landfall but the area around New York City has had nine in the last century with a Saffir-Simpson rating of category 1 or higher.
When a hurricane loses power it could become a tropical storm or extratropical storm. It may lose the strong winds but the flooding rains with gale force winds may still cause problems as it continues on its path. Secondary hazards include tornadoes, utility disruptions and other problems like flash floods.
Concept of Operations
The activities in preparation for a hurricane event will take several days for large government organizations but since the Greenport Fire Department is a rather small and agile organization and our overall concerns equally small, we should be able to accomplish our activities in less than three days. Then we could probably divide the event into three phases:
Awareness Phase – Begins when we are aware that the track of an impending storm may pass to within 100 miles of any of our area. This phase will begin 48 to 72 hours prior to the arrival of the storm and gale force winds of 32 - 63 MPH.
Preparation Phase – Begins 36 to 48 hours prior to the arrival of the storm and gale force winds. Tropical storm watches will probably have been issued.
Response and Recovery Phase – Begins 24 to 36 hours prior to the arrival of the storm and gale force winds, continues with post-storm recovery activities and ends with the termination of emergency activities. Hurricane watches and warnings will probably have been issued.
We created a hurricane plan which was an appendix to our Emergency Operations Plan at the Bridge Authority. The following table was created to help us respond to the various phases when a hurricane was approaching. Click on it to get an idea of what we should be doing prior to, during and after a hurricane incident.
Hurricane Response Timeline Checklist.pdf
The following were some planning considerations that the Bridge Authority felt they needed to consider as part of our hurricane preparedness:
Some Planning Considerations from New York State Bridge Authority
The following concerns have been voiced by NYSBA managers and should be considered when planning for this event. These items are not meant to be all inclusive since there may be other concerns to consider that may only present themselves in the lead-up to any particular storm.Flooding within our facilities – be aware of all areas that have flooded in the past. These storms are typically big rain events that could dump 6 to 12 inches of rain in a 24-hour period.Rock/mud slides – Some facilities have high rock walls or high angle sloping ground, which could be susceptible to slides during large rain events.High winds – Sustained winds in excess of 60 MPH could be present causing debris to fly through the area, knocking trees and wires down and causing problems with traffic crossing the bridges. Do we need a third high wind phase where we allow no traffic when sustained winds reach 60 – 65 MPH?Power outages – Some facilities will lose streetlights. Facilities should expect extended periods of generator operation and even with generator power, phone lines could be down including those that serve cell sites, meaning our only communications may be with the adjacent bridge facility via two-way radios.Traffic re-routed from Tappan Zee and other NYC bridge closures – Most of the bridges from the Tappan Zee Bridge south will close when sustained winds exceed 60 to 65 MPH. Since traffic should be minimal due to the storm, we need to consider that some of this rerouted traffic will try to access the Bear Mountain and/or Newburgh-Beacon Bridges.When would we close any of our bridges – Several managers expressed concerns over when we should close a bridge due to extreme wind conditions. One problem would be that there is a good chance that communications will be down and no one will be able to confer with our engineer or with the head of operations to get advice on the subject. The other problem is that there is no remote wind-monitoring device at the smaller bridges like there is at MHB and NBB. Additional information relating to our high wind policy would help by adding an extreme wind category, which would be used only if communications are down.Communications disruptions – When the phone lines go dead, we lose our ability to easily communicate with our employees and the outside world, and may be left with only our radio system for inter-bridge communications. This may require us to call in or otherwise schedule a small maintenance staff early in the event.Consider the things with which the Greenport Fire Department should be concerned. Send suggestions to gfdtraining25@yahoo.com
The following should be monitored as long as we are able:
National Hurricane Center (http://www.nhc.noaa.gov/)
Various "X" (Formerly Twitter) accounts (http://twitter.com/#!/ny_columbia , http://twitter.com/#!/NYSEMO and others)
NY Alert (http://www.nyalert.gov/ where you can log in and have alerts emailed to you)
Facebook is a newer way of getting information out. The following sites do not require the user to have a facebook account so they are open to the public:
Greenport Fire Department Emergency on Facebook (http://www.facebook.com/GFDEmergency)
Columbia County 911 Center on Facebook (http://www.facebook.com/columbiacounty911)
Columbia County Emergency Management Office on Facebook (http://www.facebook.com/columbiacountyemergencymanagementoffice)
and any other sites that could provide information in times of large scale incidents.