'Hurricane Janet' tests regional readiness: District participates in FEMA disaster excercise Hurricane Janet, a Category 4 storm with winds of 140 mph, rips up the east coast and leaves New England heavily damaged. Locally, Dike H-3 at the Hopkinton Lake flood control project could fail at any time and unleash thousands of gallons of water on top of the unsuspecting residents downstream. The New England District Crisis Management Team has assembled in the Emergency Operations Center at Concord Park, at the Federal Emergency Management Agency bunker in Maynard, and at the Connecticut, Rhode Island, and Massachusetts state emergency operations centers. Both the Stamford and New Bedford hurricane barriers are staffed and ready to operate. The Cape Cod Canal is also prepared for Hurricane Janet. Meanwhile, District hydroelectric engineers have arrived at Hopkinton Lake with contractors to fix the problem before the dike fails... This is the scenario put to the New England District during a disaster exercise held April 20-24. Called Response ‘98, the exercise was designed to assess adequacy and feasibility of federal, state and local plans, policies and procedures for responding to a simulated hurricane event. “The timing of this exercise was great,” said Ruth Kitowicz, Chief of Operations and Readiness. “It was a good opportunity to test the functionality of the new EOC and the readiness of the regional emergency action teams.” The Federal Emergency Management Agency conducted the readiness test, which was the largest peacetime exercise ever sponsored by the agency. “This is also the first exercise of this size that FEMA has held in New England,” said Ruth. Massachusetts has a small exercise at least once a year, and other states also hold small exercises that the New England District participates in from time to time. During the exercise, the Crisis Management Team met twice daily in the Concord Park EOC. During that time, situation reports giving the status of the emergency were reviewed. In addition, videotapes of realistic news and weather reports by the National Weather Service were played during the meetings. Before Hurricane Janet simulated a strike on New England, the Crisis Management Team met to discuss the preparedness of the District. The team hypothetically took the following actions to prepare for the oncoming hurricane: a) established structural teams to inspect Corps dams if necessary; b) drew down dam pools and have project staff placed on alert at the hurricane barriers and dams; c) prepare the Cape Cod Canal office and ready for evacuation of all nonessential personnel, with control being handled by one person on the railroad bridge; d) prepared the Bourne and the Sagamore bridges to be closed to all vehicles if the sustain winds reached 70 knots. As part of the exercise, problems were presented to the Crisis Management Team to solve after Hurricane Janet, then a Category 2 storm, hit New England. Debris and downed power lines affecting the Cape Cod Canal was one problem as well as the damage to the dike at Hopkinton Lake. During the meetings, the Crisis Management Team coordinated efforts with federal, state, and local officials to inform and update the public on current situations around New England. In addition to the issues facing the District, FEMA requested assistance and assigned the District three missions: emergency power, ice, and technical assistance to inspect non-federal dams. The Crisis Management Team worked together to supply the resources needed to accomplish all of the missions. The New England District portion of the exercise was monitored by Dick Cooke, Readiness Support Center, in San Francisco, California. All six New England states, New York, New Jersey, four Canadian provinces and many government and private organizations participated. New York District, North Atlantic Division, and U.S. Army Corps of Engineers headquarters in Washington, D.C., were involved with the exercise. “Both the New York and New England districts were involved in conference calls to the North Atlantic Division once a day,” said Ruth. “We communicated with North Atlantic Division by telephone and e-mail several times a day." At the end of the week, the exercise was deemed successful by Mr. Cooke and the Crisis Management Team made a list of lessons learned and ways to improve their performance for the next exercise or a real event.