WEDNESDAY, JUNE 18, 2014
FIRST
FIRST 24: Priorities will be security, water, energy, access, communication CONTINUED FROM S2 resources to fill those needs.”
24 to 72 HOURS After the first 24 hours, officials move into recovery mode, Lacey said. Immediate recovery could last a few days up to several weeks while long-term recovery can last years. “The immediate recovery is when we’re trying to get the community back to normal,” Lacey said. He uses the acronym SWEAT to prioritize services: security, water, energy, access and telecommunications. Start by restoring security, he said. With a displaced population and scarce resources, fire protection, law enforcement and medical assistance will be limited. Response times will be impacted by damaged or blocked roads, downed power lines and any number of other factors. “Our goal is to have our major roads open for emergency vehicles with at least one travel lane,” Lacey said. Water and water infrastructure is also an important aspect, along with maintaining or re-establishing potable water services. Recovery crews will try to facilitate incoming private-sector partners such as American Electric Power, Victoria Electric Co-op and South Texas Electric Co-op to restore power, which ties in with accessibility and clearing major thoroughfares to bring in resources from the outside. The local government’s responsibility is “focused on supporting the response,” Lacey said. “What are the big things we need to fix that we’ve identified in that pervious phase?” he said. “Restoring these services, what roads need to be cleared, what do we need to support and lay down for our power partners, who
needs to come back to restore adequate medical services?”
72 to 168 HOURS As people who have evacuated return to their homes, volunteer and donation management kicks in as well as setting up distribution points for water, ice and food. By this time, officials are planning for the long-term recovery: Getting people back home, back to business and enacting a long-term plan to return to normalcy, Lacey said. “It’s not as simple as turning the lights on and saying, ‘Everyone come back,’” Lacey said. “We need to look at how we’ll effectively manage the flow of citizens and commercial interest back into the community based on the availability of resources that are restored.” Energy is likely to still be a major hurdle at this point, Lacey said. Individuals who are not prepared to provide their own energy may want to remain evacuated until adequate services are available, he said. “It’s not just the electricity providers that may have difficulty restoring their services, it is our availability of fuel, acquiring fuel and getting it to the community and distributed,” Lacey said. More than 400 businesses are partnered with Victoria’s Chamber of Commerce, Economic Development Corp. and Office of Emergency Management in the Preparedness Program, in which officials communicate directly with the business community to prepare to get back to work. This would also be the time when officials look at whether there is a need for temporary housing and develop a plan for facilitating that throughout the community, Lacey said. In the days after a disaster, curfews could be enacted, and federal assistance could become available.
72 H O U R S
VICTORIA ADVOCATE -
When the power goes out
Electric power companies train their repair crews to restore the power as fast as possible when wind or ice interrupts service. A look at their strategy:
Specialized work crews Crews use various kinds of trucks, depending on the kind of repairs they are making
Wooden poles are usually pine, pressuretreated with a preservative
Trouble truck
Derrick truck crew
replaces local poles
Distribution line crew
repairs lines to users
Oneperson bucket
is a one-person unit sent to investigate and repair smallscale problems
Twoperson bucket
Transmission truck crew
repairs large towers
Concrete pole
Rough terrain crew Two-person bucket
repairs lines away from streets and roads
2nd priority: Hospitals, police and fire stations, gas stations, supermarkets, apartment buildings
Setting priorities All repairs go on simultaneously, but some are given highest priority
1st priority: Power-generating plants, transmission lines and transformer substations
W:5.1542in H:2.4in Images : Ad Dummies : 557506-01*
3rd priority: Small neighborhoods and individual homes
© 2006 MCT Source: Florida Power & Light Graphic: Hiram Henriquez, Sun Sentinel
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