The Waterline

Page 1

The Waterline

April 26, 2012

Vol. XXIX No. 17

www.cnic.navy.mil/ndw

www.facebook.com/NavDistWash

waterline@dcmilitary.com

NEWS AND INFORMATION FOR THE NATIONAL CAPITAL REGION

HURREX Comes to a Close By Benjamin Christensen, Waterline staff writer

The Navywide HURREX/Citadel Gale 2012 exercise is coming to a close the end of this week and has provided Naval District Washington (NDW) an excellent opportunity to test its destructive weather preparation and response procedures. HURREX is the culmination of the Navy's annual battery of tests to ensure that Sailors and emergency managers are prepared for destructive weather scenarios. Although there is some attention paid to winter storms, the hurricane season, which lasts from June through November, is of particular concern to Navy commands, and for good reason. Over the last two centuries, tropical cyclones have claimed the lives of approximately 1.9 million people. The United States has had its own costly reminders of the strength of hurricanes, notably in 2005 with the storm surge of Hurricane Katrina, which killed nearly two-thousand and caused 108 billion dollars worth of damage, the costliest storm in American history. "From past experience, we know the

damage that [natural disasters] can cause," said Timothy Stoessel with Training and Readiness (N7). "All you have to do is look at the flood of the Naval Academy [during Hurricane Isabel in 2003] to realize the kind of damage 'All-Hazards' can inflict". HURREX/Citadel Gale is conducted with a particular focus on Tropical Cyclone Conditions of Readiness (COR). The readiness conditions help frame the preparation effort for a hurricane in terms of times until the threat presents itself. There are five CORs, starting with COR V, which states that destructive winds (of 50 knots or greater) are possible within four days (96 hours). The CORs then descend from IV at 72 hours, III at 48 hours, II at 24 hours, to finally COR I when possibly damaging winds are going to be present within 12 hours. HURREX is an annual exercise which consists of all Navy commands in some way preparing for a simulated storm system to pass through NDW's Area of Operations (AO), threatening NDW installations, as well as the Caribbean Islands, East Coast and Gulf Coast regions. This year's particular storm system, named "Zeus", was a tropical storm that hit NDW Tuesday morning.

U.S. Navy photo by MC2 Kiona Miller

Crisis Action Team members, part of the Naval District Washington's Regional Operations Center, prepare to assist and provide disaster relief to installations in the region following a mock hurricane scenario during HURREX/Citadel Gale 2012. Some of the simulated damages that Regional Operations Center (ROC) personnel had to respond to was a fire at Naval Support Activity (NSA) Bethesda, massive

Washington Navy Yard Morning Commute Traffic Changes 5:30 a.m. - 12:00 p.m. 6th St. Gate - no change 9th St. Gate - closed to vehicles, available to pedestrians N St. Gate - two lanes inbound, one outbound for access to 295 or M St. via 11th St. and 295 underpass O St. Gate - one lane inbound **New Gate** the Commercial Vehicle Gate at the south end of 11th will have two lanes open for inbound traffic

flooding at Naval Support Activity Washington's (NSAW) Naval Support Facility Carde-

See HURREX, Page 5

SAAM: We will Not Tolerate Sexual Assault By Benjamin Christensen, Waterline staff writer The fourth and final message for the month of April to those in the Navy family is a resounding warning: 'We will NotTolerate Sexual Assault'. Sexual assault is a blight on the United States' armed forces, with a crime occurring three times a day in the Navy alone. However, the Navy is also on the forefront of proactive steps to eliminate sexual assault from the ranks for good, and Sexual Assault Awareness Month (SAAM) provides opportunities for all hands to learn about the risks and impact that sexual assault can bring

See SA AM, Page 7

Inside Link directly to the NDW Facebook page on your smart phone

Around the Yard, Page 2

This Week in Naval History, Page 3


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