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'Everyone should be ready' for hurricane

Various agencies simulate the speed of Charley and the size of Wilma in a storm season dry run.

By ALDO NAHED
Published May 25, 2006

TAMPA - Hurricane Zoey's winds caused massive power outages in the Tampa area Wednesday, contaminating drinking water and destroying countless homes.

Fortunately, it was only a drill.

The hypothetical predictions for Zoey were part of a statewide exercise based on a Category 4 hurricane slamming into Florida's west coast and the ability of local, state and federal agencies to respond.

More than 45 city, county, state and federal agencies, or 175 people, huddled inside the county's emergency operations center on Wednesday to prepare for a hurricane and its aftermath.

"It's a good way to get everybody who is involved during a storm back in here, and we get to run over our messaging system," said Pete Dabrowsky, a logistics planner for Hillsborough County's Department of Emergency Management. "One of the issues I'm concerned about is our plan to get a hold of people if communications are out."

The official hurricane season begins June 1 and runs through the end of November.

Officials said they were taking the drill seriously.

"It's kind of hell when you are working the issue and there is a storm outside and you say, 'I didn't plan for this,' " said Larry Gispert, emergency management director for the county.

Other Florida counties have been engaged in similar exercises since Friday.

In Tallahassee, officials simulated a terrorist attack and tested their ability to respond to a hurricane in the aftermath of such an attack.

The fake attack on the state's emergency operations center in Tallahassee forced a practice move Monday to the National Guard's Camp Blanding in Clay County, about 50 miles south of Jacksonville.

"It's like our usual annual exercise, except we're camping," said Craig Fugate, director of the Florida Division of Emergency Management.

Tampa's dry run was based on a real 1921 hurricane that overwhelmed the bay area with storm surges of 18 to 22 feet.

The simulated Zoey - with the speed of Hurricane Charley and the size of Hurricane Wilma - pounded Tampa Bay and raced across the state toward Orlando and Daytona Beach, causing much simulated anxiety.

Those at the drill watched videotaped advisories and warnings from the National Hurricane Center in Miami and played the roles they would assume in a real storm.

This season is expected to produce 13 to 16 named storms, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration said Monday. Of those, eight to 10 could become hurricanes, and four to six could be Category 3 or stronger.

Steve Porter, a county disaster planner, cited estimates from one private forecaster, the Houston-based Weather Research Center, that give Florida's west coast a 70 percent chance of a strike by a tropical storm or hurricane.

"The numbers change all over the place," Porter said. "There's no guarantee we'll be hit, but I have to stress that everyone should be ready."

Information from the Associated Press was used in this report. Aldo Nahed can be reached at 813 310-0998 or anahed@sptimes.com.

[Last modified May 25, 2006, 10:05:50]