Coordination Findings On Hurricane Evacuation

Coordination
Findings
on
Hurricane
Evacuation.
 The
comments
that
we
received
on
our
proposal,
can
basically
be
distilled
to
the
following
critique:
the
 topic
was
felt
to
be
too
broad.
I
think
that
my
initial
research
on
coordination,
coupled
with
what
Lisa
 posted
regarding
the
appropriate
federal
role,
will
go
a
long
way
to
narrowing
our
scope.
 First,
I
concentrated
my
examination
of
documents
on
the
Commonwealth
of
Virginia.
This
lead
me
to
 the
Commonwealth
of
Virginia
Emergency
Operations
Plan
(COVEOP).
There
are
two
especially
 important
sections
that
are
contained
in
this
plan.
First,
is
Volume
II
–
Transportation
 (http://www.vaemergency.com/library/plans/coveop/eopvol2/sept2007/9COVEOP_ESF1.pdf)
,
the
 second
is
in
Volume
V
and
is
titled
Hurricane
Plan
 (http://www.vaemergency.com/library/plans/hurrplan/index.cfm).
These
plans
do
a
great
deal
to
 outline
the
appropriate
level
of
coordination
between
the
state
agencies
and
local
governments.
They
 identify
the
role
of
VDOT
as
an
agency
that
will
be
particularly
active
in
the
event
of
an
evacuation
and
 even
delegate
a
role
in
evacuation
to
the
DMV!
Additionally,
there
is
a
great
deal
of
reliance
on
regional
 emergency
management
coordinators
 (http://www.vaemergency.com/library/handbooks/1008coordhandbook.pdf)
and
their
role
in
 preparation
and
response
to
disasters.
 The
majority
of
the
plan
for
hurricane
evacuation
concentrated
on
the
reversal
of
the
two
lanes
of
I‐64
 and
the
evacuation
of
the
following
twenty‐one
localities:
“the
cities
of
Chesapeake,
Hampton,
Newport
 News,
Norfolk,
Poquoson,
Portsmouth,
Suffolk,
Virginia
Beach;
the
counties
of
Accomack,
Gloucester,
 Isle
of
Wight,
Lancaster,
Mathews,
Middlesex,
Northampton,
Northumberland,
Richmond,
Surry,
York,
 Westmoreland,
and
the
town
of
Chincoteague,
all
of
which
are
strategically
located
in
VDEM
Region
5”
 (http://www.vaemergency.com/library/handbooks/1008coordhandbook.pdf,
Page
3‐10).



Interestingly,
the
plan
calls
for
private
transportation
operators
to
continue
to
operate
under
their
 normal
management,
“In accordance with state and federal policies, the transportation industry will function under its own management and operate systems and facilities to provide the maximum service to fill essential needs as specified by appropriate federal, state, and local government authorities. The transportation industry will be responsible for continuity of management, protection of personnel and facilities, conservation of supplies, restoration of damaged lines and terminals, rerouting, expansion or improvement of operations, and securing of necessary manpower, materials, and services.” (Emergency Support Function – No. 1 TRANSPORTATION, Page 1-4)

This would suggest that no formal coordination between the state and local agencies and private providers is envisioned, at least at the state level. However, this is not the most interesting delegation of responsibility, in the COVEOP, in Annex B (http://www.vaemergency.com/library/plans/hurrplan/09_hurricane_respons_plan/Annex%20B%20Evacu ation%20-%20June%202009.pdf). Here it is explicitly state that, “Persons without personal transportation within the region are estimated to be at 50,000 and plans are currently under development within each locality to address their evacuation” (Annex B, 71).

So, it seems that the sequence of authority is this, the federal government is supportive of the state’s request for aid in an emergency, but the majority of planning takes places between the localities and that state. Given this relationship, the state has outlined the roles of its departments (VDOT, DMV, VDEM) and has left it up to the localities to undertake specific planning for evacuation in their jurisdictions. I checked both the City of Virginia Beach, and the City of Hampton and I found only a that the City of Virginia Beach advised those residents without access to transportation to plan ahead and ask members of, “…Your Personal Support Network if they will transport you where you need to go. Also, contact your para-transit provider for information on how they will handle transportation requests in the event of

a hurricane.” (http://www.vbgov.com/vgn.aspx?vgnextoid=8c8c340df304c010VgnVCM1000006310640aRCRD&vgne xtchannel=be907e192ca49010VgnVCM100000870b640aRCRD&vgnextparchannel=55ab7e192ca49010 VgnVCM100000870b640aRCRD). I found no such instructions on the City of Hampton website.

I think, that in light of the explicit delegation in the COVEOP, we can narrow our focus to the policy that is being developed (or should be) to address the needs of transportation dependent populations in the twenty-one (or some subset thereof) localities in VDEM Region 5, that are identified as having the greatest risk of needing to undertake a significant evacuation in the face of a massive hurricane.