Gov. Rell Orders Conn. Agencies to Organize Hurricane Training

Rell directs agencies to prepare for possible hurricane
Received by Newsfinder from AP
Connecticut Gov. M. Jodi Rell has directed state agencies to organize training sessions and exercises to prepare for the possibility of a hurricane.

The hurricane season in the north Atlantic began Thursday and runs through Nov. 30.

An emergency management symposium, co-sponsored with the Connecticut Conference of Municipalities, scheduled this week was intended to provide local and state officials with workshops on emergency planning.

A statewide hurricane exercise is planned for June 28 with state response agencies and municipalities and is to focus on recovery plans following a Category 4 hurricane in southern New England.

“Citizens, business owners and emergency officials need to know that the threat is real and that any size hurricane in the Northeast could have devastating effects on Connecticut,” Rell said in a statement.

Scientists said last week that this hurricane season could produce up to 16 named storms, six of them major hurricanes, suggesting another active year but not the pounding of 2005.

The state Department of Emergency Management and Homeland Security has already completed several readiness projects and is finishing several others, including regional evacuation plans, buying 9,000 cots for shelters, a public awareness campaign and new handbooks providing guidance on managing local disaster responses.