Providence emergency officials took to Kennedy Plaza earlier this month, exhorting residents and businesses to prepare themselves for the 2008 hurricane season.
The city is well protected against a hurricane, said Peter Gaynor, director of the Providence Emergency Management Agency. Providence’s hurricane barrier performed well in June 14 tests, Gaynor said. The wall, built after Hurricane Carol flooded the downtown area in 1954, kept Narragansett Bay contained during Hurricane Gloria 30 years later.
But when the next “big one” hits, bringing winds over 100 miles an hour, Providence had better do more than just close the gates, said Gaynor, who was hired in February.
“It’s really not a matter of if, it’s just a matter of when,” he said. Hurricane seasons [which begin in July] have stayed relatively mild in the North Atlantic for several years, but, “We don’t want people to be complacent. [Hurricanes] tend to move quickly.”
Businesses should consider how to stay operating in the event of an emergency like a major hurricane, according to the Department of Homeland Security, which provided the blueprint for the disaster-awareness materials handed out July 9. The city’s program, called Ready Providence, also encourages businesses to establish communications plans, like an employee phone-tree, or an off-site “I’m OK” phone number, located in another area code.
Residents should keep an emergency kit in their homes, including nonperishable food, bottled water, a flashlight and a battery-powered radio, officials suggest.
Hurricanes and tropical storms can come up the Atlantic coastline with little warning, Gaynor said. Generally, if a hurricane tracks west of Bermuda and north of Cape Hatteras, it can hit southern New England within 12 hours, he said.
It takes about six hours to close the city’s system of hurricane barriers, Gaynor said.
In the June 14 tests, the hurricane barrier system’s four street doors and three river doors all performed well, Gaynor said. The system is low-tech and labor-intensive, he said: Public Works employees push the doors shut using heavy construction equipment like backhoes and front loaders. In the June 14 test, it took employees 60 minutes to close the largest street doors, located on Allens Avenue.
In the event of a major hurricane, the emergency management agency is also planning to coordinate with fire stations to quickly assess damage in each city neighborhood, soon after the storm passes.
On Sept. 30, the Army Corps of Engineers is set to take over responsibility for maintaining the hurricane barrier from the city. Officials from the Providence Emergency Management Agency met with the Army Corps earlier this month to discuss the transfer, Gaynor said. •
