Source: United States Navy
Navy installations throughout the Naval District Washington (NDW) region will get a head start on any potential hurricane or severe storm activity in coming weeks during Hurricane Exercise/Citadel Gale (HURREX/CG), an annual exercise that runs April 24-May 5 and trains participants in all aspects of hurricane response and recovery.
“Personnel will be securing facilities and ensuring service members, civilians, and their families are prepared for the onset of adverse weather conditions,” said Matthew Brown, the NDW planner for HURREX/CG. “Recovery for our missions, families, and operations after the storm passes are what we are aiming to improve every year.”
Hurricane season runs in the Atlantic and Gulf of Mexico from June 1 to November 30, with peak months in August to October, according to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA).
HURREX/CG gives Navy installations advance preparation. Participants will train in accounting for personnel and their family members, conducting evacuations, assisting those who are injured or displaced, protecting buildings from winds and flooding, and restoring operations post-storm.
In the first week, participants will also train in tracking hurricane activity along the U.S. Atlantic coast, simulating upgrades to the Tropical Cyclone Conditions of Readiness (TCCOR), and implementing base safety procedures in response to each TCCOR upgrade. They will shift in the second week to focusing on procedures for recovery, including lifting evacuation orders, reopening installations, and conducting damage assessments.
Brown’s office (N36) is responsible for executing HURREX/CG. It plans the exercise in coordination with installation training officers, Navy emergency preparedness officers, and the Fleet and Family Support Centers (FFSC).
“The NDW N36 team has worked hard to provide a realistic exercise to challenge our personnel to prepare them for real-world disasters,” Brown said.
This year, there will be an additional partner: Joint Task Force-National Capital Region (JTF-NCR), which will observe the exercises and receive reports on their outcomes. Brown said that JTF-NCR would be a source of assistance in an actual hurricane and that N36 anticipates inviting the regional command to play an expanded role in HURREX/CG in future years.
“We will certainly be working with JTF-NCR during real-world incidents. We plan on growing this relationship moving forward,” Brown said.
The Navy Family Accountability Assessment System (NFAAS), which stores emergency-contact information for Sailors, civilian employees, and their family members, is another key element of hurricane preparedness. All Sailors and civilian employees must enter their information on NFAAS and update it yearly so that the command can account for each of them during an emergency such as a hurricane.
To access NFAAS, please visit https://navyfamily.navy.mil/cas/login?service=https%3A%2F%2Fnavyfamily.navy.mil%2F.
The FFSCs are also key partners in HURREX/CG. During a hurricane or other emergency, commanding officers can authorize the FFSCs to open Emergency Family Assistance Centers (EFAC) that offer emergency-specific aid and outreach, such as medical referrals or information on where to find shelter.
“The EFAC is going to be that central point for everyone to go to and everyone to get access for referrals. It could be as simple as ‘I need to know where to evacuate to’ or it could be ‘A tree fell through my living room,’” said Tiffany Croshaw, an emergency management specialist with NDW Fleet and Family Readiness (N9). “We give them the referrals to help them move past the destruction, move past the damage, and get back to a sense of normalcy.”
A person seeking assistance from EFAC can complete a Needs Assessment, on which they list their contact information and specify what type of help they need. The form lists 19 categories of needed help, such as medical assistance, missing persons, and housing assistance, among others.
Croshaw said that the form is available in electronic form on the EFAC website—the website, like the EFAC itself, is only active during emergencies—or in paper form at the EFAC office. She said that once a Needs Assessment is submitted, the EFAC opens a case and routes the form to emergency case managers at the installation FFSCs, who then reach out to the impacted families to provide support.
“These needs assessments are so important. The families put everything they need help with on the form, and that’s how we’re going to give them long-term assistance,” she said.
Rebeca Baker, Fleet and Family Readiness (N9) program analyst, said that the NDW region’s six installation-level FFSCs will also band together to serve as a region-wide EFAC in the event of a hurricane or other large-scale disaster. She said that they will all “exercise EFACs, both virtually and in person,” during this year’s HURREX/CG.
Baker said that this year’s HURREX/CG will put more focus than past years’ exercises on “post-disaster recovery,” which includes helping those who have been impacted and restoring communities and installations to normal life as quickly as possible. She said that the FFSCs will prepare to spring into action, if needed, to facilitate a return to a stable, mission-ready status throughout the region.
“We want to make sure that the EFACs are ready to make decisions in a real-world emergency and to make referrals to people who need them,” she said. “We provide families with contact to the Red Cross, to FEMA, to all of these organizations that can offer them any needed assistance.”
For more NDW information, please visit www.facebook.com/NavDistWash, https://www.instagram.com/navdistwash/, https://www.cnic.navy.mil/regions/ndw.html.