Power Outages and Communications Jack Brown, Director, Arlington County Office of Emergency Management November 13, 2012

2 June 29 Derecho: 60,000+ outages

3 Major Events – Were We Prepared? –June 29 Derecho (2012) 60,000+ w/o power Verizon Phone system failure Power Restoration: almost a week –Hurricane Sandy (2012) 19,000+ w/o power Power Restoration: 3-4 days –Hurricane Irene (2011) 14,000+ w/o power Power Restoration: 2-3 days –July Macroburst (2011) 7,000 w/o power Power Restoration: 2 days

4 Lessons Learned –Power Restoration New County buildings (including schools) are designed with generators Generators added to buildings that are primary shelter options Critical facilities to include vulnerable populations –Communications Better field communications needed with Dominion High-level communications are robust Continue to sharpen public messaging –Safety Employee safety must come first

5 –Be Informed, Make a Plan, Get Involved Arlington Alert ( , text, pages) AM 1700 Arlington Preparedness App (for smartphones) County Website New OEM website (sites.arlingtonva.us/oem) Weather Radio Local Media (TV & Radio) Social Media –Arlington OEM is available to help groups understand and plan for disasters large & small Personal Preparedness

6 Questions?