By Mass Communication Specialist 2nd Class (SW/AW) Jerry Foltz, Fleet Forces Command Public Affairs
NORFOLK (NNS) -- As the Hampton Roads area prepares for the upcoming hurricane season, which runs from June 1 until Nov. 30, U.S. Fleet Forces Command (FFC) is taking a proactive approached to ensuring the safety of Sailors and their families by participating in Hurricane Exercise 2007 (HURREX 07).
The purpose of HURREX 07 is to provide ship and shore commands a focused training scenario to help with ship sorties, evacuation, emergency preparedness, personnel accountability, and recovery.
“The same weather conditions, that made last year a modest hurricane season, are not in place, giving us here an indication that the overall number of storms is going to be higher than average,” said Captain Archer Wright, FFCs Fleet Oceanographer and Meteorological Officer. “As storms threaten installations, commanding officers will be required to set conditions of readiness in their geographic area and all commands will be required to muster their personnel.”
The first part, the tracking and warning phase, will be conducted from April 23 through May 4. The second phase, requiring personnel accountability and family assessment, will be conducted April 23 through May 9.
“This exercise will enable the command to provide valuable resources to Sailors and their families to deal with a disaster situation,” said Wright.” It gives commands a chance to fine tune their emergency preparedness and procedures.”
HURREX will include four artificially constructed tropical systems that will develop and intensify to hurricane strength, affecting the Caribbean, East Coast and Gulf Coast regions.
Wright stated that in addition to FFC, several commands from the entire Eastern Seaboard will be participating.
"We want to able to test personnel accountability from Texas to Maine -- and all states and installations in between," he said.
As storms approach each region, a NAVADMIN will be released with an order to account for personnel, designating a start time for personnel accountability and family assessment procedures.
Wright stressed that Sailors should review command mustering procedures in addition to taking a closer look at personal readiness. Sailors should inform family members about the availability of emergency services in their region.