Hurricane Isabelle: a case study of preparation, initial response, lessons learned, and resulting recommendations

Hurricane Isabel has been described as a 100-year storm, with a level of severity that provided a unique test bed for evaluating a large-scale emergency response under real conditions. Two principal studies (the first spearheaded by George Mason University, and the second by the Governor of Virginia) addressed the energy, telecommunications, transportation, water and public service sectors: how they prepared for the hurricane; how they reacted to the hurricane; how they recovered (and continue to recover) from it; what interdependencies were identified from the hurricane; what lessons learned have emerged from analysis of sectoral actions. The data collected during the studies demonstrates the work each sector did in restoring service, taking only 7 days to complete the major work, as compared to 14 days after Hurricane Floyd in 1999. The data also offers a snapshot of the National Capital Region in a specific situation, and demonstrates areas for further development. With emphasis on response of the electrical and gas utilities, and based on research and interviews with sector members, the areas outlined below are those that deserve the most attention. They have been arranged according to their temporal importance to the event: pre-planning, initial response, preliminary recovery, interdependencies, and recommendations for remediation.