Texas Hurricane Preparedness
JULY 20, 2020 — The week of July 13, NOAA Scientific Support Coordinator (SSC) Paige Doelling, along with OR&R’s Katie Krushinski and Robb Wright participated in a hurricane preparedness exercise coordinated and planned by the Natural Disaster Operational Workgroup (NDOW).
The tabletop exercise, a simulated Category 5 Hurricane making landfall in Corpus Christi, Texas, was conducted virtually using the Homeland Security Information Network (HSIN). Participants virtually conducted meetings in the ICS planning "P" and held branch level discussions to plan assessment of and response to oil and hazardous material incidents caused by the hurricane. NDOW is a State-Federal partnership to improve coordination between agencies responding to Emergency Support Functions (ESF) 3 (Debris Removal) and 10 (Oil and Hazardous Materials). Building on lesson learned from Hurricane Ike, and more recently Hurricane Harvey, NDOW has developed a wide array of response documents and protocols to improve and streamline response to natural disasters in the State of Texas. Jessica White (DRC) and Paige Doelling are NOAA representatives to NDOW.
For more information, see the Natural Disaster Operational Workgroup (NDOW) website, or contact Paige.Doelling@noaa.gov.