Hurricane Suiter Slams Gulf Coast In Tuesday Exercise

June 3, 2009

eoc10.jpg

Hurricane Suiter slammed into the Gulf Coast on Tuesday with winds in excess of 100 mph, leaving behind damage and mass power outages — at least in an exercise conducted at the Escambia County Emergency Operations Center.

Evacuations were ordered, flooding caused problems, over 50 roads were left impassable and 100 percent of the county lost power as the hurricane made landfall in the drill that filled the Escambia EOC with about 100  first responders and government officials. From the impending landfall to the start of the beginning of the cleanup, officials practiced the entire hurricane scenario.

Dr. William Gray from Colorado State University, part of the Tropical Meteorology Project, is now predicting 11 named storms, five of which will develop into hurricanes. They predict that there is 48 percent chance of a hurricane striking the U.S. coast this year, a 28 percent chance for peninsular Florida and a 28 percent chance for the panhandle.

The National Hurricane Center is predicting four to seven hurricanes this year.

Pictured above and below: Officials prep for Hurricane Suiter Tuesday during a drill at the Escambia Emergency Operations Center. Submitted photos for NorthEscambia.com, click to enlarge.

eoc20.jpg

Comments

2 Responses to “Hurricane Suiter Slams Gulf Coast In Tuesday Exercise”

  1. curious on June 3rd, 2009 9:00 am

    It was pandalerium!!!!!!!!!! LOL

  2. stuart on June 3rd, 2009 8:48 am

    Due to all the damage, I’m glad I missed this one :-)

Written by William Reynolds · Filed Under News