New Haven Independent

John Buturla (pictured), the city’s director of Emergency Management, said Wednesday has learned a thing or two from Hurricane Katrina, when “individuals in New Orleans were somewhat left on their own.” — i.e. stranded on rooftops with no food or water.

No Katrina-sized hurricanes have hit ground north of North Carolina. (Katrina reached Category 5.) But winds do rage at times: New England has seen four Category 3 hurricanes, with winds between 110 and 130 miles per hour, in the last century. The last one was in 1960. Buturla wants you to be ready when the next one hits.

Each family should stock up with enough supplies to survive for three days before help comes, advised Buturla at a presentation Wednesday in the city’s emergency management center, a high-security fallout shelter deep in the basement of the Hall of Records. Buturla, speaking to the aldermanic Public Safety Committee, came armed with stacks of new pamphlets describing how families need to prepare for any type of disaster.

When it comes to emergencies, said Buturla, most families simply don’t have a plan. A simple map detailing emergency exit routes is a start. And each family should have a kit with three days of supplies, including blankets, clothes, food and water, as well as:

&#149 flashlights
&#149 a battery-powered radio
&#149 a First Aid kit
&#149 toiletries and medicine&#149 -toys for penned-up kids

For more info on how to make your own disaster supply kit, visit the city’s Emergency Management website. Or ask your alderman for a brand new brochure about disaster preparation — alders will be distributing them soon.

With an emergency pro at the helm (Buturla was the state director of Homeland Security under former Gov. John Rowland), New Haven is speeding ahead past other cities in protecting one group hit hard by Katrina: Those with special needs or lack of transportation.

Do you know an elderly person or someone on dialysis who can’t just get up and evacuate by themselves? Or a mother with six children and no car? The city is making a list of people who have special transportation needs: the elderly, handicapped, anyone who needs help evacuating their home.

Registration forms are being mailed to each household in the city. People who choose to return the form will be added to a database. Once the database is complete, the city will make arrangements to send stretchers, vans, and even medical equipment to those who need help.

New Haven’s among the first cities in the state to create a special needs database. Because it’s so new, people aren’t exactly responding, said Maggie Targove (pictured above), the city’s public safety planner.

“I don’t think the word is getting out, especially in the Hill” neighborhood, said Targove. Only 200 people have signed up. If you know someone who should be on the list, get a registration form by calling 946-8224.

Targove is one of two employees in the Emergency Operations Center, a concrete bunker built in 1980 under the magnolia trees on Orange Street. Also buried in the center’s dusty passageways: 18,000 gallons of water, sealed up in large metal boxes. It’s 25 years old, not too good for drinking, but could provide plumbing for the 18-bed facility — including the shower room, where the city considered sending potential victims during the anthrax scare of 2001.

A main control room provides phones, computers and live camera feeds so department heads can keep the city under control if, for example, a hurricane comes rushing up the coast. From there, they’ll disperse information by radio, TV media, and even megaphones, on where you should go, and what to do. During emergencies, you can reach the Emergency Operations Center at 946-SNOW. Until then, stock up on canned goods and stay tuned.