Sandy Schooled City On Storm Response

As monster storms become more common, New Haven should install video cameras to monitor flood gates, figure out how the National Guard can be more useful, and install cable TV in emergency shelters.

Those were some of the suggestions to come out of a post-emergency assessment of Superstorm Sandy, which tore through town last fall.

Chief Administrative Officer Rob Smuts (pictured) distributed that assessment — called an ​“After Action Review” — to members of the Board of Aldermen’s Public Safety Committee Tuesday evening.

Smuts and other city staffers testified in response to an order by Westville Alderman Adam Marchand (pictured) calling for a public hearing about ​“recent weather emergencies,” including Sandy. Winter storm Nemo, which hit town after Marchand submitted his order, will be the subject of a separate, forthcoming Public Safety hearing.

Smuts also testified about an order submitted by East Rock Alderman Justin Elicker calling on the city to prepare a comprehensive plan for adapting to rising sea levels and extreme weather as a result of global climate change. The committee left that item open pending further testimony at a future meeting.

The post-Sandy review found that the city did a number of things well. For one, the city lined up tree-care contractors in advance to have them ready to clear downed trees as soon as the storm passed. That allowed the city to get a jump on the response, and not have to fight with other towns to hire tree contractors in the aftermath.

The city also rented large pumps beforehand, said Fire Chief Michael Grant. ​“We were two days ahead of everybody.”

The city was able to pump water out of a United Illuminating (UI) substation, keeping power on to 30,000 people, Grant said.

The city pumped the substation after a National Guard pump failed there, Smuts said.

That was one of a couple of problems with the National Guard. The bigger problem was that the National Guard didn’t deploy a ​“deep water vehicle” as it had during Irene, and as the city had requested for Sandy.

“The denial of the deep water vehicle was something we were not happy about,” Smuts said. ​“We did not find resolution until after the event.”

The city and the National Guard ​“had an excellent relationship” during the subsequent Nemo blizzard, he said.

Among the other improvements the city made between Sandy and Nemo:

• One of the post-Sandy suggestions was to have Meals Ready to Eat (MREs) available for emergency use. Smuts said the city did a ​“broad dispensation” of MREs at various locations in town before Nemo. They were available for city staff or neighbors. Some city workers took advantage of them while on ​“extended tours of duty.”

• Fixing downed power lines can be one of the biggest tasks during post-storm clean-up, and also one of the biggest obstacles. Workers can’t clear trees that are tangled up with downed wires, until UI staff have made the area safe. Smuts said that UI got better and better at working with the city over three recent storm events: Irene, Sandy, and Nemo.

The city was looking for real-time information from UI about who was without power, and where in the city. ​“We never got to real time, but we got pretty close,” Smuts said.

• Another post-Sandy suggestion was to have cable TV in emergency shelters. Smuts said that would help some families staying at the shelters for days, particularly with young kids who need ​“some outlet for their energy.” Smuts said he didn’t know if that suggestion had been taken up.

• Mayor John DeStefano suggested installing video cameras to monitor tidal gates and flood-prone areas. ​“We’re working on that,” Smuts said. The difficulty is finding cameras that can capture usable footage in the middle of a storm and at night. ​“We should have something in place before too long,” Smuts said.

“Disgrace”

The most passionate comments at Tuesday night’s hearing came from East Shore Alderman Sal DeCola (pictured), who said the city needs to do more to communicate with aldermen and make use of their intimate familiarity with neighborhoods.

DeCola said he heard reports of people answering phones at the Emergency Operations Center (EOC) in a very inappropriate way. He also complained about an aldermanic conference call, in which he said lawmakers were treated like schoolchildren in a classroom. ​“That should not happen ever again!” He said, calling it a ​“disgrace.”

“I’m angry right now,” DeCola said. He said the city should have the Board of Aldermen represented in the EOC in some way. He later suggested that aldermen could take shifts there during a storm.

“We’d be happy to have them down there,” Smuts said after the meeting. He said he or the mayor usually holds a couple of conference calls with aldermen during emergencies.

DeCola also asked about the Emergency Management Advisory Council. DeCola was appointed to the council by the Board of Aldermen. The body has never met.

Section 11 – 9 of the New Haven Code of Ordinances states that, starting in 1986, the city shall have an Emergency Management Advisory Council appointed by the mayor and approved by the Board of Aldermen. The council is charged with advising the mayor about emergency management and informing people about ​“the dangers of a nuclear disaster.”

“I actually don’t know much about that body,” Smuts said. ​“He’s right. We haven’t convened it.” Smuts promised to look into it.

Rising Water

At the top of Tuesday evening’s meeting, Alderman Elicker (pictured) handed out a map of expected water levels by the year 2080. New Haven has been lucky so far, but storm damage like Sandy wrought on New York and New Jersey will become more frequent, Elicker said. The city needs to start planning now.

Smuts told the committee that Morris Cove is the area most in danger of flooding. The whole neighborhood could fill up ​“like a bathtub” if waters rise too far, he said.

The most immediate action to take would be to fix the seawall, which was built in 1985, Smuts said. New Haven’s federal delegation is still trying to get money to make that happen, Smuts said.

DeCola said the city also needs to work on the floodgate at the end of Cart Road near Morris Creek. If that’s breached, the whole airport would be flooded, he said.

More long term, the city needs to look at coastal zoning codes, Smuts said. Industrial areas near Long Wharf and along the Mill River are also in danger of flooding, he said. As development happens there in the future, the city needs to ensure any new construction is designed to handle floods.

Smuts said he will return to the committee with more information about the city’s plans for climate change-era zoning updates.