new information on Oklahoma City's preparedness

greenspun.com : LUSENET : TimeBomb 2000 (Y2000) : One Thread

Dear friends,

I received a letter today (dated November 15, 1999) to my letter of August 1999 to Kerry Wagnon, Dept of Business and Communications Technology (I previously posted that letter to this forum, and you can read it at Questions for OKC ). It referred me to the city's website where they have just posted a new y2k page:

OKC Y2K Page

The most interesting part I have found so far is the "Contingencies". It's better than I thought it would be, especially given the hassles I've been having getting information out of these guys. (Most probably that was because the plan didn't exist when I started asking, as they only started their contingency planning in June of this year.)

For my money, the biggest weakness is no description of what the city would do for heated shelters, and the next biggest weakness is the plan for summoning help if the phones are down (go to the nearest police station or fire department). This would be ideal for the CERT triangles.

Here's some bits and pieces from my first skim-through:

The airport has a stockpile of 77,000 gallons of unleaded gasoline and 12,000 gallons of diesel fuel, a 30 day supply under normal usage. (I was surprised to find out how much gas they would have stored at the airport. I wonder, do all airports keep this much gasoline on hand? or have they built this 30 day stockpile for Y2k response?)

The city will have a multi-agency response center operating from 7 PM on December 31st until such time as it is no longer needed. It will be staffed by the city manager, his assistants, the heads of city departments, representatives of the local utility corporations, EMSA (ambulence/paramedic service), and charitable organizations.

Emergency generators will be stationed downtown for the "Opening Night" celebrations to provide light for evacuation of the area if the lights go out.

They will have 44 crews ready to put up 2000+ stop signs at 460 key intersections if the traffic lights go out (effectively turning them all into 4 way stop situations).

It confirms the news I previously reported about the city only being able to pump 33 million gallons/day without electricity (although they say they can treat 54 million gallons day with their backup power). Water plants will have crews on hand the night of December 31st if they have to go manual, and the report says they go manual with some regularity as part of their regular maintenance program. 2 of OKC's 3 water plants use the SCADA software, one of them has passed a rollover test, the other SCADA plant is being upgraded and will be finished in December 1999 (pretty close to the wire). Any 2 of the plants can supply the city's full water needs. 2 of them have generators, one doesn't, but it has feeds from 3 different OG&E generating plants. There isn't any info about their fuel stockpile for these generators.

The sewer plants are operated by a private contractor which has certified its readiness to the city. Nothing is in the report about IV&V on the corporation's claims. All lift stations already have emergency generators (EPA mandate, which means this is probably true nationally).

No days off for public safety personnel over the New Years weekend. Twice the normal police will be on the streets from the evening of December 31st through early morning on the 1st. Fire stations all have backup generators, and other generators are avaialble that can be deployed. If the phones are down, people are supposed to go to the nearest fire station or police briefing station to report crimes or request assistance.

The city's radio system has backup generators. Their personnel plan assumes they may not have city personnel who are in the National Guard, or whose homes and families have been seriously impacted by y2k disruptions. City personnel may be reassigned as necessary to meet emergency situations, and the city expects to have fuel for its vehicles (the only fuel stockpile mentioned that I found so far is at the airport, and it is pretty substantial, but also earmarked for airport operations.) Critical city facilities have generator backup (although there is no list of what they consider critical).

I hope its enough.

Robert Waldrop ++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++ Archbishop Oscar Romero Catholic Worker House, Oklahoma City http://www.justpeace.org/pilgrimage2000.htm Justice and peace meditations on the daily lectionary readings



-- robert waldrop (rmwj@soonernet.com), November 17, 1999

Answers

This was at the bottom of the citties "Community" page.

"Please remember, the bottom line is that YOU are responsible for your personal preparedness choices."

-- Paula (chowbabe@pacbell.net), November 17, 1999.


Moderation questions? read the FAQ