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HARTFORD, Conn. Emergency services officials will make presentations Wednesday to Gov. Dannel P. Malloys Two-Storm Panel on how Connecticut agencies can better respond during future weather disasters.
The Department of Emergency Management and Homeland Security will present an extensive report recommending how the state, the power companies and local municipalities can improve emergency response and better coordinate response during major storms.
William Hackett, acting deputy commissioner of the states Emergency Management unit, and Reuben Bradford, commissioner of the Department of Public Safety, will appear at the panels ninth and final public session at 10 a.m. in the Legislative Office Building.
Officials for the states two major utility companies Connecticut Light & Power and United Illuminating will also make presentations on their plans to upgrade aging power lines.
Nearly half of the states power lines and infrastructure has exceeded its 40-year lifespan with some power lines and other equipment hitting the age of 70, CL&P engineering experts advised the panel last week.
Weve got 600 pages of testimony from 80 witnesses, and were going to be adding to that with important presentations at our final public meeting Wednesday, said Two-Storm Panel Co-Chairman Joseph McGee, vice-president of the Business Council of Fairfield County.
McGee said recommendations will include improved emergency response and communications, better coordination among state, local agencies and the power companies, improved standards, more tree-trimming and increasing manpower.
Some of the major issues well be dealing with in our report are how we can prevent such vast and prolonged power outages during major storms but once it happens, how agencies can better communicate with each other and the public, McGee said. Speeding up the response time by all emergency services agencies is another crucial issue.
The panel was appointed by Malloy to investigate the impact from Hurricane Irene and the historic October noreaster that resulted in record-setting power outages across the state.
The 809,000 outages to CL&P customers during the freak pre-Halloween snow and ice storm resulted in the resignation of its CEO Jeff Butler.
McGee said the panel will also study the findings issued recently by former FEMA director James Lee Witt and his Washington, D.C.-based Witt Associates that CL&P was not only unprepared but also made critical mistakes and was seriously undermanned during the Oct. 29 snowstorm.
That report also criticized state and local governments for not communicating well with each other during and after the storm.
McGee said after Wednesdays meeting his panel will start preparing its final report, which will include recommendations on how the state can better prepare for major storms. The report will be presented to Malloy in mid-January.
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