ORLANDO, Fla. —A significant number of individuals working for public utilities participated in drills designed to simulate the aftermath of extensive power outages in preparation for the beginning of hurricane season on June 1.
At the Renaissance Orlando Airport Hotel, the Florida Municipal Electric Association held a “tabletop exercise” for the public power utilities of the state, including the Orlando Utilities Commission.
The representatives deliberated on what actions they would take in the event that Florida was struck by “Hurricane Zenith,” a fictitious Category 4 hurricane that made a direct landfall there.
This is the first time that FMEA has sponsored a simulation of this nature, yet members of the organization are routinely required to assist one another in times of crisis.
“We all do work together because when one utility is restored, they are able to send those crews to help another utility. This is because we all work together.” According to Amy Zubaly, who is the executive director of FMEA, “We help coordinate all of that.”
The teams went over their plans for how they would respond to significant power outages while also coordinating their efforts with other organizations and how they would get ready for a storm of this magnitude.
According to Zubaly, the activity provides them with a low-stress approach to assess their processes and come up with ideas for making them more effective. She also mentioned that after years of powerful storms, utilities have implemented many upgrades that assist limit and shortening outages. These enhancements help restrict and shorten outages.
“We’ve fortified our systems. According to Zubaly, “We have made a lot of investments into our systems and put up more hardened poles as well as more system improvements that have made our system more resistant to some of these hurricanes.”
