Arlington County: Stay Put, Stay Safe, Use Common Sense to Weather Irene

With the potentially destructive Hurricane Irene en route to hit the Washington metro area on Saturday, Arlington County officials are planning for the worst-case scenario.

Additional police, fire and emergency communications workers are being called in or put on call for the weekend. Employees who live far away will be given a place to sleep. The county’s various departments are prepping for a major event.

“We’re as ready as anybody else is for this storm,” said Jack Brown, director of the county’s Office of Emergency Management.

“What we really need is the community to be ready.”

Every individual, family and business needs to have three days’ worth of all necessary supplies, Brown said, including food, water, medicine, batteries, flashlight and a battery-powered radio.

And, people need to use common sense, Brown said. Stay away from downed power lines. Don’t drive through water cascading over a street. Look online for solutions to non-emergencies, so critical personnel can devote their time where it’s needed most.

“We want neighbors to help neighbors. If your power goes out, or if there’s someone in your neighborhood who is infirm – go check on them. That’s how we’re going to get through this: neighbors helping neighbors. Don’t expect the government to answer every call in a surge period,” Brown said.

“If you have a true emergency, please call 911. We’re going to get to you. Please don’t call 911 with just simple questions that can be answered other ways. The 911 center gets very busy during these periods, and we can’t have people calling up asking how to get a tree removed from their yard.”

The county will be monitoring areas prone to flash flooding, like Four Mile Run or Pimmet Run, though Arlington tends to be less susceptible to flooding than nearby Alexandria, Brown said.

Parks officials have been moving picnic tables, playground equipment and other items from low-lying areas, according to an email from county spokeswoman Mary Curtis. Crews also have been cleaning drains in parks and trimming trees. Some programs already have been canceled.

The Arlington County Department of Environmental Services is fueling, servicing and testing generators that would support water distribution and the wastewater collection systems in the case of power outages or flooding, Curtis stated. County departments also are developing contingency plans in case regular daily services are affected, like garbage and recycling collection. Traffic crews are gathering equipment to repair road signs and signals in case they are damaged.

Arlington County will use its website, social media accounts on Twitter and Facebook and its AM radio station, among other methods, to notify the public in case of an emergency, Curtis stated.

Chief Building Official Shahriar Amiri is working with contractors and construction companies to secure cranes and other materials to that they don’t become missiles in the case of high winds.

“We need people to use common sense, stay put, weather the storm, don’t go out and get in the way of emergency vehicles, and just ride it out,” Brown said.

“We don’t anticipate doing any mass evacuations of Arlington County. The projections just don’t show that. We’re much better off just staying put.”