JACKSONVILLE, Fla. — For the next 72 hours, JEA, the city of Jacksonville, and statewide first responders are acting as if their fears have become real: a direct hit from a major storm.
This year, JEA said it’s revving up the storm response and emergency management training it has been doing with the city for the last 14 years.
>>> STREAM ACTION NEWS JAX LIVE <<<
The utility said it’s training to respond to an even more intense storm, as the First Alert Weather Team has already predicted a busy hurricane season.
“The National Weather Service of Jacksonville has produced a really good storm scenario for us,” Adam Pendley, JEA’s manager of emergency preparedness, said. “It involves a category two or potentially higher storm, which Jacksonville has not experienced a sense of since before the turn of the century.”
[DOWNLOAD: Free Action News Jax app for alerts as news breaks]
Action News Jax went inside JEA’s emergency operations center for the first of the three day hurricane response training.
Inside, JEA teams briefed on the possibility areas of Duval County could see a week or longer without power or water that would take potentially multiple days of restoration efforts to remedy.
[SIGN UP: Action News Jax Daily Headlines Newsletter]
There have been no hurricanes yet this year, but part of the training for JEA is acting like there’s one already on the way.
“These three days are kind of like our spring training,” Vickie Cavey, JEA’s CEO, said. “Everyone is in there acting as if they are in the storm, it’s a go live kind of event.”
The First Alert Weather Team said NOAA is predicting anywhere from six to ten hurricanes this year, but it only takes one to be a memorable season. Hurricane season goes through November 30, you can find ways to prepare from our First Alert meteorologists by clicking here.
Click here to download the free Action News Jax news and weather apps, click here to download the Action News Jax Now app for your smart TV and click here to stream Action News Jax live.
