Statewide Emergency Exercise Prepares Agencies for Severe Weather and Other Events - Seite 2

"In large-scale disasters or emergency events, it is critically important that the key public and private responders are well coordinated and able to communicate quickly and effectively," said Richard J. Mark, Chairman and President, Ameren Illinois. "Participating in a simulation like this one helps us prepare to meet any challenges we may face."

Activities taking place across the state as part of the drill will include:

• Metropolitan water Reclamation District – simulated plane crash and damage to Stickney Water reclamation Plant
• CyrusOne (data facility for Chicago Mercantile Exchange) – loss of transmission tower and customer- owned substation, on backup generation, fuel shortage, security breach
• Lake County Emergency Management Agency (EMA) – opening their emergency operations center and a joint operations center, full-scale exercise
• MidAmerican Energy – opening their emergency operations center and responding to simulated record flooding in Davenport, Ia., and Rock Island, Ill.
• American Water – responding to tornado damage to their pump station in Belleville, Ill.
• Ameren – flying drones in DuPage County as a cross-organizational damage assessment resource
• Comcast and Verizon – testing impacts to physical tower infrastructure south of Interstate 80
• Wilbur Wright College – simulating blackout to campus and restoration plan in conjunction with ComEd and its Exelon sister energy companies PECO, PHI and BGE
• Rush University and Medical Center, and Illinois Tech – responding to tornadic damage
• Aqua Illinois, City of Rochelle, ComEd, MidAmerican Energy, Rush University – exercising responses to cyber-attacks
• 14 emergency operations centers will open – Air National Guard, American Water, Comcast, ComEd, CyrusOne, DuPage County, IEMA (SEOC, BEOC), Lake County EMA, MidAmerican Energy, MWRD, OEMC, Verizon, Walmart

“Partnerships between government agencies and the private sector allow communities to respond and recover faster following disasters,” said Acting IEMA Director, Alicia Tate-Nadeau. “I applaud our private sector partners for their dedication to preparedness. Preparing today for the disasters of tomorrow will ensure Illinois is ready to respond to all types of hazards, anywhere in our state.”