Governor Cuomo Announces Three-Day Training Exercise to Prepare Federal, State and Local Governments For A Catastrophic Flooding Event

Press Release

Governor Andrew M. Cuomo today announced a severe weather training exercise will take place from July 12 through July 14 to ensure residents and local governments throughout the Mohawk Valley are prepared in the event of catastrophic flooding. After Superstorms Lee and Irene caused severe flooding of the Mohawk River and devastated parts of Upstate New York, the Division of Homeland Security and Emergency Services identified the critical need to assess the State of New York's plans for future destructive weather events. "Mohawk Cresting" is a three-day, functional exercise led and designed by the Division of Homeland Security and Emergency Services Office of Emergency Management, that will simulate a severe weather event in the State Emergency Operations Center in Albany and the Federal Emergency Management Agency Region II Regional Operations Center in Colts Neck, New Jersey. The exercise will utilize NY Responds, the State's universal emergency management software and will test communication between local, state and federal partners.

"We must ensure New York State is fully equipped with the necessary resources and expertise to diminish the impact of catastrophic storms," Governor Cuomo said. "Flooding devastates communities and inflicts widespread damage on affected regions. This training exercise will prepare our state to weather any future devastating storm and is another step toward building more resilient communities across this state."

"Flooding is one of the biggest threats we face in the state of New York," said Division of Homeland Security and Emergency Services Commissioner John Melville. "It can happen any time of year in any part of the state. We must make sure that we take steps to bring together all of the entities that would be involved in a major flooding event to ensure we are always prepared to respond effectively."

This three-day event will begin with an initial response to a growing disaster on the state level and will simulate needs and requests from counties to the forecasted storm. In anticipation of two large-scale major tropical storm systems impacting New York State, the State's Emergency Operations Center will be fully activated with over 25 State agencies, the American Red Cross, the Salvation Army and the Federal Emergency Management Agency. This flooding will have cascading impacts, such as debris management, power failures, immediate water rescue needs, evacuations, sheltering, long-term housing needs, and infrastructure damage and failure. The goal of the exercise will be to evaluate preparedness and response capability before and during the event as well as coordination with federal and local governments once the Presidential Declaration has been granted.

About The Division of Homeland Security and Emergency Services:
The Division of Homeland Security and Emergency Services and its four offices -- Counter Terrorism, Emergency Management, Fire Prevention and Control, and Interoperable and Emergency Communications -- provides leadership, coordination and support for efforts to prevent, protect against, prepare for, respond to, and recover from terrorism and other man-made and natural disasters, threats, fires and other emergencies.

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