The state wins praise for its plans, which include posting shelter locations and evacuation routes online.

01:00 AM EST on Tuesday, March 21, 2006

BY AMANDA MILKOVITS
Journal Staff Writer

Hurricane season is getting closer, and so are Rhode Island's plans to handle the worst that Mother Nature may offer.

The state's online maps of the new hurricane evacuation routes -- launched publicly last month -- will be cited as a national Best Practice by Homeland Security, according to state Emergency Management Agency executive director Robert J. Warren.

Rhode Island is the first state in the nation to sign Angel Flight America, a nonprofit organization of pilots, to respond during any type of disaster here. The volunteer aviators can fly in supplies and medical help, or fly out people in need of immediate medical care -- so fast they could have 200 aircraft land in Rhode Island in an hour, says Angel Flight's executive director, Ken Rusnak.

The American Red Cross of Rhode Island has approved three more hurricane shelters -- bringing the statewide tally to 12 -- with 30 more in the works.

The Red Cross is also training the staff of group homes throughout the state to open and operate shelters, so the patients will have individualized care.

And a defunct rescue organization that saves evacuees' pets and livestock is being revived, which could encourage people to evacuate if they know their pets will be safe.

It's taken years for Rhode Island to get to this point. The evacuation routes were an on-and-off project since Governor Carcieri ordered them in late 2004. The Red Cross consistently warned about not having enough shelters for those who will need them. The completion of a statewide radio communications system hinges on federal dollars. Few local communities knew where their most vulnerable residents -- the elderly, the handicapped, the sick -- were living or how to evacuate them.

The impetus for change is the images from Hurricane Katrina, of the elderly drowning in nursing homes, of hospitals running out of medicine and losing power, of rescuers who couldn't communicate through their radios, of people who died when they wouldn't or couldn't evacuate.

Now the pressure is on, not only at the state level, but among the local communities, said Nick Logothets, disaster services manager for the American Red Cross of Rhode Island.

"Katrina was a real eye opener," Logothets said.

A four-member team assigned by the U.S. Department of Homeland Security visited Rhode Island last week to assess how prepared the state would be for a major catastrophe.

This is part of a nationwide plan review prompted by the tragic flaws and failures of the response in the Gulf Coast. All 50 states and 75 urban areas had to evaluate their own plans in January; these review teams were then sent out to validate the plans and make recommendations for improvements.

Over the next few weeks, each team will compile reports for the states and urban areas that detail their findings, said Marlene Phillips, a spokeswoman at the U.S. Department of Homeland Security's preparedness directorate office of grants and training. President Bush will receive the full report on May 31.

The team spent two days in Rhode Island, meeting with officials from the EMA, Red Cross, state police and several state agencies. They reviewed numerous state plans meant to handle disasters, asking questions connected to the failures in the response to Hurricane Katrina.

How will the state evacuate people, especially those with special needs? What are Rhode Island's plans for sheltering evacuees and mass care for all residents affected by a disaster? Are there plans for pets and livestock? How will the state recover and maintain critical services?

Warren said the Homeland Security team was impressed with the detail of the statewide evacuation routes for hurricanes, which show escape roads for 21 communities, shelter locations and areas that would be inundated by a storm. The routes are posted on the state EMA's Web site, www.riema.ri.gov

The state was also praised for having a Nextel communications system connecting all the hospitals. This was improved in reaction to the Station nightclub fire in 2003, when hospitals overwhelmed with injured and dying patients didn't use the system to communicate with each other. The hospitals adopted policies to routinely test and use the system; now, those policies will be cited as a national Best Practice, Warren said.

Meanwhile, Warren is signing an agreement with Angel Flight America to assist during a disaster.

After Hurricane Katrina struck, the volunteer pilots evacuated 7,800 people out of the damaged and destroyed Gulf Coast -- and flew water, food and necessities for those still stranded.

That prompted Angel Flight to contact all the states, asking to be formally included in the state's official emergency plans. In return, the states will get the pilots, the aircraft, the fuel, all donated.

Rhode Island was the first to respond, Rusnak said. Warren invited him to Rhode Island, where they discussed the state's needs and picked out emergency landing sites, including a stretch on Route 95.

"You have a very capable man in Bob Warren," Rusnak said. "He understands the mission. He understands what he needs to get it done."

amilkovi@projo.com / (401) 277-7213