Facebook played major part in Hampton’s hurricane response

HAMPTON – Social media played a major role in the way the City of Hampton communicated with the public during Hurricane Irene, representing the first time networking sites played a significant part in the city’s response to a storm.

The role played by social networks such as Facebook during the hurricane was one of the issues discussed at a special meeting called Wednesday in the wake of the storm on Aug. 27 and 28. In contrast, back in 2003 when Hurricane Isabel swept across Hampton Roads, social networking was not a tool available to the city

“During this storm we used social media a lot more than we have in the past,” City Manager Mary Bunting told the city council Wednesday. “Word got around so much that we had 600 new subscribers to our Facebook page during the four days before and during the event … it gave us the ability to immediately push out facts, tips and piece of information,” Bunting said.

• Topics
• 
  Social Media
  
• 
  Mass Media
  
• 
  Hampton (Hampton, Virginia)
  
• See more topics »

Mayor Molly Joseph Ward said for some people who lost power, the only way they could receive information during the storm was via their smart phones.

At the meeting the council also confirmed emergency declarations made before the storm and backed amendments to the city’s ordinance on curfews during emergencies.

State law requires an emergency declaration being ratified by the council within 14 days of its imposition.

Assistant City Manager James Gray said the city activated its emergency center on Aug. 24 – about three days before the hurricane arrived. Virginia Governor Bob McDonnell declared a state of emergency on Aug. 25. Bunting declared a local state of emergency later on the same day.

Gray said this made certain resources available to local authorities. The city requested six high water vehicles in anticipation of flooding and a National Guard unit was put on alert to assist the city, Gray said.

“Even though we didn’t need them they were available to us,” he said.

Gray said the city carried out four sets of reverse 911 calls warning of anticipated flooding or detailing shelters for people with special needs. One of the calls was the mandatory evacuation for about 20,000 households located in the category 1 storm surge areas, while a fourth call was for the mandatory curfew.

“We have a database of phone numbers of all Hampton citizens about 77,000 landline numbers,” he said. He also said by calling Hampton’s 311 center citizens could get their cell phone numbers included, noting cell phones were replacing landlines for some members of the younger generation.

See the Hampton Matters blog at dailypress.com/hamptonmatters

Share and Enjoy