DATE: Thursday, May 1, 1997                 TAG: 9705010483

SECTION: BUSINESS                PAGE: D1   EDITION: FINAL 

SOURCE: BY TOM SHEAN, STAFF WRITER 

DATELINE: NORFOLK                           LENGTH:   56 lines

SEMINAR LOOKS AT REGION'S NEEDS DURING A HURRICANE

Electric power and drinking water will be scarce. Cellular telephones won't be working. Dead animals and debris will be floating everywhere.

Most of the region's employers and residents aren't prepared for the devastation that a hurricane will inflict on southeastern Virginia, insurance managers and safety officers cautioned Wednesday.

The last hurricane to hit Hampton Roads directly was in 1933, and very few residents have been through a severe storm since then, said Jim Talbot, deputy coordinator of emergency services for the city of Norfolk.

The region, he said, is overdue for a hurricane. ``The big problem in Virginia is that we're not ready,'' Talbot told about 40 insurance agents and individuals who attended a catastrophe-planning seminar at Old Dominion University.

The program was sponsored by the Independent Insurance Agents of Virginia, an insurance trade group, and ODU's Center for Insurance and Financial Services.

Talbot said communications will be especially difficult in the wake of a storm. Employers and individuals won't be able to count on cellular phones because the towers that transmit cellular signals will be blown down. Even gaining access to evacuated areas will be tough because police will bar individuals who don't have pre-approved passes.

Depending on the extent of flooding, the region's cleanup efforts could be complicated by chemical spills from factories along the Elizabeth River and by ocean shipping containers floating away from local marine terminals, Talbot said.

``I've noticed that business preparation has improved in the last 10 years, but we have a long way to go,'' Talbot said.

Sentara Norfolk General Hospital, which would expect to be inundated with casualties, has stockpiled at least two weeks' of medical supplies and food, Sentara safety officer Frank J. Orsino told the gathering.

``What happens after a storm? That's when the work really begins,'' he said when describing Sentara's planning effort.

The region's municipalities have devised evacuation plans in case of a hurricane. However, getting hundreds of thousands of residents out of Hampton Roads before a storm hits will be complicated by the limited number of exit routes, Talbot acknowledged.

James V. Naylor, assistant vice president of policy service at the Norfolk regional office of insurer USAA, advised individuals to plan in advance for any evacuation.

Without electric power, service stations won't be able to dispense gasoline. In addition, food and prescription medicines will be difficult to find at the last minute.

``If you don't get out early, you may not get out at all,'' Naylor said. ILLUSTRATION: [Color Photo]

AP FILE PHOTO

A 60-foot wave caused by Hurricane Felix crashes across a road in

Bermuda in August 1995.

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