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Emergency Water Drill in Va. Beach Goes Fast, Well for Volunteers

Stacy Parker

July 31--VIRGINIA BEACH -- Steven Miyares noticed a sign on the road. Paul Laibach saw a message on the city's Facebook page, and Charlie and Carolyn Williams heard about it on the evening news.

During an emergency, such as a hurricane or blizzard, the city would set up "point of distribution" sites, also called pods. Volunteers would distribute water, medicine, vaccines or any type of commodities residents might need, said Barbara Morrison, a city spokeswoman.

Officials practiced running such a pod for two hours Thursday morning in the parking lot of First Colonial High School, and they got a workout.

Within an hour, volunteers from the local Community Emergency Response Team and Medical Reserve Corps had distributed more than half of an available 500 cases of bottled water and hurricane-preparedness guides.

"I'm retired -- I should get two," joked Bill Davis, a Linkhorn Point resident, as Zaccheus Washington loaded a 32-pack of bottles into Davis's convertible Mustang.

"Thanks for all the hard work you're doing," said Missy Smasal, who lives nearby, her two children waving from car seats.

It's been three years since the city conducted such a distribution drill. They learned a few things from the last one, said Bob Engle, health emergency planner for the Department of Public Health. This time, they doubled the water-dispensing sites to six from three and assigned more people to traffic management for the winding lines of cars.

The staff met its goal of serving each car within 10 minutes, averaging 9 minutes and 45 seconds, Morrison said.

Charlie Williams was reassured to know the city will be prepared to distribute supplies in an emergency.

"If you just happen to need it, you got it," he said.

Stacy Parker, 757-222-5125, stacy.parker@pilotonline.com

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