Manassas Park Prepared for Hurricane Irene

The “city and staff are as ready as possible” for whatever Hurricane Irene has to bring, Manassas Park city manager James "Jim" Zumwalt said Friday.

In preparation for the storm, the Manassas Park Department of Public Works is checking the city's drainage systems and pulling out debris and logs.

Zumwalt also said that public works is checking the scuppers and downspouts to make sure they flow freely. The city is working with its emergency management team to make sure that the city is working in adherence to the state's emergency preparedness guidelines, he added.  Also, the city is checking to make sure that all its communications equipment is working and that there are generators in place in case the power should go out during the storm.

This weekend, extra police and public work crews will be out from Saturday afternoon to early Sunday, during what is expected to be the height of the storm.

Zumwalt said that they will hold meetings on Saturday to determine if more emergency officers will be needed.

 Right now, the most problematic area in the city is Denver Drive, which has one low point that always gets flooded during heavy rains, he said. 

There are plans in the budget to make the drainage pipe along the point larger in the future, but for this storm, public works will be making a barricade to stop the street from flooding. Manassas Park is uphill from coastal waterways, so coastal flooding will not be an issue. Since there hasn't been a lot of rain in the past few weeks, the ground becoming super-saturated isn't a problem.

If the storm is heavy, Zumwalt said the middle school will act as a shelter. If need be, there will be broadcast messages alerting the public to the shelter as well as signs along the main roads. The city's phone lines will also be open in case people need to get through.

He added that if street lights should go out because they fall over or are damaged by winds during the storm, the department of public works will fix them as soon as possible. However, if they go out because of electricity, then the electric company will be alerted to fix them.

Zumwalt added that the city has added a guide on its website where you can track Irene as well as prepare for the storm.