Richmond emergency-management officials outline hurricane readiness, Hagerty follow‑up after January water crisis

City emergency-management officials briefed the Richmond Public Safety Standing Committee on local preparations for the 2025 hurricane season and on steps to implement recommendations from an outside incident response assessment conducted after the January water crisis.

Stephen Willoughby, director of emergency communications, preparedness and response for the city of Richmond, said the city will update multiple plans, strengthen operational coordination and improve public information and logistics, and pledged periodic public updates on progress. "Find it, fix it," Willoughby said, summarizing the mayor's direction after Hagerty's assessment.

Hagerty's incident response assessment identified gaps in planning, operational coordination, logistics and public information during the January event. Willoughby told the committee the city will begin work on an integrated preparedness plan within 30 to 45 days and expects a comprehensive update of the Emergency Operations Plan (EOP) to take up to about 18 months, with higher‑priority amendments made sooner. He listed six specific follow‑on plans the administration intends to produce over the next two years, including a resource‑management plan, point‑of‑distribution plan, crisis communications plan, volunteer-and-donations plan and a citywide cost‑recovery plan.

The presentatio…