CITY'S Y2K RESPONSE TESTED; SCV COORDINATES WITH COUNTY ON PREPAREDNESS.

Byline: Angela M. Lemire Staff Writer

People outside City Hall on Wednesday morning went about their business as a typical weekday: Traffic flowed normally, electricity and water services were interrupted, and banks and gas stations serviced manageable streams of customers.

But inside City Council chambers on Valencia Boulevard, an Emergency Operations Center was at the ready, attacking a variety of Y2K-related emergency scenarios in coordination with Los Angeles County teams and similar response centers from more than 80 cities in the Southland.

The three-hour, countywide drill was conducted to test communication systems and prepare communities for worst-case scenarios that experts say could occur as a result of computer failures and the public's anxieties when the calendar year changes to 2000 at midnight on Dec. 31. Problems involving power failures, loss of water and sewer service, traffic tie-ups, crowd control and mass consumer runs for emergency supplies were put before the city, county, utility and public safety officials to solve.

Although Santa Clarita for years has practiced its own response plans to prepare against natural disasters - such as earthquakes and floods that cause similar problems - the main difference in Wednesday's Y2K drills was the heightened attention on disseminating information to the public.

``It's the human element of Y2K that's really significant,'' said Donna Nuzzi, the city's emergency preparedness coordinator. ``The big multimillion-dollar question is how people are going to react.''

While local utility and city officials don't perceive widespread power outages from Y2K computer failures as the likeliest threat, Nuzzi said sheriff's deputies anticipate power losses from drunk drivers running into utility poles, because such incidents occur frequently on New Year's Eve.

``People are going to lose their power and say it's related to Y2K,'' Nuzzi said. ``Getting the correct information to the public in a timely manner really is going to be the hot issue.''

City and public safety officials worry that rumors and misperceptions might trigger consumer runs to grocery stores, banks, gas stations and department stores for emergency supplies, such as portable stoves, propane, flashlights, cash supplies, food and water, Nuzzi said.

Those types of scenarios on Wednesday prompted public safety officials at the drill to ``deploy'' additional police officers to busy gas stations, shopping centers, intersections and banks to direct traffic. They also ordered additional sheriff's deputies to control crowds at cash machines.

Throughout the drills, a county employee filed computer updates of the city's needs and response plans to county offices in Downtown Los Angeles.

``They'll get a snapshot of what's going on here and throughout the county. That will help the county allocate its resources where it's most needed,'' explained Nuzzi.

As Wednesday's drill played out scenarios imagined to occur from New Year's Eve through several days into the New Year, the emergency operations center practiced receiving notification of the problem, delegating tasks, brainstorming solutions, executing response plans for specific emergencies and keeping the public informed.

Assistant City Manager Ken Pulskamp, who served as the EOC director Wednesday, called emergency preparedness exercises critical.

``It helps people think about what they're going to do, long before an emergency arises. They need to know what to do in a hurry, from the instant they show up, so there's no confusion,'' Pulskamp said.