After last year's severe storms, Gov. Dannel P. Malloy put together a panel to figure out what went wrong. The state went black. Communications went down. 

To make sure such a thing doesn't happen again, a state-wide, two-day drill is planned to begin on July 28, "designed to simulate a Category 3 hurricane," according to Malloy's office. 

“This drill is an important part of our commitment to ensure that the people of Connecticut receive the timely, coordinated response they deserve when the next inevitable catastrophe hits,” Lt. Governor Nancy Wyman said in a release. “These four days will create a blueprint of how we can improve our infrastructure and preparation so that our residents never have to endure the level of hardship and frustration that they dealt with last fall.”

As the release says: Coordinated by the state’s Division of Emergency Management and Homeland Security (DEMHS), the exercise is designed to improve communication between the state’s utility companies and state and local governments in the event of an emergency or other natural disaster.

Participants in the exercise will include the relevant state agencies; the state’s municipalities and tribal nations; the Red Cross; United Way 211; utility companies (CL&P, United Illuminating, AT&T, Comcast, Cablevision, Sprint, Verizon, T-Mobile, Charter, Cox and MetroCast); and representatives of the private sector.
Materials related to the exercise and to the Governor’s Emergency Planning and Preparedness Initiative can be found at www.ct.gov/demhs.