Back in October, we saw first-hand the devastating affects of Hurricane Matthew, especially along Georgia's coast. Madison Cavalchire went to the Guardian Centers in Perry to find out how our state's military and first responders are preparing for severe weather.
No, a hurricane didn't just hit Central Georgia. It's a simulation of a Category 3 hurricane, making landfall on Georgia's coast.
The actors and collapsed buildings you see are all part of our state's first-ever Vigilant Guard exercise.
"This is an inter-agency, multi-regional exercise that exercises the Georgia Department of Defense, the Georgia Emergency Management Agency, and a host of other state and local agencies, to work as inter-agency partners in response to a natural disaster," said Georgia Army National Guard Colonel Wallace Steinbrecher.
Steinbrecher says the exercise trains different agencies to work together, just as they would have to do during an actual emergency.
"The first time that we exchange business cards should not be at an incident site," Steinbrecher said. "So we want to know who our partners are going to be, we want to know how they operate, we want them to know how we operate, and how we best fit with each other."
Working as one unit, like members of the Army and the Air Force did as they were rescuing a pretend victim from a manhole.
"There's debris all around here and hazards," said Senior Airman John Childree. "Not only physical hazards, such as the building collapsing, but you have gas, fire, and other elements that we have to be cautious of."
Childree says these elaborate sets are about as real as it gets. They can't stop a hurricane from hitting, but they can be ready to respond.
Vigilant Guard exercises happen four times a year, across the country. Other exercise scenarios include disease outbreaks and cyber attacks.