WASHINGTON -- Naval District Washington will participate in the annual hurricane preparedness and disaster response exercise, Hurricane Exercise/Citadel Gale (HURREX/CG) 2025, from April 21 to May 2. This annual exercise, led by Commander, U.S. Fleet Forces Command (USFFC) and Commander, Navy Installations Command (CNIC), aims to enhance the region’s response to tropical storm and hurricanes, involving all Navy regions and installations along the eastern seaboard and Gulf Coast.
“Our goal for this exercise is to make sure that the plans that we have written and established during training will translate over to a real-world situation,” said Jeff Sanford, NDW’s acting operations director and program director for Emergency Management. “Every storm is different, and your ability to mitigate the effect of a known storm coming your way is key and essential.”
HURREX/CG 2025 is designed to solidify shore-based and seafaring command units’ readiness and recovery frameworks for the anticipated active 2025 hurricane season. This includes teamwork exercises with local and state partners to enhance the Navy’s support capabilities.
“This year we are focusing even more on task critical assets, mission essential functions and coordinated responses with D.C. and our Joint Task Force during the exercise,” said Sanford. “If a storm hits the area, it won’t just be hitting the Navy installations, it is going to affect everyone, so we want to focus on collaborating with installations from the other branches of service as well.”
Concentrated efforts are being made to minimize disruptions to local communities and base operations, although residents may experience occasional increased traffic or access delays near bases during the exercise.
For more NDW information, please visit www.facebook.com/NavDistWash, https://www.instagram.com/navdistwash/, and our website at https://www.cnic.navy.mil/regions/ndw.html.