Emergency Management: Planning for the Future with Lessons from the Past

Working year-round to ensure that Virginia Beach is prepared for possible disasters, the Virginia Beach Department of Emergency Management (VBEM) focused in 2025 on strengthening emergency operations processes and procedures using lessons learned from past incidents. 

With support from the Virginia Beach City Council and city manager, VBEM completed projects that improved the City’s ability to not only manage incidents successfully but also to sustain operations and improve recovery from any crisis. Here's a quick recap of VBEM's accomplishments in 2025. 

Keeping the Public and Workforce Safe 

Ensuring the continued operations of the City’s essential services and operations is the No. 1 priority, and VBEM staff proved crucial for public and workforce safety and health, coordinating 17 incidents and events through the Emergency Operations Center (EOC) in 2025. 

In addition, the department: 

• Completed and formally adopted Disaster Recovery Plan  
• Revised the framework for providing emergency sheltering
• Upgraded the contract for security services for the City
• Deployed a system to notify City desktop computers in the event of an active threat 
• Placed a Field Emergency Operations Center into service 
• Renewed the City’s Storm Ready designation with the National Weather Service 

Educating and Alerting Residents, Visitors and Businesses 

Ensuring that all residents, visitors and businesses are informed and prepared for emergencies is a priority for VBEM. Outreach included participating in community events, such as council members' district meetings, Public Safety Homeschool Day, Truck or Treats, and giving presentations to neighborhood associations and fourth- and fifth-grade students at Virginia Beach City Public Schools.  

Information and resources also were shared through the City’s ReadyVB campaign, the City’s social media accounts and Be in the Know blog posts. Blogs included preparedness information for hurricane season, pets in emergencies and winter weather, as well as notifications of upcoming severe weather, including September’s hurricanes and October’s nor’easter.

VBEM continues to evolve the city’s public alert and warning capabilities by sending alerts through the City’s account with the National Integrated Public Alert & Warning System (IPAWS). During a recent review, VBEM’s alert and warning capabilities earned a rating of exceeds expectations from the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA). 

Leveraging Technology and Tools 

VBEM finished developing and testing the ESRI Emergency Management Applications, which improves the City’s ability to manage, plan and monitor incidents and events. The shared platform allows city departments, external partners and federal taskforces to coordinate seamlessly, while consolidating individual applications into one solution. 

VBEM worked with the Virginia Beach Police Department (VBPD) and Resort Management Office (RMO) to develop solutions to reduce the risk of vehicles entering the Boardwalk without significantly hindering daily operations, visitor experience, special events or emergency responses. The workgroup tested the feasibility and effectiveness of using vehicle barriers to secure City-sponsored, special events that are susceptible to vehicle traffic. As the trial continues, VBEM staff will work to find permanent solutions and expand the City’s cache of deployable barriers. 

VBEM also improved the City’s ability to respond to disasters by upgrading and modernizing the Emergency Operations Center and implementing a modern, cost-effect contingent communications system. 

Training, Collaborating and Helping Others 

Staff in both divisions, Emergency Management and Security, share the responsibility of developing and delivering more than 16 weeks of training, exercises, community outreach and presentations to help educate the people throughout the city and region. This included delivering 16 certification courses, 47 custom training presentations and nine exercises, as well as giving presentations at six conferences. 

Collaboration is a key to successfully managing incidents and events, which is why VBEM leads or takes part in more than a dozen workgroups and committees, ensuring Virginia Beach has the partnerships needed to respond to any crisis. 

Virginia Beach is known for helping others in their time of need, a reputation VBEM staff take seriously. VBEM staff answered calls for help, sharing their expertise to help others and assist with managing major incidents, including to Washington, D.C, for the presidential inauguration; to Henrico County for the drinking water outage; and several rotations of staff to Alaska for Typhoon Halong in October and November.

• ReadyVB
• Emergency Management

The City of Virginia Beach Emergency Management team promotes a comprehensive emergency management program to mitigate Virginia Beach's impacts from human-made, natural or technological disasters. Learn more at VirginiaBeach.gov/ReadyVB.