Board bracing for Y2K, Sept. 9

By Nathan Hill
Gazette news intern

IOWA CITY -- Come New Year's Day, Johnson County might experience power outages lasting from two hours to four days as a result of the Y2K computer bug, county Emergency Management Coordinator Jim McGinley said Tuesday.

McGinley briefed the Johnson County Board of Supervisors about emergency plans and scenarios concerning Y2K.

"We need law enforcement and fire departments heading people in the right direction," McGinley said of the much-hyped computer glitch.

"What will we do if 40,000 people show up at UIHC (University of Iowa Hospitals and Clinics)? We have to be prepared for that," he said.

The county's power supply and telephone systems should be among the top concerns for residents, McGinley said.

US West, MidAmerican Energy and Alliant Energy report they have the Y2K problem under control, McGinley said, adding that more than 450 government and private employees have been working four years to solve the problem.

County hospitals will not be affected since they can be powered by their own emergency generators, and water service to most homes will continue unabated, McGinley said.

A mock Y2K emergency exercise will be conducted Sept. 9. The date was chosen because it is the ninth day of the ninth month of the 99th year, and computers have problems computing strings of nines, McGinley said.

McGinley advised county residents to have four to five days of food and water on hand New Year's Eve.

"If this happens, it'll be the biggest goof-up in the history of the United States," said Supervisor Charles Duffy, who later added, "The moral to this story is to just not buy a computer."

This story was originally published in The Gazette July 7, 1999.

-- (lucy2k@home.com), July 09, 1999