VIRGINIA BEACH – The resort city is well underway with planning for Tropical Storm Hanna.

The city’s emergency operations center will partially activate at 6:00 a.m. Saturday.

Video: Va. Beach powering up for Hanna

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Officials hope for the best but know they have to plan for the worst of Hanna’s winds and rain.

To be safe, a shelter will open at 8:00 p.m. Friday at Birdneck Elementary, 957 S. Birdneck Road. It will close at 6:00 p.m. Saturday.

A new communications system called Orion allows officials to talk with the other six major cities in Hampton Roads, even if the power goes out.

Dominion Power crews are ready to roll if they’re called to restore power.

“In a word, it's preparation, preparation, preparation, I mean down to the most minute detail,” said Dominion Power spokesman Chuck Penn.  “The moment it (the storm) subsides, we'll have field personnel out doing damage assessment and they'll put together packages so our field personnel will know exactly where the damage is and start the whole process of restoration.”

The report an outage, call the Dominion Outage line at 1-888-667-3000.

In the meantime, a shelter was set to open at 8:00 p.m. Friday at Birdneck Elementary, 957 S. Birdneck Road. It will close at 6:00 p.m. Saturday.

The 9th Street parking garage at the Oceanfront will provide free sheltered parking beginning at 8 p.m. Friday, Sept. 5 through Monday morning, Sept. 8. Residents and visitors in flood-prone areas can park their vehicles, small boats and trailers there. Vehicles must fit in a single parking space with 6 feet, 8 inches clearance.

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