Hurricane lessons learned

June 06--Hurricanes have been a recorded part of life on the Gulf Coast of Florida since 1846, back in the days of the Whitaker family. The first named storm to hit the Tampa Bay area was Hurricane Easy in 1950, though there was nothing easy about it. Beach Road on Siesta Key was washed away and St. Armands was under 1 1/2 feet of water. Then there were those 10 hurricane-free years, between 1950 and 1960, until Donna swept past Venice and Sarasota with 90 mph winds, causing severe flooding and massive wind damage. Of course, there was Charley that decimated Port Charlotte in 2004, but that had been it, as Sarasota had escaped, relatively unscathed, for 13 wonderful years.

But all of that changed on Sept. 11 of last year, when Hurricane Irma came to town. Experts agree, it could have been much, much worse. If the storm surge had come through as first predicted, we would be writing a very different story. As it was, nearly $8 billion in insurance claims resulted from Irma's track through Florida, including more than 25,000 owners of residential and commercial property in Sarasota, Manatee and Charlotte counties.

And here we are, on the verge of yet another hurricane season. We thought this would be a good time to check in with Ed McCrane, emergency management chief for Sarasota County. We asked him to take a look back at Hurricane Irma, to see what was done right, what could have been done better and what lessons we learned from that terrifying experience.

Here we are already, on the verge of another hurricane season. Can you give us some lessons that were learned from our experience with Hurricane Irma?

Some residents were confused by the phased shelter opening process. We did not do a good job of explaining why some schools were being used as shelters and others were not. In addition, we learned that some of our residents may not be able to drive a car more than a few miles, or may not be able to drive at all, so we needed a transportation plan to get those people to shelters.

What were you most proud of, in terms of our area's preparations? What one thing would you definitely do differently?

Most proud of: the coordination and teamwork of all county, city and community partners in the preparation, response and recovery from the hurricane. Also, I'm very proud of all the Sarasota County staff members who were not able to be with their families to work throughout the storm. They put the community's needs ahead of their own, which is the very definition of public service.

Do different next time: A revision of Hurricane Evacuation Centers, formerly known as shelters, planning to include use of Enhanced Hurricane Protection Area (EHPA) rated or hardened Hurricane Evacuation Centers. Hurricane Evacuation Centers should open concurrently, providing accessible, pet-friendly refuge for evacuees. Utilize evacuation levels along with geographic identifiers for evacuation orders. Revise the Persons with Special Needs (PSN) Registry to identify medically dependent persons. And, develop a transportation plan for those that need transportation assistance to General Population Hurricane Evacuation Centers.

The forecasts are in, and predictions are for an above-average season, with 14 tropical storms forecast for 2018, with seven of those expected to become hurricanes, three of those major. How does that impact your preparations? In general, how accurate are those forecasts?

The predictions and forecasts do not change how we prepare ourselves or the community. We approach every hurricane season as if a tropical system was going to impact our county directly.

I understand the National Hurricane Center is making some changes to its forecasting tools, including a smaller "cone of uncertainty" and extending watches and warnings to 72 hours in advance of a storm. How will these changes impact your procedures?

The changes provide more information, but do not impact or change how we prepare. We begin our preparations as soon as the Hurricane Center indicates the potential for the county being included in the five-day cone of uncertainty. Our Comprehensive Emergency Management Plan and our Department Disaster Preparedness Plans all begin at 120 hours before landfall.

Does the much publicized "cone of uncertainty" hinder or help your efforts to get people to prepare early? Do most people focus too much on the center of the track?

We believe that the cone of uncertainty helps our efforts by providing a visual representation of the potential track of the storm. This motivates most people to begin to prepare if they have not already.

If a major storm is coming in our direction, and you have made the decision to leave, how far in advance would you suggest people get on the road, to avoid major traffic tie-ups and other problems?

If your plan is to leave the area you should begin your travel as soon as possible, but not later than 48 hours in advance. You should also plan a route using roads other than Interstate 75, which will most likely be packed with vehicles evacuating from points south of Sarasota County. State roads 72, 70 & 64 all travel to the eastern inland counties and connect to routes such as State Roads 17, US Highway 27 and Interstate 95, which go north.

What advice would you give people whose homes are older, or not up to code? What could they do now to improve their chances of avoiding major damage?

The main areas of concern are to protect all window and door openings to the home (including the garage door) and to ensure that the roof is in good shape and properly anchored. All homeowners should have a wind mitigation inspection done by a professional to determine what their home could handle and what they can do to harden it for hurricanes.

Of course, we were fortunate with Irma to avoid the storm surge. Why did the surge not affect us, and do you think most people understand what a difference that made in terms of damage to our area?

According to the National Weather Service, the probable storm tide (surge) for our area was six to ten feet above ground level. This would have happened if Hurricane Irma's track stayed just off the west coast as it moved to the north. Because the storm made landfall further south and east of Sarasota County, we did not see that surge. In fact, the storm's power and effect could be seen as the storm's passage to the east pushed all the water out of Sarasota Bay.

How would you rate the performance of our shelters? Did we have enough? Did they open early enough? Were pets adequately cared for?

The shelter operations were successful considering that we sheltered over 20,000 people and 3,000 pets without any injuries or serious incidents. This, however, could not have been done without the incredible support of the Sarasota County School District administration and staff with the support of the Florida National Guard. If the shelters were opened 48 hours before landfall they could have been filled with thousands of South Florida evacuees that were moving through our area. When the storm passed our area we still had 5,000 spaces available. There were some pet owners who showed up without the proper supplies to care for their pet, but they were assisted by our teams and other pet owners.

What about the media? Did they do an adequate job at getting out late-breaking alerts and news?

Our media partners did a good job getting the word out and helping to keep the community informed. Our communications department will continue to coordinate with media outlets to ensure they have the most current information.

There were some complaints about how long it took for clean-up to occur. Were the delays unavoidable? Were you generally satisfied with the process?

Sarasota County has a Disaster Debris Management Plan, which was initiated prior to landfall of Hurricane Irma. We had contractors in the county pre-staged in our Emergency Operations Center during the storm. Post storm, the contract team surveyed the damage and debris in the county. Our staff requested a minimum of 22 trucks for collection of debris. Unfortunately, Hurricane Irma affected 57 of 67 counties in the state with tremendous damage in the Florida Keys, up the southwest coast past our area, across Central Florida, and the east coast from Miami to Palm Beach. With so many communities and counties needing debris trucks, it was difficult for all contractors in the state to find enough resources or trucks to help. More trucks arrived each week and we were able to complete the first pass of debris pick up prior to Thanksgiving.

If you could get everyone to do three things now to prepare for hurricane season, what would those three things be?

Know what evacuation level your home is within and have a plan on where you will go if you must evacuate. If possible, make arrangements to stay with friends or family outside of the evacuation area and only go to an evacuation center (shelter) as a last resort. Check out your home and harden it from hurricane threats by adding shutters to all windows and ensuring that your entry doors are protected and that you have a hurricane rated garage door. Put together a disaster supply kit for all members of your family to have at least 72 hours of food and water following the storm.

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