Hurricane lessons learned
But all of that changed on
And here we are, on the verge of yet another hurricane season. We thought this would be a good time to check in with
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
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
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
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
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
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?
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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