Fla. County Prompted to Improve Response Times After Hurricane Charley

Aug. 13--MANATEE -- Karen Windon still gets chills when she thinks back on Hurricane Charley.

"We were right in the cross-hairs for a long time as Charley barreled up the Gulf of Mexico," Windon recalled Tuesday.

Windon, now a deputy administrator for Manatee County, was the county's public safety director in 2004.

"For me, it was a mixture of tense moments, and swelling pride, knowing we had such a committed team at the emergency operations center at that time," Windon said.

Although Manatee County escaped much of Charley's fury, with a historic right turn that directed it north east through Punta Gorda and Arcadia on Aug. 13, 2004, it proved to be a game changer.

It changed the local public perception of hurricanes from something to ride out to knowing there could be a dangerous killer on the loose. And Charley put emergency managers on notice that they needed to step up their games.

Manatee County officials got serious about building a stand-alone, hardened emergency operations center that could withstand a such natural disaster as a hurricane. Officials moved ahead with plans for a new Public Safety Center that might otherwise have languished on a wish list for years.

In 2008, the county opened a new $50 million, 100,377-square-foot facility off U.S. 301 and north of 51st Avenue East. It can withstand 200-mph winds, and is in an area safe from flooding. Moving into the fortress-like building were emergency operations, the traffic management center, the emergency communications center handling 911 calls, and Emergency Medical Services.

"Previously we were in the downtown administration building on the fifth floor. We wanted something outside of the evacuation zone," said Steve Simpson, emergency management officer. "It's difficult to put hurricane shutters on a high-rise building.

"We didn't want to be caught in the same position as Charlotte County," Simpson added, recalling how that emergency operations center had been knocked out by Charley.

Charley and Ivan became the poster children for the need for improving storm readiness. Ivan, which hit the Florida Panhandle in September 2004 as a Category 3 hurricane, also brought a 20-foot storm surge.

Another improvement for storm readiness was the completion of a surge analysis, begun in 2008 with the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, said Don Hermey, chief of the Manatee County Emergency Management Division.

The survey, conducted by aircraft using light-emitting radar, collected 25 million samples per mile and reduced the margin of error from 5 feet to between 2 and 6 inches. That's a difference between whether your toes or your nose would get wet in a storm surge, Hermey said.

"Because surge is what kills, we live by the mantra 'run from the water and hide from the wind,'" Hermey said.

A square yard of water weighs 1,700 pounds. Put that into a 30-foot surge, like the one caused by Hurricane Katrina, and you have a devastating punch, Simpson said.

What he saw in Katrina was life-changing.

"When you see the mud and the bodies, it can't help but change your outlook and make you work harder," Simpson said.

Another improvement is the state's positioning of supplies, such as water and food, prior to a storm in a 400,000-square-foot warehouse in central Florida. The key to being able to serve residents in a storm-ravaged area is in getting relief supplies to them as soon as possible.

When it comes to storm survival, citizens will always have a major responsibility. They need to have a hurricane plan, plus seven days of food and other supplies on hand. Moreover, if they get the word to evacuate, get out.

Depending on the predicted storm surge, Manatee County could have to evacuate 220,000 people -- compared to 100,000 with Charley. That many people would require 53 hours to clear local highways.

"When we tell people to move, it will still be blue skies. If they wait for the first feeder bands from a hurricane, it's too late," Simpson said.

Hurricanes are no respecters of political boundaries, and emergency planners now think regionally.

Southwest Florida counties all lost emergency shelters because studies showed they were in flood zones.

"It adds another 1.6 million people to the highways because we don't have enough shelters," Hermey said. "We're still in a shelter deficit because we don't have enough."

While Manatee County theoretically has enough shelters for its own residents, emergency planners know that the next big storm may send residents from other counties to Manatee seeking refuge.

What about the power?

Myakka City and Duette were hit by Hurricane Charley. The power was out in Myakka City for 13 days, which meant residents had neither power nor water, because most use their own wells, Fire Chief Danny Cacchiotti said.

"There wasn't a terrible amount of damage, even though we had a lot of wind," Cacchiotti said. "We had a hand-held wind meter that measured winds of 120 to 130 mph."

Myakka churches led the recovery effort, with meal centers and generators to provide power.

"It was kind of inspiring to see how everyone pulled together," Cacchiotti said.

Peace River Electric Cooperative provided much of the power to East Manatee and DeSoto counties, which were disrupted by Charley. Peace River sustained about $7.4 million in damage to its facilities during the storm.

No one will say that it can't happen again, but Peace River has made many improvements, said Mark Sellers, communications coordinator for Peace River.

In the 10 years since Charley, to harden the system, Peace River has installed many more concrete poles, especially along State Road 70 and Erie Road. For increased reliability, Peace River added more electric-distribution substations, including several in Manatee County. The substations allow PRECO to "backfeed" power to its consumers. If a consumer's substation fails, it's possible to provide power from a different substation, Sellers said.

Peace River is increasingly adding more underground electric services across its system. With lines buried underground, they are less susceptible to damage from wind and tree limbs.

Peace River also has a three-year right-of-way tree trimming program across its 10-county service territory. Keeping the lines clear reduces the chance of damage to poles and wires from downed trees and limbs, Sellers said.

Similarly, Bill Orlove of Florida Power & Light said FPL learns from every storm, whether it's Hurricane Charley, Frances and Jeanne or Superstorm Sandy that affected the Northeast two years ago.

Hurricane Charley impacted 874,000 FPL customers, and it took 13 days to restore power to all of them.

"One of the lessons we learned from that historic 2004-2005 storm season was the importance of strengthening the grid, and that's why we've invested nearly $1.5 billion to make our system stronger," Orlove said. "Because of the investments we've made, we're in a better position to both weather a storm and restore power faster for our customers when outages do occur."

James A. Jones Jr., Herald reporter, can be contacted at 941-745-7053 or on Twitter @jajones1.

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