Lee County’s Strategic Preparedness for Hurricane Season

Lee County’s Strategic Preparedness for Hurricane Season

All forecasts point to an extremely active hurricane season, but whether there is one storm or 20, “we don’t want the community to panic,” said Ben Abes, director of the Lee County Department of Public Safety.

He recently spoke with Florida Weekly about lessons learned from past storms, new plans and projects and revisions to existing plans that will improve the area’s resiliency.

“We aren’t focused on the long-range or even the seasonal forecast. We’re focused on preparedness, and that’s what we do day in and day out. It takes just one storm to have a tremendous impact on the community,” Abes said. “We saw that with Hurricane Ian, and that’s what we want the community to be prepared for.”

He said the public has access to a lot of information, and “we want them to leverage that information to help them be prepared.”

Residents should monitor local media outlets, the National Weather Service and the National Hurricane Center. At leegov.com/hurricane, the All-Hazards Guide, which helps residents prepare for hurricanes and other emergencies or disasters year-round, is also available.

ABES

The site also has a link to AlertLee.com , a free notification system residents can sign up for. Residents can receive alerts during emergencies and receive notifications about severe weather notifications, evacuation notices, and boil water notices. Registering your cell phone on the app is the easiest way to receive a notification, but you can also sign up for text, email or landline notifications.

Abes ticked off the three key things to do to prepare for the upcoming season:

¦ First, have a family emergency plan and an emergency supply kit. That includes identifying important documents and information you need to have and where you would evacuate in the event an evacuation is ordered. It could be a friend or family member’s home or a nearby community. You don’t have to travel hundreds of miles.

¦ Second, know your zone and know your home. The county will identify evacuation orders by evacuation zone. The zone information is available on its website and in the All-Hazards Guide. Knowing your home is another factor. “Most homes built after 2002 are built to stronger codes and can withstand hurricane force winds,” he said. “If an evacuation is not called for your neighborhood and your home is newer, it’s likely able to withstand the winds and you’re able to stay home and shelter in place. You may not need to evacuate.”

Always have your essential supplies ready to go.

¦ Third, he said, be ready if a storm is forecast to impact our area. That means doing the initial steps, such as bringing in loose items from your yard, securing your hurricane shutters, etc., so that you can immediately evacuate if an order is issued. “We’ve heard from a lot of people that waited until the evacuation order came out (during Hurricane Ian) and didn’t immediately evacuate because they were starting the first steps of their plan,” Abes said.

FULLER

Abes said you can download LeePrepares, an emergency management app for your phone that provides evacuation alerts. The site has various short videos illustrating how you and your family can prepare for a disaster, including preparing an emergency supply kit and an evacuation checklist. “We would encourage people to not only watch those but share those with your friends and family.”

He added there will be a greater effort to explain the decision to order evacuations.

“You know, if we’re not calling for an evacuation today, but there’s the opportunity for us to share that we are considering information and an evacuation may be necessary, and it may be necessary tomorrow or the day after. Now we’re starting to paint the picture that there’s the potential for impacts. And again, this comes down to some of the lessons that we learned and making sure that we’re communicating in a way where we can get that message across.”

“We are certainly better prepared” than they were in the past, Abes said. “There’s a lot of things that, until you experience one of those events, you don’t have the information to be able to properly plan or address some of those things that can come up. And a lot of those lessons learned that we talked about are incorporated into new plans or revisions to existing plans.”

Future recovery and resilience

Two important reports that will help the county’s future preparedness are the Hurricane Ian After Action report delivered in August by a third-party vendor and the Resilient Lee Recovery and Resilience Report Plan delivered in March. The resilience plan was prepared by a Long-Term Recovery Task Force that included more than 200 community members. The plan contains 43 core initiatives identified as medium- and long-term needs to help assist the community through recovery and encourage resilience from future impacts of natural and human-made disasters. To review the full 231-page ResilientLee Recovery and Resilience Plan, visit resilientlee.com .

Federal dollars that are available may also help provide for greater prepared- ness and resiliency in the future as the county starts to tackle the larger capital projects, like improvements at Lee County Utilities plants, bridgework and other projects, he said.

Another plus the construction of the new county Public Safety Center building is underway. It’s planned to be open for the 2025 hurricane season.

Abes said, “It will house the emergency operations center, our public safety communications, emergency communications, which handles all fire and emergency medical services, public safety administration, emergency medical services, all of those on one campus.”

“We’re very excited about that. That’s going to be a significant improvement to our ability to respond.”

In addition, two contracts have been awarded to third-party vendors to help with staffing and managing hurricane shelters. “They will be implemented for this season.” Most of the shelters are in public schools, he said. “Each of those schools will still have school district representatives and county representatives there and representatives from the new vendors.” Most people don’t realize that it takes 20 to 30 working in a shelter to keep it running 24 hours a day, he said. All the shelters will be open to pets.

In Charlotte County, Patrick Fuller, county emergency management director, said that when he gives presentations out in the community, most residents already understand that there is a higher chance than normal that they may have to deal with the impact of a hurricane this season “I do believe they are taking it seriously,” Fuller said. The recent history of Hurricane Ian is still a focus in people’s minds.

In the aftermath of Ian, Fuller resorted to printing off sheets with critical information and putting them in the hands of everyone out in the field to give out to residents. He will still do that in the aftermath of a hurricane but also set up information hubs in libraries and recreation centers in affected areas.

“If the south county is affected, recreation centers and libraries in that area will be set up as hubs, but not other areas,” Fuller said. They will serve as a point of distribution for food, water, tarps, and other resources.

He also recommended downloading the American Red Cross Emergency App, which the Red Cross describes as an all-inclusive app combining more than 35 emergency alerts to keep users safe. The alerts are available for the user’s location and to monitor where friends and family live. A map shows Red Cross shelter locations.

Specifically, the Red Cross says the app includes a “Family Safe” feature that allows people to see if loved ones are OK, even if that person hasn’t downloaded the Emergency App. “Using “Family Safe,” the user can send someone a message and their response of either “I’m safe” or “I’m not safe” will come to the user. The user can call them or see their location on a map if they are unsafe. The app also has an “I’m Safe” button which allows users to let loved ones know they are out of harm’s way.” redcross.org/get-help/how-to-prepare-for-emergencies/mobile-apps ¦

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