Cape Coral ready to face the storms
Cape Coral’s Emergency Management Division is gearing up for another Atlantic hurricane season; one that forecasters say should produce an above-average number of storms.
Following last year’s active season that thankfully left the Cape practically unscathed, the city’s local hub for all things emergency management and its staff have undergone their training and are ready to face what lies ahead.
Cape Coral Fire Chief Ryan Lamb and Emergency Management Division Manager Alvin Henderson said they are always looking on ways to improve their preparedness and response, and have taken lessons learned from prior years to add tools to their toolbox.
“I would say every year we’re trying something a little bit new based off of previous storms,” Lamb said. “We also ran internal exercises to make sure we’re prepared. And every time you go through either a live event or training, we find things that we want to continue to tweak and change and work towards constant improvement.”
The city’s Emergency Operations Center serves as the home base for a multitude of personnel who all share the same goal of being in the best possible position to inform and respond when a major weather event is on the horizon.
“Day in and day out, when we’re going into hurricane season, we work on preparedness,” Lamb said. “During the storm, we have the impact and then immediate response we push out so we can quickly serve 911 calls.”
Lamb said a large and almost forgotten portion of their duties fall into the recovery and resilience category.
“First and foremost, we take care of those life safety needs, but then on the back side is making sure our city is financially sound and we maximize our reimbursement opportunities,” Lamb said.
When it looks as if Southwest Florida will experience one of those major weather events, the EOC activates and personnel are informed on what the possibilities may look like.
“For us, the EOC is the heartbeat during city emergencies,” Henderson said.
Lamb said the Emergency Operations Center was designed when the population of the Cape was 100,000. In recent years, they’ve had to expand their capabilities and have created other areas outside of the EOC where personnel can stay in tune with current happenings surrounding a major weather event.
“We’re trying to diversify and create some small hubs outside of the EOC so we can be more responsive,” Lamb said. “The city is 120 square miles. We’re a big place. (We’re) not putting all of our eggs in one basket. There are unique challenges that comes with that splitting up. So, we need to make sure we communicate and everybody understands and knows the mission before we go out.”
“As we go out into this hub-and-spoke kind of arrangement, the traditional
Emergency Operations Center is functioning more from a city-wide coordination center effort in that our departments have operation centers in the services they provide to the community during a hurricane event. It allows them to still function in their daily operational role, but also pay particular attention to what that threat and vulnerability is to that hurricane that’s bearing down on us. Being able to have an EOC with key decision makers that efficiently and effectively react to situations is the difference many times between life and death situations in our community. It’s a huge resource for us.”
This year, the city and EOC has entered into a “community lifelines construct” to be resilient to storms that enter Southwest Florida.
“We’re making sure we’re providing information out to the community, as well as bi-directional communication,” Henderson said. “As (individuals) call into our EOC with common issues or questions, we quickly answer those and also put out that information to other who might have that same question but for some reason they don’t call. We’re trying to keep residents well informed and give them an avenue to ask questions of us so they can be better prepared for that event.”
Henderson said his team reviews the most recent data when it comes to hurricane forecasting, situational awareness and details each individual’s role at the EOC when a major event occurs.
When it looks as if Southwest Florida will experience one of those major weather events, the EOC activates and personnel are informed on what the possibilities may look like.
“A lot of times we stress the fact that the national news media comes with a level of sensationalism,” Henderson said. “What we try to make sure we’re doing is looking at it from a local impact perspective and working through and with our local news media and meteorologist to have a good assessment on what is the true potential local impact so we can try and convey that to our residents.”
When a storm looks as if it could make impact with in the area, it is up to the city manager to declare a state of emergency. Then, then city manager, Lamb, Henderson, police chief, and public works director come together and lead the city’s efforts collectively.
“Once we want to see the storm is tracking towards us… the EOC will have meetings with Lee County Emergency Management, National Weather Service, and National Hurricane Center, and they’ll kind of give us a ‘what to expect’ scenario,” Henderson said. “We start to share that information throughout all of the city departments.”
Local fire houses will prepare their stations for impact based on severity of the storm, and possibly prep for additional staffing, needed equipment or the transfer of equipment/repositioning of a department.
Public Works officials will depart throughout the city to inspect weir levels to make sure storm water management are in place. They clear culverts out, as well as storm drains to ensure the ability to transfer large amounts of rain.
Law enforcement will ready generators to potentially restore power to major intersection traffic lights.
It’s at the EOC where the coordination off all these agencies takes place to ensure a smooth process and to scout what areas of the city need response.
“We have triggers,” Lamb said. “There are certain triggers at certain points that we have to activate because we don’t want to ever find ourselves as a city in a position that we’re not prepared for that worst case scenario. Prepare for the worst, hope for the best.”
There are also recovery plans put in place by the division to quickly be able to respond to what damages may occur due to wind and flooding.
The Cape’s EOC also relays all of its information up to the minute to officials at the county level, who then pass the status along to the Florida Division of Emergency Management.
The city will open shelters at the county’s disgression. The county and city work hand in hand during severe weather events such as hurricanes. The only shelter currently in Cape Coral is Island Coast High School.
While the EOC is doing its part to prep for the season, Henderson and Lamb encouraged all Cape residents to do the same.
“What we’re asking people to do is have a 72-hour kit and be able to be self-sufficient for 72 hours,” Lamb said. “Post storm, we’re going to be running from place to place trying to take care of immediate life threats and stabilize any incidents.”
Lamb also advised residents to “run from water and hide from wind.”
“If you’re in a storm surge evacuation area and have been asked to evacuate, we ask you to please do that,” he said. “You don’t have to travel (far), just a little ways away from the coast.
“If you’re not in a storm surge area, the majority of our houses here are constructed to withstand – they might get damaged – but they’re build to withstand and protect individuals during those storms.
“Busy season or slow, we’ve got to be prepared because it only takes one storm.”
Lamb added that the use of sandbags to protect one’s home is often a futile effort that is more of a pain than it is a positive.
“After the storm waters go down, (the bags) are porous – whatever is in that water now becomes a hazardous material waste,” Lamb said. “You can’t just throw them away, they have to be incinerated. There’s more problems than benefits.”
Residents can visit www.capecoralfire.com for more information on the city’s emergency response division, as well as evacuation zones, the Lee County All Hazards Guide, and personal preparedness tips.
Follow the city and fire department’s social media accounts for the most up to date information during the hurricane season.
To reach CJ HADDAD, please email cjhaddad@breezenewspapers.com