ON THE RECORD/Sunshine state still standing strong
Most of America has watched news reporters on Florida’s beaches being pummeled by rain while debris tumbles along in the background. But behind the scenes, local governments are left to deal with the damage, which can take years to repair. Steve Livingston, director of the Florida Division of Emergency Management, recently spoke with American City & County about the complexities of disaster recovery in his state.
Q: What problems is the state still dealing with from last year’s hurricanes?
A: Just from Hurricane Charlie, they are still rebuilding seven schools that won’t be done in a year or two. Normally in about four or five years you would generally see most of the work completed. So, one year later you go into many of these communities and there’s no building where one should be. A lot of homes still show damage either from not having roofs repaired to people who have taken insurance settlements and abandoned their homes because they are having trouble finding materials and contractors to complete the work.
Q: What is the first thing you do after a hurricane hits?
A: Until you actually get out and start looking at things, you don’t know how badly you’ve been damaged. You get into how to meet the immediate needs of your community. If you can get your water up and your power up, you are in pretty good shape. Without water and power it is pretty difficult to take the next most basic steps because you are still trying to deal with getting enough food and water into your community to meet those immediate needs.
Through all this, you should make sure that your fiscal people are tracking everything.Things that you do not normally fund do not become eligible in a disaster. One example — and this was huge across Florida — was debris issues on private roads and gated communities. Many local governments at the request of their citizens began picking up this debris on private property, and then FEMA came back and said ‘This is not eligible.’ If you wait until a disaster to start learning about these programs, when the disaster happens, you could be in a situation to make some very costly decisions.
Q: What is being done to prepare for upcoming hurricanes?
A: FEMA has been working very closely and very early with our communities to meet with many of the local officials before decisions are being made. Last year much of the debris operations, which tend to be very costly operations during hurricanes, were well under way and many of the issues came out after the fact. This time we sent in a debris strike team of officials from FEMA and the state to meet with local governments as they were beginning their operations to go over contracts, methodology, to make sure that any issues that were not clear were addressed.
Q: What is something that most people who have not experienced a hurricane do not realize?
A: One thing that happens is this image that — especially in Florida with four hurricanes — the state must be totally devastated and there must be nothing left in some counties. Florida is a big state, and, as bad as some of the hurricanes were, overall the state is very resilient. If you are a local official and you have a disaster and you are trying to jumpstart your economy, particularly if you are a tourist-based economy, you might be fighting a double-edged sword of dealing with your disaster [and] getting the word to people outside the area that you are still open for business. Even counties that aren’t hit can suffer.