MANATEE — It was only a hypothetical storm, but everyone took the Category 4 seriously. It came with all the attendant complications and unexpected snafus of a real hurricane.
“Our Number One challenge was, we had four prisoners escape in Arcadia,” Lt. Lorenzo Waiters, representing the Manatee County Sheriff’s Office, told 120 officials gathered Friday at the Emergency Operations Center, 2101 47th Terrace E., as part of a statewide test. “But we caught them.”
Other “snafus” officials discussed included an overwhelmed 911 system, and the difficulty of maintaining security at school shelters mobbed by thousands of evacuees from the south fleeing the storm’s fury.
It was the first day of an exercise to test how well each of 67 counties handled a major storm, slated to continue Monday, the official start of hurricane season.
The situation facing Manatee County was based on facts from the hurricane that devastated south Florida in 1926. It killed 373 people, left thousands missing or injured, and sent a massive wave of displaced residents north.
State officials chose the scenario in which a hurricane hits South Florida, barrels across the state exiting through Tampa, then gains strength again and slams into the Panhandle.
“We purposely threw out large challenges to get them thinking outside the box,” said Laurie Feagans, chief of Manatee County Emergency Management, who was among those leading the drill. “We had good participation from all our agencies; I loved it — they actually talked to each other.”
Among those attending Friday were representatives of police and fire departments, emergency medical services and the 911 system, the Manatee County School District, Florida Power & Light Co., the U.S. Coast Guard, county Health Department workers and those who would be operating shelters and supplying food and water.
“We come every year,” explained David Ezell, deputy chief for the Bradenton Fire Department. “This is part of our preparations we do to familiarize ourselves with the Operations Center, and get to know the players.”
The advantage, he added, is that familiarity helps everyone work together more effectively when it’s for real.
“This type of process helps things go a lot smoother during an activation, if we had an event impending in our area,” he said.
Sara Kennedy, Herald reporter, can be reached at (941) 708-7908 or at skennedy@bradenton.com
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