Hurricane Ian After-Action Report Released

Catastrophic events strike areas within our nation and internationally on a regular basis. Those events can take the form of weather events, building collapses, fires or industrial accidents. All of these incidents can result in great loss of life as well as extensive property damage with great monetary costs.

Although we live in what most residents consider a tropical paradise, Southwest Florida may on occasion must be prepared to face the challenges that mother nature brings our way and therefore must be prepared for those types of catastrophic events.

In the last five years two major weather events impacted our area. In 2017 residents felt the wrath of Hurricane Irma and just last year the area was struck by Hurricane Ian with substantial impact to Collier County and the City of Marco Island.

Those two storms and others in recent years have begun to demonstrate what meteorologists have begun describing as “rapid intensification,” just prior to landfall. For this to occur three factors should be present: high surface water temps, low wind shear and high ocean heat content (temperatures below that of surface water heat are higher than normal).

NOAA reported in studies over the last decade that ten of the last thirteen named hurricanes had shown the traits of “rapid intensification” prior to making landfall. In an attempt to put that in perspective, residents of the Florida Panhandle in 2018 who went to bed that evening as Hurricane Michael approached their area as a weak Category 3 Storm with winds of 111 mph would find a strong Category 5 Storm was now approaching with winds above 160 mph only six hours later.

Although there is little which can be done to stop these types of events from occurring, the planning as well as the execution of those plans are important to minimize the loss of life and/or property.

On February 6th Fire/Rescue Chief Chris Byrne provide council with a Hurricane Ian After-Action Report which summarized actions taken by city staff members acting under his command as the “Incident Commander” during the preparations for the arrival of the storm event, during the impact of the storm as well as during the initial recovery phase of the storm.

The report covered a summary of the activities up to the arrival of the storm itself, which included the coordination actions taken that included much of the preparation for protection of city property, the set-up of the Emergency Operations Center within the Police Department Headquarters, outreach to the general public, coordination  with Collier County Emergency Services as well as communicating with city personnel and assignment of responsibilities prior to as well as during the impact phase of the storm event itself.

Many of the lessons learned from Hurricane Irma would assist staff in preparing for this storm, according to Chief Byrne. Evacuation of homes in certain areas of the city were undertaken as well as emergency transport of residents from the low-lying areas of Goodland. City personnel would also deal with supplying emergency power generators to lift stations in and around the city to ensure there would be no wastewater discharges from those lift stations due to power outages, as were experienced in other areas of the county. 

Some issues encountered during the event include the flooding of some city vehicles which were unable to be relocated to higher ground. 

Marco Fire/Rescue was busy during and after the storm responding to structure and vehicle fires around the city. One major fire involved the Hideaway Beach Golf and Tennis Club Building and caused a major loss. Numerous vehicles throughout the island would be impacted due to flooding and temporarily moved to a staging area on Bald Eagle Drive before they could be removed after insurance adjusters had dealt with owners.

The County 9-1-1 system went down for approximately six hours on October 1 but was eventually restored.

By Friday of that week Marco P.D. began an organized documentation of derelict and damaged boats found within the city waterways and temporarily closed waterways under city control until an evaluation of debris fields could be undertaken to ensure safe passage was restored.

Simultaneous welfare checks were made on residents by both fire and police. Personnel that were part of the statewide mutual aid system arrived to assist in helping to respond to increased call volumes and provide assistance to both MIFD and MIPD personnel.

City staff began identifying areas in need of addressing as well as surveying city personnel as to their concerns and input regarding solutions.

City department personnel have been working with businesses as well as residents to assist them in coordinating with FEMA and other agencies to work through the numerous challenges facing them as a result of storm damage.

A detailed report on the findings regarding the review of the identified issues, as well as potential solutions, should be available in May of this year. This should allow staff to provide council and the public with an appropriate set of recommendations with identified financial impacts for budgeting and planning purposes for executive staff.