I want to introduce our city manager uh who's responsible for everything that we uh have to do during the hurricane. So, you have the right guy here. >> Thank you, mayor. Thank you. Uh first, I wanted to thank everybody for coming
out. We we plan these events each year at the start of hurricane season. We know that that is one of the number one concerns for the residents and it's one of my me
as the manager, it's one of my number one concerns. So, I really enjoy having these to let you all know what we've done to prepare for a hurricane. that. Plus, I'm also a South Florida native,
so I have been through many hurricanes being here in South Florida. I know the importance of them and what we need to do to prepare for them. So from our city perspective, I want to reassure you the most important thing when dealing with a
hurricane is for us as the city being able to handle the debris. Uh, as you know, being especially on the beach here and we had a little brush with a storm a number of years ago, that brush
dumped a lot of sand on Collins and there was a lot of tree and debris down. So, whenever you're preparing for a hurricane, probably the two most important things are the debris removal, getting the roads open so we can get
crews back in here, and then secondly, where we're going to store the debris. So, we have to have a pre-planned area according to the state that we choose
where we're going to store the debris. So whether we like it or not, and I don't like to have to have our park torn up, but we have Gateway Park as where we are going to stockpile our debris.
There's a very specific way that you have to remove the debris, store the debris, and then truck the debris out of here in order to get any kind of reimbursement from the state. So we have all of that set. We have a contract in
place for debris removal and then we have a backup to that contract. So the debris removal and the debris monitoring, the debris site, all of those things are set. I always let
people know we are, as you know, between the ocean and the intra coastal. So when we give the order to evacuate, I guess the word that you can get back to the people that you care for is if we
tell you to evacuate, that's because you need to evacuate. And I know that many people do not like to evacuate. I'm very confident in the construction of all of our buildings here. The Florida Building Code has one of the, if not the strictest hurricane codes in the United
States. So, the building is going to be fine. And people are like, "Well, I'm going to stay here. I'm going to be on the 20th floor." Well, that's great, but we're going to have some flooding and we're not going to be able to get to you
uh until that water recedes. Our police department, our fire department, we're we're always prepared. One of the things we learned recently, I did some posting about it, was we had a little bit of flooding and some of the
cars along the streets got stranded. We learned from that and we have some high water rescue vehicles that we can get to the sand or we can get to people if needed. We take hurricanes very seriously
and that's why we have this presentation for you. As always, if you have any questions, uh the mayor and the commissioners, it's always been number one priority for a residents public safety and safety for things like this.
So, we're happy to answer any of your questions. I'm going to have Ben that works in the manager's office give you a uh very informative presentation. We're going to have copies of all of this on our website and anything that you need,
we'll be able to get to you. So, with that, I'm going to turn it over to Ben and we'll be around to answer any questions you have after. Thank you. >> Thank you, sir. and uh mayor commissioners who are in attendance. Um just one housekeeping thing which is really uh important regardless of what
you see in here today and you're able to to take in in the back room. Uh we we have these uh Miami date hurricane guides. These are very very informative. They're uh county specific but also um there's information pertaining to just general hurricane information every
year. Uh these are really great. Uh, I also found that the state's newest uh, hurricane guide is extraordinarily thorough. I mean, they they cover everything in this, including how to clean your gutters properly before a storm. Um, so I I recommend, you know,
looking those up, especially if you're a community association manager who's here, um, and you have a lot of residents that rely on you for that kind of information, uh, where to point them, where to direct them. Those guides are just fantastic, um, as first point sources for, uh, for information. So,
highly recommend that. Uh, my name, just to introduce myself, my name is, uh, Ben Hogarth. Uh, I started with the city back in September um, in the city manager's office. Uh, my my blue sky or day-to-day role for the city uh, is very complex. It's nuanced
that we do a lot of different things. Project management, um, legislative affairs, I mean, just everything. But when it's not blue skies, one of my roles is going to be uh to to help with emergencies and doing emergency management for the city. Um what is that? What does that look like? Well,
for our side, that gets uh into a lot of different things. But before we get into response and recovery and what that looks like, I thought just kind of as a warm-up, we would just go over um what tropical cyclones, what hurricanes actually are. And maybe I hope everybody
here including staff members is going to learn something today that they've never heard before. Um because I think sometimes even in the me meteorological community, we don't do the great the best job um explaining why the forecasts are the way that they are. And sometimes people misread forecasts. They think a
storm's not going to be as bad as it is. I hope to kind of crush some of those myths so that we can get to why we evacuate when we do and why we do what we do. Um so tropical cyclones are are hurricanes. They're one and the same. U they rotate anticlockwise. So the
opposite way of the clock in our part of the hemisphere of the world. So that's what you see here is a graphic from Noah. Hurricanes um are cyclonic rotation on our part of the world is anticlockwise. So whenever you see graphics like this, this is just what they're trying to convey. Um, Hurricane
Michael, uh, I put up there because this is one of the most beautiful satellite photos that Noah has ever taken from from, uh, recent history. And, uh, Michael was the strongest landfalling hurricane in the in the continental United States since 1992, since Andrew. Um, I'm also bringing it up because,
um, I I was actually sent out there in 2018, October of 2018 by the state for emergency management and response. And uh what I learned at at kind of ground zero uh in Bay County, very similar to what a lot of Miami date um and especially Homestead uh residents
learned back in 1992 is um exactly all the problems that come into uh posttorm recovery of a major disaster um at ground zero. So uh I learned a lot being up there for two weeks doing emergency management response, public information
uh liaison uh with the federal department. So, um, I'm not going to go into all of that today, but what I will hopefully do is be able to explain this a little bit better for everybody. Um, the graphic that you see on the screen now is called the Saphir Simpson hurricane wind scale. We've all seen this in some way or form throughout our
lives. Uh, I underline the word wind because I want to talk about this for a second. This is a wind scale. It is primarily designed with how uh infrastructure is damaged by wind uh during these events. This is not a storm
surge scale. The reason why I wanted to stress that is storm surge obviously you've heard this in recent years does lead to more fatalities typically uh during hurricane events than wind. Now wind does drive storm surge. Wind does
increase. Um but the severe Simpson wind scale is only designed about uh around human infrastructure and what wind loads those structures can take. So when we talk about storm surge, just remember even if it is yes, just a three, and that's a true story that I'm going to
refer to right now. Uh in in Michael, I was on the beach in Mexico Beach, ground zero, doing disaster recovery work, and I met an individual who was um a survivor uh who had a home on Mexico Beach. And I asked him, you know, why he
stayed and he says he thought it was only going to be a three. And yes, that morning before it went to land, it was a three. And just hours later, it was a five. Um, these storms are spinning up faster than ever. And that's something that's concerning uh experts and emergency managers because it means that
our time for response and for getting information is reduced. So, we want everybody to understand that no, it's not just a three. A three is a major hurricane. uh and a major hurricane can create a catastrophic storm surge even if it doesn't necessarily destroy every
structure right on the coast. Um these are just some example photos. I took two of the photos at the bottom for Hurricane Michael. As you could see, very comparable to Hurricane Andrew uh up top. Uh again, it doesn't matter that there's, you know, so many decades and
years in between. It is the still the same damage when you're right there on the coast. Uh bottom left is Tindle Air Force Base. If anybody likes F22 Raptors, those were in that huge giant like multi- football fieldlength hanger and
that did not get spared. So I want people to understand that yes, new structures can withhold, but there's still going to be damage. There's going to be debris and that is weeks and months of recovery. Uh understanding probability. I think this is really really important. Um, in
recent years there's been a lot of talk about, well, Southeast Florida's been speared a lot. You know, we're getting very lucky. Maybe we've already uh with Andrew, we probably won't get any in the future. That's not how everything works. It's statistics. The probability, if you
were to ask AI, this is actually as accurate as it gets. AI was correct here. Uh, you have about a one in six chance of a landfall hurricane anytime within 50 miles down here in Miami Dade. So that's true in most counties in South Florida, especially about one in six
chance almost everywhere here. Um what does that actually look like? Well, here's the last 25 years. Wilma and Katrina 2005, both the same year. This is not what it looks like. This is half of what it should be if we're going
by, you know, all of recorded time and then the actual statistic. This is about half. But what does it look like if we expand this timeline out to a hundred years? That's closer to what it looks like. These are all the the hurricanes that have impacted within 50 miles landfall uh of our area in the last
hundred years. So, I I I want to talk about how as we go through time, you're going to see that nature is just taking its course. And here's all of recorded history since 1842. These are all the lines and the paths of the storms. So, this is a very real
thing. And yes, it's it's going to happen in our lifetime again. Um, Hurricane Dorian, the last part of the hurricane, uh, stuff that I want to talk about specific is how forecasting and tracking hurricanes works and why it's very, very complicated and why we
need to make sure that everybody takes it seriously, no matter even if you think you're outside the cone. And we're going to get to that in a second. uh Hurricane Dorian in 2019. If you look at the path, and I can't point to it with a laser pointer, it won't work on the screen, but the path it actually took was east of Puerto Rico there uh before
it came towards Florida. That's the actual true path. And then it thankfully it stayed off our coast. The problem is 48 hours before it went east of Puerto Rico, the cone had it going nowhere really close. That's actually um
a couple hundred miles off course going more towards the Dominican and and towards uh Florida itself. But we we got lucky. We got speared. But it's important for me to point this out because so many people watch the cone and think, "Oh, well, I'm outside the cone. I'm outside the area of impact."
That is a myth that is false. This cone only shows where the center of the storm. So the very very center of the eye is going to go. This does not show these cones do not show area of impact. And that's been the number one problem by for the National Weather Service in in recent memory is that so many people
look at the cone and they assume I'm outside the cone. I'm safe. That is not the case, especially with storm surge. And this is even more complicated. You also never see this get posted, but this is uh a time
uh sequence of what those cone updates look like. And they're literally every 3 hours these updates occur. So, I'm I'm leaving it on this slide for a minute. Um, so everybody could kind of digest how this is, but the bottom left where it says storm advisory, that's an every three-hour update. Um, and this was
Hurricane Ian, which was one of the worst forecasting uh events that happened in recent memory because the storm was originally, if you remember, just a few years ago, the storm was going to go and hit Tampa direct and it ended up hitting Fort Myers and and many people in Fort Myers were not quite prepared for that um for the storm surge
and and and for all the water that they ended up receiving. So, it's important to understand that the cone is imperfect. Um, the X is not marking the whole spot. It's just the center of the eye. Uh, and this is a general probability. Um, it stays within the
cone, the eye within 95% of the time. So, National Hurricane Center is actually really got a good track record, but it's important to know that's not guaranteed. Um, so that's this is the last slide I'll talk on hurricanes. And it's important to also
know that size does make a difference in impact. Hurricane Andrew versus Hurricane Irma, those are true sizes as best as we can get them from a satellite perspective. Um, the most important thing to understand here is that yes, while Hurricane Andrew and Irma were
both category 5, and while Andrew was just slightly higher wind speeds, maximum, Hurricane Andrew only had those hurricane force wind speeds out um just a little over 10, but 12 miles from the center. Irma on the other hand uh it was
over a 100 miles out from the center any direction where those hurricane force wind speeds or greater uh even extreme winds um over 115 mph were impacting homes. So that not only affects wind, it also affects the amount of storm surge
over distance. So that's why Irma was so destructive even given um that it was slightly slower wind speeds. So, now that we've talked about hurricanes, I'm just going to go into storm surge and evacuations. Some important information for everybody who uh may or may not have seen this information before. Um, first,
why we do it. Uh, this is an overview from Mexico Beach where we were kind of literally climbing around the rubble in 2018. Um, everything you saw uh see on this picture is a satellite overview days later. Um, most of the damage was wind unfortunately. uh storm surge swept
the the the west the rest to the north uh to the other water um uh marina areas. So this is this is what we expect to see in any major storm surge or wind event is a lot of sand being pushed. Uh in that case this this is a different
community. In that case there were even homes that were pushed into the uh rights of way. Um so it that's a pretty radical extreme event. Um but it's important to know that there's a reason we have evacuations. There's a reason why the coast um in particular has so
much attention to towards it with water. Uh and Mexico Beach was a perfect example. As far as Sunny Isles Beach, we're in zone B. Uh zone B just means that if it's a category 2 or higher hurricane, um it's it's time to evacuate and you're going to see those evacuation
notices go out. It's almost guaranteed that even if zone A evacuates, they're probably going to evacuate zone B, too. Um, there's not many instances where only zone A is going to get evacuated and not zone B. So, um, that's important
to know. Just watch out for evacuation orders. What do they look like? You'll see maps like this posted by uh Miami Dade and other other sources. Um, it they are mandatory. No, no one's going to drag you out of your home to to evacuate. That's not how mandatory evacuations work. Um, but there's a
reason we have them. And I just want to say that for a second because it's really important. Uh, you might think, hey, I live in a 30 or 60th story of my condo building. You know, I'm not worried about storm surge. And it's like, well, that's true. The problem is this is what if you have a medical event. What if somebody in your family,
what if your animal has a medical event? Um, and there's 50 plus mph winds outside. No one's coming. The ambulance isn't driving down the road. they get tipped over over certain wind speeds. It becomes too dangerous for personnel. Um it's not just that the hurricane's happening. It's not just that you're
safe from the wind. Um it's that no one's coming and you're not getting out. And you have to think along those lines. So if there's someone you know that thinks, oh well, I could survive the wind speeds. Like yeah, a lot of people actually do. Most do. Um think about those other uh factors that can happen. And there's a reason we evacuate and
it's not just the wind and the water. Um, the other myth, and we learned this from the 2004 season, which is it's remarkable that I still see a lot of people evacuating hundreds of miles north, but you can even hear our state EM director, and he will tell you face to face, uh, you don't need to evacuate
a 100 miles. You only need to evacuate a couple or a few miles inland. That's it. There's no need to go, you know, I mean, if you want an extra vacation, go for it, but there's no need to drive hundreds of miles to get out the way of a hurricane. uh you could be perfectly
safe in a hotel within a few miles. Just don't be on the beach. That's all we're saying. Um and so those evacuation zones, we we direct people to buses and we'll get to that in a second. We direct people to other locations, but it's not hundreds of miles away. Um so that's a
myth. And public shelters also, if you are someone of means and don't have to go to a shelter, don't go to a hotel somewhere. Um, shelters are supposed to be used for people who, you know, don't have means, don't have options, don't have family, don't have other
alternatives. Um, and and space is precious at those shelters when the worst happens. Uh, here's an example of hurricane evacuation bus stops. Not important to remember where these stops specifically are. You can for now. Um, it's important to know that every single
slide that we have up here, the intent is for us to put this on the website later. Every slide has uh a link directly to it for reference so that you can go to that slide directly. If you want that information, go to that link. It will take you directly to a website
or to the to the primary source. So if Miami Dade County should ever update hurricane evacuation bus stops, you can go directly to the link and see what the new stops are if they change that during an event. U but these stops are for people who want to go to the shelter who don't have the means to get themselves
to the shelter. if they can walk or get to one of these stops, and there's many more throughout the county, um they can go there. Uh I would recommend they call 311 ahead. Uh and then they can get picked up and go to the shelter. So 311 obviously is the uh county's, you know,
blue sky, gray sky volunteer, uh you know, assistance program where you call, you have questions, they'll answer. uh during emergencies and for emergency evacuation assistance, uh 311 is the number one uh place to go to to get that information. They do support
multiple languages, uh English, Spanish, and Creole. Then they have other support for other languages as well as an option. It's I'm just putting this slide up here so it's in the in the record. Uh not spending a lot of time on this. It's important for people who have special needs and want to go to a special needs
shelter um that they know what that program is, that they're registered with the county, that they're registered with the state. I've got a slide for that, too. Uh who who should be falling into this category? It's people who need electric, power, oxygen to survive during storms. Um you know, I know it's
some of this stuff is pretty obvious, but they might not know. They might need assistance. If you see someone who does, there is assistance. There's 311 to start and there's professionals who basically will will handle everything for them uh from beginning to end. Transporting to shelters, transporting
from shelters after recovery and of course the care in between. So this is the state uh special needs registry. This should not be something they sign up for uh when there's a hurricane alert. They should be signing this up for this on January 1st, on January 2nd,
any day of the year, but when there's a hurricane and a and a pro in a storm because this registry and it and they will say on the slide here, it may save your life. They're correct. Uh this is for notification and coordination of people with special needs to where they need to be. And they're not going to get
that information uh from them and from the state, from the source if they're not registered. and getting that information while an event is ongoing is going to be really really challenging. So if you know anyone that has special needs uh get them on the special needs uh registry in Florida uh as soon as
possible. Pet friendly shelters is this is the other special kind of shelter that comes up. These are not automatic. The counties in Miami Dade County will announce what they will be where they will be when an event happens. So they're not necessarily There are some
that are outlined. There are some that are probably guaranteed that the county will open. Um, I'm not listing them. It's just important to wait for that information when the time comes. Also, what's important is those animals need to stay caged. And there's other points uh that they will be checked out by a
veterinarian on site. Um, and you're limited to four per household. So, um it's important to listen to emergency management uh direction when the time comes if you if you need a uh animal shelter specifically uh because those change event to event. So, I can't make
any guarantees about um how many will be opened and where. And then if you're a community association manager, it's it's really really uh good for your members um to have links to some of the flyers and the information that Miami date that the state puts out. I I put a slide here
as just an example. There's really great uh flyers that they've already created and and pamphlets of information for something like animal shelters. Just go to the link, print them out, you know, hand them to your residents. It's one of the the most important things you can do to help us with uh with getting the
information out. So, uh I'm not going to cover all of this. These are things you've seen many times before. How to make an emergency plan. Um know your zone. stock a disaster supply kit. Uh, but I'm going to stop on halfway full, halfway there. I think this is a really important one
that doesn't get talked about enough. Um, maybe it's a Thursday, the evacuation alert goes out and you start packing your car and you're like, "Oh no, I've only got a half or three quarters of a tank full. I got to stop at the gas station, you know, before we
before we leave." Don't just start driving. Just go. And there's a reason for that. Um, a lot of reasons actually. One reason is everybody's going to be doing the same thing. Everybody wants to get to the same pump. That's going to back everything up. Number two is how many miles did I say before that you
need to be before you're out of the danger zone. All right, so just a couple or a few miles. By the time you start driving, you're already safe for the most part, right? You're be you're going to be able to find gas the further away from ground zero and from the from the potential uh center of impact wherever
that's going to be. Even if Sunny Isles isn't going to be the direct center, but you know it's going to get a lot of the impacts, you want to drive north, let's say, just start driving and stop for gas on the way. You're going to have a probably an easier time finding gas on the way anyway. Um, and I know it's not the most reassuring thing when you're on
the road wondering if you're going to find the gas. You're you're just going to be better off and you're already in the safe zone. Um, know your evacuation route, reinforce your home, document your property. I mean, these are pretty standard things you've heard when we talk about documenting pictures and
videos. Uh, that's stuff that FEMA has a very difficult time arguing against are pictures and videos. Uh, descriptions, they can argue that all day. But if you're if you've got pictures and video evidence that you had something, what it looked like, the condition it was in, that's going to go a long way, whether it's individual or public assistance,
it's going to go a long way to helping you get back um what you what you lost during a storm. And the most important icon here is sign up for our weather alerts. So our media team is going to really like this one especially because uh we
have an emergency alert system that is sunny of Isles beach specific information. that is very very critical um that you don't just sign up for Miami Dade County alerts that you sign up for our alerts as well because if the city for example is issuing sandbags somewhere you want a sandbag or many
sandbags um who's going to get them first is the one who's got the alert knows where to go. So, if you want to benefit from city specific information, whether that's before the storm or after the storm recovery when you're trying to get um resources, help, assistance, this
is number one because this is how we primarily push out information, especially after a storm. Um and so it's important that you get city specific information because the county relies on the most local level of government to get the resources to people. So they're relying on us to get the the resources
to you even if the resource is procured from the federal level. It's it's it's it's downrange and downstream. So you really really really need to be signed up for SIB alert. We have a slide dedicated to this. Um but if there's if you don't listen or remember anything else I say, it's the sign up for these
alerts. This is number one. Uh and and here's a couple examples on FEMA websites. Uh you can go and you can get ideas. the the county has this, the state has this, the the federal government has many slides and and pictures and videos dedicated to what
you should put in your supply kit. Just think seven days of supply. You could say three, but I recommend seven days of supply, food, water, batteries, right? First aid, simple things. Um, and then I've got a few slides here
dedicated specifically to the community managers who are in the room. um who first I just want to say uh one get registered with the city if you if you're not already. You probably are if you're here, but there's an easy link to go to sibfl.gov/emergency contact form. So we've made it simple
now uh to just go to this link, get registered with the city. We know who you are, what kind of business or what kind of condo you are. It's very very important for getting information out of there. But the condo association owners in this community are the most important people um in emergency response. And the
reason why is there are probably more emergency managers in the state that wish they could be in our position in the city uh because you all are one point of contact that has the potential to reach hundreds of points of contact. That is so critical in an emergency
situation because the most difficult thing for us is getting information to people at the right time. to the right people at the right time. So, you all are the most important people. We rely on this. If you know there's community association managers who are out there um who just don't take this stuff as
seriously, aren't involved, but your colleagues with them, just let them know. They're the most important people. We need them in this community. We are very, very fortunate to have that situation. Uh and it would be a shame if we didn't use those resources and assets to be able to get information to people. So, you really are the most important
people in this room. uh hurricane watch and warnings. So, this is my bright slide just to make sure everybody's still awake, but hurricane watches and warnings uh mean different things to different people. For uh meteorologists, they're talking
about the time to impact. So, the average the public can say, "Hey, I know it's time to evacuate now, time to leave town, time to get my supply, whatever." For community managers, this is what it means. Um, if you have, you know, I don't want to use specific examples, but
if you're under construction, um, have your people secure site materials by 48 hours out. Um, and hopefully you can, hopefully we have enough, uh, weather notice to do that. But the first thing you're going to be working on is securing site materials. um documenting your site, what it looks like before the
storm, getting your people the information that they need for their planning, and then if you have deliveries of course incoming, just, you know, change all the delivery dates that you can. Those are the most important things you do 48 hours out. By the time we're 36 hours out, and that's not a lot
of time between those two uh periods, you want to be able to have all your people evacuating at this point. You're shutting everything down. You're securing the site. the last these are your last tidying up things and you're still a day and a half out, right? You're still 36 hours out from impact
and you're done. The balconies are clean, the windows are secured, all that. That's that's ideal because you don't want to be worrying about that 12 hours before impact. Um, so this is a little bit of play on words, but one of the things that as
staff we talked about before this uh this event today is uh how can we get across to everyone how important it is to keep their balconies clear. Um I'm not saying this would ever happen. The government, state, federal, local, this is a thing there is. They absolutely
have the right to enter a unit to remove things from a balcony if it's going to become a danger during a storm. these things at 60, you know, if it's a chair, if it's a table, think about anything that could be on the balcony
at 60 stories, at 50 stories high is potentially a lethal weapon. Um, is potentially a dangerous hazard if it blows off that balcony and slams into somebody's 30th story or or someone below. It's important to know that when we talk about wind speeds with
hurricanes, we're talking about at the surface. We're talking about here where we're standing now, 60 stories up, that wind speed is much higher. Could be 10, 20, 30 miles higher. So, you might think I've only got a category two down here. Might be a category three up there as
far as wind speed. So, it's important to think about, you know, maybe not physics, but think about doesn't matter what the wind speeds are. Get it off the balcony. Don't take the chance. Uh, one of the other things is look, we have cameras everywhere today. No one needs the insurance nightmare of an item
flying off your balcony, causing damage somewhere, and then that getting traced back to you. It's not worth it. Get your people, if your community manager, get your members, if they're going to go traveling for the season for couple weeks, if you know hurricane season is here, get them to take their stuff off
the balcony. Uh create programs where you know, may if you have to hire companies that on a asneeded basis to move stuff for everybody, you know, I get creative. But this is the most important thing we need to have most compliance and and everybody on the same page with is is clean those balconies
because if we have a cat 3, four or five event, this could be very problematic. Uh and and to that same idea and concept, um the state legislature has in recent years taking this more seriously. Uh cranes and securing hoisting equipment. Um you've seen probably
videos of cranes swinging in the wind. We've all seen those videos, I'm sure, on YouTube and everywhere else. the the crane swinging in the in the wind is intentional. I just want to say that out there. Um that's the weather vein position. That is the position it's supposed to be in. That reduces the
amount of wind load on the crane as best as we can um during a high wind event. So they are supposed to be swinging freely because if they're not swinging freely, the whole structure is taking the wind load full and it's probably going to crash at high high wind speeds.
So, it's important we get compliance with this and the state. This is not just city compliance. This is state compliance. Now, this is a law uh about how to secure I just posted the the new statute into this slide. Um if there's anyone here that's a community manager that's dealing with construction of any
kind that involves a crane. Um I'm sure the construction companies know about it, but just don't forget this is something to talk about every single event. So this was I think post Irma. Uh just some examples of what downtown here looked like in less than just
subcategory 1 wind. Um but I you know this is after sand was cleaned up and debris. This wasn't right immediately after the event. This was after some uh of the debris had already been cleaned up and moved to the side. And this is kind of what it looked like. Uh down
power lines um obstruction. One of the most important things that people can do um after a storm is is just stay home. Uh and I'll get into that in a second. What we do, however, uh is we prioritize life life safety and search and rescue in the worst events.
Um and pretty much every event, clearing roadways, making sure roadways are safe. That's that's almost number one. Um almost always guaranteed there's going to be some kind of roadway obstruction. So that's number one. Uh restoration of infrastructure. if we have any kind of down power, any kind of uh bridges that
need restoration so people get get across. That's that's priority. Um we coordinate supplies during recovery and of course getting people the assistance they need including helping facilitate them getting through applications to FEMA um small business loan association if they're a small business and they
need help. So that's what we do as the government, local, state, and federal. That's primarily what we're responsible for um and what we do post recovery. Um and I'm going to show this picture. This is a point of distribution. This is
what we call them pods. U these are just some examples in the worst case scenario of what it looks like when we're distributing resources and hopefully efficiently. What you can do is number one stay home. Um if you're not home and you've evacuated, don't come back right away.
Wait till there's an all clear. Uh there's a lot of reasons we say that um before entering a home. So this is when you do finally come back, you know, we we definitely urge you to kind of get a uh assessment of what your what your damage looks like. Um if you need any
assistance, this this will help. And certainly the surrounding area. If there's any public infrastructure that's damaged, we definitely rely on on those reports coming in, too. Um keep main electrical and water systems off until you or a professional can ensure they are safe. So, that's it's a weird way of
saying it. Um, you know, don't don't just turn everything on right away. Uh, if you know what you're doing, I'm I'm not going to tell you what to do, but just be safe. Don't automatically assume all this stuff is uh especially if there's been water intrusion. That's the biggest
uh biggest problem. Uh, and that also in to the fourth icon uh matters when unfortunately we've seen this in a lot of storms. Yes, Michael was one. U that that comes to mind for me is Katrina. Um, when there's water intrusion, there's rodents, insects, bugs, and
other kinds of creatures that could be in the home. So, all sorts of hazards. I'm just going to call them hazards that could potentially be present that we just want to be mindful of. Um, and then manage your debris and yard trash. We have uh slides dedicated to that. Um, and there are so many different
resources to help you uh put res put the uh yard trash out properly so that we could collect it after that afterwards. But I want to focus on this last one, which is uh generator safety. And that's because there are way too many people who die from from the use of generators
that should not. And I know our state EM director talks about it constantly. Um I don't the problem is that they don't often say why it's important not to operate generators inside. These are combustion generators. That means they
they require oxygen to use. When they've combusted, they end with CO2 as the combustible. Problem is, if there's not enough oxygen getting to the generator, there's not enough oxygen molecules, you get CO1. That means the carbon molecules
binded with the oxygen. And CO1, carbon monoxide, is extremely toxic and deadly to humans. So the problem is we had a gentleman in Michael recovery who thought he could outsmart the generator problem and he had a window open. True
story. He left the window open and he thought that was good enough and he died in his sleep. And he died in his sleep because it was not enough oxygen. We tell people not only put your generator outside, we you put it 20 ft away from the house because even the house blocks some wind
that can kind of irrate out that uh that generator and allow for full combustion to happen. So, they don't talk about that enough and I think it's really really important because there are far too many people who die after storms um to to generators. And what I was talking about before as
far as alerting us, obviously SIB alert is for us to alert you. We have the my and this is uh blue skies or gray skies. We have the My Sunny Isles Beach app where you can if you see infrastructure damaged, you want to report it to us. This is the number one way to do it. Uh
short of calling. If you report it on the app, we have a a written internet way of tracking everything and and we can pass that around to staff, the right people um after a storm. This is the number one way to get a hold of us for that. Here's an example for FEMA for debris uh
management. Again, many of these slides are here just for reference. I'm not going to go into extraneous detail about how to manage yard waste and when and what situation uh timings will change depending on the storm. But these are really, really good tips from FEMA on
how to organize it after the storm. Similar slide for reference. This is just if you're trying to get uh assistance from FEMA, there is a process. This process might be changing in future years um for the rapid deployment of financial resources to
cities, states and people. For now, this is the traditional method which is um lengthy and not fast. It is a slow method of getting your money back. Um, for community managers, one more thing, uh, you know, on on site assessment,
removing debris, documenting everything. Um, notifying your residents when to come back, when it's safe. That's number one for us. Uh, like I said, you're our points of contact. Um, you know, tell your people it's safe when it's safe. That's what we really really the the the
worst thing for us is when too many people show up and they're kind of just perusing out looking at the damage. They're walking around. They're hazards in themselves. That emergency managers want them to stay out of the way. In fact, most of man emergency managers
will tell you this. The worst thing that could happen in a serious event is the president of the United States shows up. That's a problem for us. The president of the United States shows up. That's an incident within an incident. That is someone who's going to create problems. They're going to have a whole entourage around them. They're going to have to
require a whole management group around them and that is a problem. We have too many things to do after a storm. So, dignitaries, ambassadors, presidents showing up after a storm is a problem for us. And it's the same thing with average people going out, you know, I
don't want to say lolly gagging, but just kind of looking around. That is a problem. Just stay home if it's after an event and tell your people to do the same. And so these are just some of my personal final thoughts on emergency management. We're going to take some questions and answers from the community
and we have staff members here present um in their respective departments that can that can answer. Um Dwight Eisenhower uh president but before he was president he was general and commander of the European forces. And he said plans are useless but planning is indispensable. And I I like
leaving with this quote because I don't want everyone to take away and think that they've got some miraculous plan of how they're going to survive a hurricane or get around a hurricane. That's not that's not what we're here for. We're here to help people get into the process, the mode of thinking the right way. Thinking about how to solve
problems, thinking about how to problem solve in their own personal life, but also how to problem solve um for for more complex problems when they do occur. So um it's a process. It's not a plan. Uh emergency management is also not an if, it's a when business as we
saw in the probability slides. Um the difference between an incident and catastrophe is really you, it's us, it's people, but it's our preparedness, response, and recovery. Um how how we uh have that process unfold. And then communication uh is everything. Uh
getting the right information to the right people at the right time. That is how we get beyond events. Um, and again, I'm not going to get into the gas powered generators and cutting vegetation and tree and flip-flops. Um, there's a reason I say that. We have
seen that plenty of times, especially when the Cinjun Navy shows up in the panhandle uh to help out. They show up just like that. Uh, you know, that is not that is not helpful. Uh, I'm sure they help someone, but that actually
leads to more uh hospital uh stays than you would be uh s well you'd just be surprised by how many people end up in the hospital for that who thought they were helping. So, uh don't do that. And just because the storm is over doesn't mean that the danger is too. So, these
are just some of the lessons that we've taken. Uh the point of these slides and this presentation is not just for today. It's to stay kind of on our website as a point of reference for you in the future. Uh there's a lot here. I hope you learned something from it. Uh these are just very basic pieces of
information. Some things that maybe hopefully uh ended some of the myths that you might have heard on on TV or the internet. Uh emergency management is a process and we really really require uh everybody to kind of um cooperate when the time comes. And we're just a
resource. That's what we're here for. Ultimately uh everything requires that people just do the right thing, get out of harm's way, and then we just start recovery. So, um, but we have staff here. That's the end of my part of the presentation. If you have questions, u be happy to take them.
I should say we have public works staff. We have um code enforcement building. So, posttorm recovery. So, how many people here are from community associations who are managers? Got a handful. Okay. Thank you for coming number one because you guys
really are super super important um for that process. Is there anyone else that has questions in particular about any of the slides or anything we went over? >> Yes, ma'am. >> That when you need to evacuate and some
you don't have a car or you cannot drive. >> Yeah. >> Is there something that the city provides? >> Not the city per se. Um not to say that we never would or wouldn't. Um but the slide I'll go back to it
because it is an important one. uh my hurricane bus routes here. So, these are the these are the ones that are currently designated. These are bus routes designated in the city. Miami County designates these these are Miami
County transit bus stops. If there is an evacuation for our area, they will likely activate these bus routes on an asneeded basis. So, it's subject to you might want to call the 311 number ahead just to make sure, but they will direct you to one of the closest bus stops to
fur the pickup there. And those buses take you to the shelter. Whichever shelter they've opened up and which public shelters open up is dependent on the storm. And there's a lot that goes into that decision. So, that's why I can't tell you exactly what shelter where. The whole point of the
bus routes is the shelter might be far to the west side of the county and they're designed to take you there. >> Yes, ma'am. Yes. >> Thank you for the presentation. >> Um I actually my question was related to that u because in past storms that has
been an issue. So, it the county has not been clear as to how those bus routes are used. Um because I did call and they didn't really have an answer. Uh it was well they're they're going to come and I said well I can't tell residents just to
stand there. Uh so I think that you know it's on us to really also figure out what they're planning to do as I guess we get closer. But I just wanted to add to what you were saying because it happened to me. So, I was here for Andrew. Um, and we went inland just a
little bit and it passed very, very quickly. Thank God. It hit Sunny Al's Beach, but very, very little compared to Homestead. And then with Irma, we decided we're going to go north and it followed us. And we ended up being stuck in a hotel with no electricity for like
4 days. So, it was such a stupid thing for us to do. And then lastly, with the with the signing up for people that need emergency services, I also got calls about that where people from New York or wherever said, "My parent is here. They they cannot get out by themselves." And
I would call the county and they said, "If they're not registered, we can't do anything." So, I urge everyone to just get registered if you think you need any sort of assistance, even if it's just a little bit. It's so important. Um, but thank you. This was I learned a lot. So,
thank you. I I hope everybody learned something, but the mayor brought up a really good point. And again, it goes back to not just that you're halfway full, halfway there, but also you don't have to evacuate more than a few miles. Irma was the worst case scenario in that other than the 04 hurricanes where
people were 8 hours on 95 north. Um Irma was the worst case scenario because originally if you remember in 2017 the storm was going to kind of directly hit let's say this area Broward South Florida and not not far out less than 48 hours out from that projected landfall
kind of some phenomenal thing happened in me in weather. I'm not going to geek out too much here but it cut south and it kind of raked the north side of Cuba and then cut around to the spine to the kind of west side of of uh Florida. Um I remember it very clearly because I that was the first time in my life I went
four days with zero sleep. So I was completely sleepd deprived um on that one because we were sleepd deprived waiting for it to hit our area cuts around the other area and another two days happen. So with that said it's important to note all the people who evacuated from the east went west and
then at the same time once it was finally going west we had both all the people west and now all the people east both trying to evacuate east. That is a huge problem. So I think it's important for everybody to know you don't have to evacuate 500 miles to get out of uh the danger zone. It's just a few miles. So
thank you. >> Actually my question is that we live in this area. >> Yeah. >> How far how far to evacuate like you said if not if not necessary to save the
shelter for people who really in need. So I have different thinking now. If I go reserve the hotel, how far I supposed to go to be saved? >> It's it's just inland a couple of miles, right? And and I could tell you from physically being at ground zero and
Michael that when you have category 5 catastrophic winds, there's not a single house, no matter when it the house was built that didn't have some kind of roof damage even inland. But the structural difference between the the state of those homes in land versus right on the
coast like in the first half mile of the coast those it's like night and day completely different story. Um we had we again I want to go into the specifics of that but the point is is that it's just a mile just a couple miles inland where you're safe you're out of the flood zone. That's number one. Number two is
the wind at that point as it comes across the land it slows down naturally. So it's it's a mitigated it's a reduced effect. Um so again most importantly you're out of the way of the water which is the most important thing. >> Thank you. >> Thank
any other question. Yes sir. >> Just is this slideshow available on the Sunny Iles Beach website any place? >> It will be. We haven't done it yet. We're gonna put we're going to post it um make it ADA compliant just in case there's anything I threw in there that's not 100% but you know legible or easily
readable. But the most important thing we did with this is we don't have a reference slide. If you go to a specific slide, the link of reference is right in the slide to make it just a little bit easier to navigate. Okay, if no one has any other specific
questions, I appreciate all your time.