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Officials revisit hurricane plans

Emergency personnel meet to discuss last year's mistakes - and ways to avoid them next time.

By ADRIENNE P. SAMUELS
Published February 26, 2005

ST. PETERSBURG - Florida's emergency officials are redesigning their hurricane plans after a detailed look at last year's efforts revealed mistakes and miscommunications.

It's not a statewide overhaul, but 150 paramedics, emergency operations leaders, police, firefighters and National Guard members gathered Friday at St. Petersburg College's Allstate Center to trade tactics for dealing with hurricanes this year.

Simple suggestions, like improved communications, were touted repeatedly. Others will be discussed back home, while some will have to be addressed by state officials, such as what to do with registered sex offenders during an evacuation.

"We hadn't thought about it before, and we should have," said James Sewell, a former assistant commissioner with the Florida Department of Law Enforcement and a moderator for two panel discussions. "We need to maintain at least two shelters for the offenders and predators. It was a lesson learned."

Besides billions of dollars in damage, Orange County had a problem with debris removal in gated communities. That's because the Federal Emergency Management Agency wouldn't pay to pick up downed trees and flattened cars on private streets.

The state and several counties learned their emergency operations centers were too small and that nervous emergency workers ate three days worth of food in half the time.

Agencies also need to designate one shelter for families of emergency workers, Weaver added.

In Escambia County, officials are still reeling over the deaths of 22 people, many of whom ignored evacuation orders.

"We did some great things, but we also made some mistakes," said Michael Hardin, chief of the emergency management division. "Our motto for 2005 is 72 hours, not 72 minutes."

[Last modified February 26, 2005, 01:14:15]