June 12, 1975 Oldsmar ignores county disaster readiness plans OLDSMAR - The city of Oldsmar - one of the lowest-lying, most flood-prone areas in Pinellas County - has not been participating in hurricane-preparedness exercises or in meetings of the County Disaster Committee.
Although county officials wish the small city would show more interest in emergency preparation, they say they are not really worried about disaster striking Oldsmar.
County Civil Defense director Lyle Fox said Wednesday that if a major hurricane hit, there would be enough warning for Oldsmar to be evacuated before it floods. Fox said a hurricane moving in from the Gulf of Mexico would cause high tides on Clearwater Beach about four hours before tides would rise at Oldsmar, which sits on the northern tip of Tampa Bay.
"We just don't get too excited about Oldsmar," Fox said. "There's not nearly the wave action there would be on the beaches."
But Fox said that although the flood waters might be slow to rise, they could be deeper in Oldsmar than on the gulf beaches. The waters would more or less back up into the bay, spilling over onto Oldsmar, which is bounded on three sides by water, Fox said.
Neal Frank, director of the National Hurricane Center in Miami, has said no area in the country is as vulnerable to hurricanes as Tampa Bay.
Fred Cosby of the National Weather Service has said that a severe hurricane could cause flooding from Oldsmar to Lake Tarpon.
County flood maps show that Oldsmar is, at its highest point, only 10 feet above sea level. Still, during Hurricane Agnes - which missed the Tampa Bay area in June 1972 but passed by close enough to do major flood damage to much of Pinellas County - Oldsmar sustained only about $1,000 worth of flood damage. The total for the county was just more than $12-million.
During Agnes, more than 100 people were evacuated at Oldsmar with the help of local businessmen who loaned vans and trucks to help move belongings.
Bill Houman, administrative assistant to Mayor Margaret Rose, said that although most of the town was flooded, "there was no real damage."
Houman indicated that he, like Fox, does not believe a hurricane would pose any danger to human life in Oldsmar.
"We may be one of the lowest in the county, but we are the easiest town to get out of," Houman said. The town's 3,700 residents have easy access to Hillsborough County on the east and to higher ground in Pinellas County to the north, he said.
Houman said Oldsmar is adequately prepared, but he will recommend to the City Council that firefighter Dave Johnson be appointed to represent Oldsmar in civil defense matters.
Houman said Oldsmar has not participated in any emergency planning activities because "I've had one heck of a time getting someone who is qualified and willing to give the time to go to these things."
July 12, 1941 County aluminum campaign unit is organized
CLEARWATER - Commodore F.J. Comerford, county chairman of the aluminum recovery drive, completed arrangements last night for the preliminary organization at the Chamber of Commerce.
Chairman for the Clearwater area will be local real estate man George W. Johnson. Mrs. Charles E. Ware will head the women's group.
Col. Theodore H. Skinner, head of the county's defense program, gave a brief outline of its activities before Comerford explained the aluminum drive, scheduled for the week of July 21.
A house-to-house canvas by the women's organization will be conducted during the first two days, July 23 and 24, for the scrap metal. July 25 and 26 will be cleanup days.
Only worn-out and discarded metal is wanted and not aluminum that will have to be replaced with new.
