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Neighbors unite against hurricanes

A Safety Harbor mobile home park's residents hone a strategy for hurricane preparation that is held up as a model.

By ASHLEE CLARK
Published July 12, 2006

CLEARWATER - Sometimes it takes a neighborly nudge to get mobile home residents to prepare themselves for hurricanes.

A community in Safety Harbor adopted that principle, and the Pinellas County Commission will share their story with others living in mobile home parks.

The county will send letters to mobile home park residents urging them to get ready for hurricanes. The letters will also share information about how Amber Glades mobile home park residents spearheaded a movement for their neighbors to effectively plan for a natural disaster, county spokeswoman Marcia Crawley said.

The board heard a presentation Tuesday about the Amber Glades plan and a consulting business that was created in the park.

The Amber Glades effort began when a group of residents discovered that many neighbors wouldn't be ready if a hurricane hit, said Daniel Ross, 76, a six-year resident who helped lead the preparedness movement.

Many were frightened. Some were in denial, not wanting to admit the parks were susceptible to hurricane damage, Ross said. And half of them had no plans if a bad storm struck.

"A lot of people in this community didn't know where to go or what to take with them," said Catherine Barrowman, 79, a resident of Amber Glades for 21 years. "I think a lot of it is just plain common sense."

So the 21-member group took action.

They began receiving Community Emergency Response Team training, which is a program sponsored by emergency management agencies to teach residents how to cope with and respond to disaster. The park has 422 lots and nearly 800 residents, and the group went door to door to survey neighbors about what plans, if any, they had for hurricane season, which runs from June 1 through Nov. 30.

"When you one-on-one network in a large group of people, you get a lot accomplished because you're taking that information and making it more personal," Ross said.

The information came together in a hurricane planning booklet, which includes directions to shelters, evacuation routes and a list of items for a "Grab-N-Go Package."

Now, Ross estimates that more than 90 percent of the residents there have a plan.

In May, Ross and neighbor Bill Benzing created Benzing and Ross LCC, a consulting company that aims to apply the principles used in Amber Glades to other mobile home parks. They will be creating a plan for a mobile home community in Hillsborough County in two weeks, Ross said.

Gary Vickers, emergency management director for Pinellas County, said he is reviewing the Amber Glades plan and determining what value it has in the county's existing preparedness system.

Amber Glades illustrates the importance of community and personal responsibility that is needed before a disaster and recognizing the vulnerability of the mobile home parks, Vickers said.

"I would like to see that in every mobile home park and every community in Pinellas County," he said. "Is that achievable? That is something that remains to be seen."

Times photographer Douglas Clifford contributed to this report. Ashlee Clark can be reached at 445-4158 or aclark@sptimes.com.

[Last modified July 11, 2006, 23:40:20]