HURRICANE MICHAEL UPDATE October 23, 2018
Hurricane Michael developed in the Caribbean and moved northward towards the Florida Panhandle with maximum sustained winds of 155 MPH. Gadsden County declared a local State of Emergency, and ordered a mandatory evacuation for mobile homes. A Hurricane Warning, Storm Surge Warning, Flash Flood Watch, Tornado Watch and Extreme Wind Warning were issued for Gadsden County.
Pre-Planning The City stood up its Incident Command System (ICS) in June 2018. ICS is a standardized approach to the command, control, and coordination of emergency response. The Interim City Manager in June 2018 designated the Chief of Police and Fire Chief as Incident Commanders. Throughout the summer the Incident Commanders held pre-hurricane meeting to discuss hurricane plans, reviewed mutual aid agreements, conducted staff training exercises, implement stepped up tree trimming, evaluated the system reclosers, and fuses, establish a secondary communication system and setup the City s EOC at the police department. Days before Hurricane Michael filled all fuel tanks on vehicles and standby generators, checked the storage tanks, evaluated inventory levels and notified suppliers, test run generators, place utility on 18 hours days and public safety implement Alpha/Bravo Shifts; communicated to employee about the storm; adjusted staff start and ending time to give employees time to prepare for the storm.
Hurricane Michael Arrival Release all non-essential personnel and notified essential personnel to report for duty on October 9, 2018. Power Works deployed on October 11, 2018 to push debris and move trees to side of the major roads. Most of the roads were passable and neighborhoods accessible by October 12, 2018. Second day after the hurricane implemented the City s plan repair and energized 69KV transmission line, restore power to the City Hall, Public Safety, the County s EOC, County Government Offices, Supervisor of Election Office, the hospital, and residents north and south along the east/west Hwy 90 corridor. Provided housing for the County s EMS operation at the Howard Smith Fire Station with the demise of the EMS offices.
Tuskegee Electric First Crew to Arrive Hurricane Michael Arrival October 12, 2018 thirty (30) linemen arrival to help bring the system up via mutual aid agreement with FMEA and FMPA. The linemen were from Tuskegee, Alabama, Troy, Alabama and Bartow, Florida. Thirty-five (35%) of the customers were restored power on October 15, after Duke Energy repaired key parts of its system to energize the transmission line. The number of mutual aid linemen from Florida, particularly JEA and Lakeland, and Alabama increased to 150 linemen. The percentage of customers restored to power on October 17 was 39%; October 18, was 62%; October 19, was 87%, October was 93% and October 21, was 98%.
Individual Assistance Following Hurricane Michael On October 12, 2018, Gadsden, along with other designated counties, were designated for Individual Assistance. As a result, homeowners, renters and business owners, Gadsden, may now apply for disaster assistance for uninsured and underinsured damage and losses resulting from Hurricane Michael. To be eligible for disaster aid, storm damage and losses from the hurricane and flooding must have occurred because of Hurricane Michael, beginning Oct. 7. FEMA operated out of the City Manager s Conference Room and registered nearly 200 families for Federal individual relief. The Planning Department two days after the hurricane compiled a list over 150 houses, a significantly number suffered major damages with some being destroyed. Tallahassee City Church, affiliated with Southern Baptist Disaster Relief, began removing trees and debris from the Shaw Quarters community on October 20, 2018. The church will continue their efforts through the following week.
Individual Assistance Following Hurricane Michael Quincy First Baptist Church provided individuals meals to the outside crews and the residents. Quincy St James AME Church provided meals and water to residents. Quincy Thomas Memorial Baptist Church provided meals to outside crews and coordinated help from the Southern Baptist Disaster Relief. Mt. Zion Primitive Baptist Church provided FEMA on-line computer registration to community for individual assistance. Quincy Barineau Heating and Air Conditioning is providing heating and air condition services to residents. Second Harvest of the Big Bend provided food and water to residents. Police, Fire, and Public Works, as well as individual city commissioners, provided 120,000 10 lb. bags of ice to resident. On one day staff distributed ice to 2500 vehicles.
Food & Lodging For 150 Outside Linemen Staff operated a dining hall out of the Fire Department providing 3 meals a day for over 170 linemen and Quincy s essential personnel from October 15 to October 22, 2018. The Quincy Recreation Center was used to house the outside linemen. The showers were repaired, and two sets of linen and towels purchased and provided for the linemen. A staff member provided her personal lighting to light the recreation center and this staff member made her home available to house the linemen. During the last weeks show hotel rooms were booked in Tallahassee to house some of the linemen.
Substantial damage to the Utility System Roof damage to Inman House Damage to Recreation facilities Completing the entire City Damage Report by October 25, 2018
The City will request the County to be included target areas in the City in the County's request to use $700K in the SHIP Program to be prioritized because of the storm. The City to seek assistance via an application to be made to the Florida Department of Economic Opportunity (DEO) Community Development Block Grant (CDBG) Disaster Recovery Program, for Florida Counties Housing Assistance. The suggested targeted areas are: Shaw Quarter, District 4, Sunset Areas, District, District 3, to be designated sections of District 5, to be designated sections of District 5 and District 2. The City to seek assistance via application is to the Florida Housing Finance Corporation Disaster Recovery Program for Florida Counties Housing Assistance. The City for 90 days to add additional resources to help with access to FEMA services.
City Priorities to FEMA The City informed FEMA Representatives of its priorities. Those priorities are: Immediate advance of FEMA share for the Utility Restoration Immediate Assistance to Shaw Quarters, District 4 Immediate Assistance to District 2 Immediate Assistance to Sunset Acres, District 3 Immediate Assistance to designated areas in District 1
Work with County to be included in SHIP for the following: Interim repairs to avoid further damage; tree and debris removal required to make the individual housing unit habitable; Construction of wells or repair of existing wells where public water is unavailable. Payment of insurance deductibles for rehabilitation of homes covered under homeowners insurance policies; Security deposit, rental assistance for the duration of Florida Office of the Governor Executive Order, for eligible recipients that have been displaced from their homes due to damage from the disaster; Other activities as proposed by the counties and eligible municipalities and approved by Florida Housing Finance Corporation.
CURFEW Gadsden County issued a mandatory curfew in effect from 10pm until 6am, which remained in effect until October 21, 2018. Quincy Police Department detained 6 persons during the curfew. LOOTING A Looting Task Forces was created, law enforcement, to prevent break-ins to local businesses. Call 911 if you see suspicious activity. PRICE GOUGING The Gadsden County Sheriff s Office encourages citizens to report price gouging and scams by calling (866) 9NO-SCAM or (866) 966-7226.
BURN BAN Gadsden County has issued a county-wide burn ban. Quincy residents are being asked to move storm debris to the curbside in order to be picked up. BOIL WATER NOTICE Quincy did not issue water notice. a boil
On behalf of City of Quincy We Thank You
On behalf of City of Quincy We Thank You
On behalf of City of Quincy We Thank You
On behalf of City of Quincy We Thank You
On behalf of City of Quincy We Thank You
On behalf of City of Quincy We Thank You