Pinellas County Emergency Management

A video done by PCC-TV (Pinellas County Connection Television)...

Thu, 29 Nov 2012 12:07:11 -0500

A video done by PCC-TV (Pinellas County Connection Television) regarding the recent deployment to New York City.

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Wed, 21 Nov 2012 11:33:00 -0500

In the Wizard of Oz, Dorothy Gale clicked the heels of her ruby slippers together and repeated the line, “There’s no place like home,” to get back to her farmhouse in Kansas. All our team had to do was make it to JFK airport in New York to make the trip.

The flight was uneventful, and, as we flew back, I’m sure that each member of the team tried to process in his or her own way. There’s no way to be working in an environment like that without doing a tremendous amount of introspection. Are our emergency plans good enough? Do we have good enough plans for our families?

The wheels of our jet touched down just a few minutes before six p.m. and, from there it was a quick few steps from the airside at the airport to the main terminal, where the greeting home was overwhelming.

After the hugs, high fives and a few tears, we gathered the team together to hold a brief news conference. To our friends in the New York City Office of Emergency Management, we had nothing but praise for your strength, resilience and professionalism. We reminded our residents that even though the impact from Hurricane Sandy has fallen off the front pages of newspapers and moved later into the newscasts, that the needs you guys have are as important and urgent as ever.

And, we also promised that we would take the evidence of what you are going through to help educate our residents across the Tampa Bay area. The threat from hurricanes is real, and we have to keep everyone here ready should the worst happen.

Emergency Managers return from NYC area (Bay News 9)

Bay Area Emergency Management finish response to Sandy (WTSP CBS 10)

Emergency Managers return from New York (WFTS Fox 13)

NYC relief: Day 12 - A special thanks

Tue, 20 Nov 2012 06:55:00 -0500

While this blog has been mostly the observations of me, Tom Iovino, the Tampa Bay contingent was comprised of some of the best emergency management experts in the region. Before we go any further, here’s a run down of the team members:

Pete McNally, Director of Polk County Emergency Management

Billy Abernathy, Polk County Emergency Management

Doug Blackwell, Pinellas County Emergency Management

Jeremy Edwards, Pasco County GIS

Andrew Fossa, Pasco County Fire Rescue

Greg Lindgren, Pasco County Emergency Management

Patricia Lowther, New Port Richey Public Works

George Merceron, Pasco County Health Department

Doug Meyer, Pinellas County Emergency Management

Tim Reardon, Pasco County Fire Rescue

Judy Tear, Citrus County Health Department

Floyd Wilson, Pasco County Public Works

Paul Womble, Polk County Emergency Management

Today, we leave JFK en route to Tampa. For us, the deployment will be over, but for the Texas team and the folks in NYC who are still working the situation - and the millions of other New Yorkers who are recovering from this storm - the recovery continues.

As we get ready for this year’s Thanksgiving holiday, be sure to keep the folks who are still recovering from Hurricane Sandy in your thoughts.

We’ll see you back in Florida.

New York City relief: Day 11

Mon, 19 Nov 2012 14:39:00 -0500

The last work day here at Logistics for the Tampa Bay team, and there’s as much to do as ever. Three nursing homes have to be established in new locations, generators need to be maintained and refueled, and any one of thousands of other jobs that need to be herded along to completion.

But, just as we were thrown into the deep end at logistics ten days ago, the team from Texas has survived their first few days and are starting to hit their stride. Their crew is very interesting. Unlike Boston or the Tampa Bay area, their team is sourced from across the second-largest state - quite the monumental undertaking.

They have slid right in, and have taken to the work very quickly. This is a good thing because - as of tomorrow morning - the effort shifts to them.

During our time here in logistics, we have had the honor of working with some outstanding folks who have performed unbelievably well in the face of tremendous pressure. The New York City Office of Emergency staff has been nothing but outstanding and welcoming to us.

Our boss Henry. Gary, the fuel czar. Eric the IT whiz and vocal Jets fan. Rob, the Americorps volunteer who tracked light towers (and put up with a lot of joshing about getting a hair cut). Louie from Transportation (who will be holding the Charlie Brown balloon in this Thursday’s Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade). Johanna, Kristine, Nandy, Kumarie, EZ… I’m afraid to keep mentioning names of folks at the city for fear of forgetting someone. Please accept our thanks for your hospitality and leadership.

As we rolled off our last shift, the New York City staff let us know how much they appreciated our time here. Sure, it took a day or two to get into the flow of things, but we worked shoulder to shoulder with them, giving them some time off, swapping some tall tales and getting advice on how to get around on the subways.

Our crew also passed the hat to collect for a special gift of Florida sunshine to arrive at the logistics center - just in time for Thanksgiving. Hopefully, they will appreciate the gift as they work their long shifts until the job is done. After all, the recovery continues, even though we are leaving.

Time to pack out and get ready for travel tomorrow…

News Release: Mutual aid team returns home from New York

Mon, 19 Nov 2012 10:57:00 -0500

Immediate Release
Nov. 19, 2012

A team of emergency managers deployed to New York City to assist in the relief effort in response to Hurricane Sandy is returning home on Tuesday, Nov. 20. The 14-member team, which has been in NYC since Friday, Nov. 9, will arrive home via JetBlue Airways at 6:05 p.m. on Tuesday at airside A in Tampa International Airport.

From Pinellas County, team members include Public Information Specialist Tom Iovino along with emergency management coordinators Doug Meyer and Doug Blackwell. Also on the team are emergency management personnel from Polk, Pasco and Citrus counties.

Iovino has been keeping a daily blog of the team’s activities at http://pinellasem.tumblr.com

“The city is now transitioning from response to recovery,” writes Iovino on day six of their deployment. “We are still sending generators, National Guard troops, light towers, cranes and other resources into the field for response, but the office has also sent items into the field to create disaster relief centers. It’s amazing to see just how quickly these facilities can be set up. One on Staten Island was totally rebuilt in about a day, including paint, carpet, restrooms and showers for residents to use.”

The storm, which made landfall on Oct. 29, has become the second costliest hurricane in American history – passing 2008’s Hurricane Ike. The difficult situation was compounded by a nor’easter, which dumped additional rain and snow on the New York City metropolitan area.

For more information on Pinellas County services and programs, visit www.pinellascounty.org, now with LiveChat, or create a shortcut to www.pinellascounty.org/mobile on any smartphone. Pinellas County government is on Facebook, Twitter and YouTube. Pinellas County complies with the Americans with Disabilities Act.

New York City relief: Day 10

Sun, 18 Nov 2012 14:31:00 -0500

Have you ever tried to untangle a ball of string? You pull on one free end, but that just tightens the knots within the big mass. After a while of pulling, tugging and trying to figure out the best way to go, you pretty much want to chuck the whole mess.

That’s what trying to pull equipment and supplies out of the city is starting to look like. This entire logistics operation is the most intricate dance you have ever seen, and when one item moves, it affects everything in the process.

For example - today, I have been crowned Captain Port-A-Potty for the logistics team. It’s part of the overall tracking operation. With plumbing facilities out in so many homes, these portable convenience locations have become a critical part of operations in the field, and they be found just about everywhere there was storm damage.

After Sandy blew through and did its damage, the city put out a call to four vendors to deliver these facilities as quickly as possible to the affected areas. And, if it was left at that, finding those locations would be relatively easy.

But that’s only part of the picture. After all, many of these locations are also relief centers where people can pick up food, water and other supplies - or at recovery centers - where survivors can speak one on one with insurance adjusters, FEMA assistance personnel, representatives with the local utilities, etc. So, many of these places also need portable light towers, fuel, generators, tents, work trailers, police presence - the works. Each of these units also has to be serviced on a regular basis - as you might imagine.

Add in the fact that many people in an effort to be helpful have moved some of the deployed units from the areas they were sited to other more heavily impacted areas. While well-intended, this does add to the degree of difficulty in tracking, servicing and eventually retrieving these units.

But, hey, that’s life - and making life easier for storm survivors is what we are all about.

Or, as they say around the warehouse here in Brooklyn - faggetaboutit.

Raw video of the flooding on the Port Authority Trans Hudson...

Sat, 17 Nov 2012 15:15:09 -0500

Raw video of the flooding on the Port Authority Trans Hudson (PATH) station in Bayonne, New Jersey. Stunning video…

New York City relief: Day nine

Sat, 17 Nov 2012 14:28:00 -0500

Today is a day of transitions here in the logistics center. Last night the crew from Boston packed up and headed out for a last dinner in the city. They got on the road back home in the early morning hours today. After working with them for the past week, they became part of the family here. There was a funny exchange of tokens of appreciation between NYC and Boston - and a round of applause for their efforts.

This morning, a team from Texas arrived to begin their orientation here at Logistics. Pulled from agencies across the state, they come to the city with a lot of experience dealing with natural disasters - most notably Hurricane Ike in 2008. They got the same briefing we got more than a week ago, and are sitting through the same training video we saw.

After more than a week here, I have to wonder if the folks who saw us come in that first day wondered what our team was going to be like.

One thing is for certain - the Texas team is walking into a very different situation than we did. When we arrived, assets were being pushed into the field rapidly. “Just make it happen,” was the expression I heard several times as affected residents were still wandering the streets trying to take in the scope of the damage.

Now, we’re starting the process known as demobilization - also known as Demob. Basically, it’s time to find those items we pushed out into the streets and pull them back. For instance - when the power was out in those first days, these large light towers were sent out with the New York City police and fire departments. They were set up at intersections and in neighborhoods which needed illumination in those dark nights.

Now that Consolidated Edison (ConEd) has restored power to many of these neighborhoods, it’s time to have them picked up. Sometimes, it’s a piece of cake. Other times, well, it’s kind of like trying to find the proverbial needle in the urban haystack. As power was restored, well meaning officials moved them to the next neighborhood without notifying logistics about the new location. I’m convinced that some time in 2018, someone will find a relic of the Hurricane Sandy equipment deployment in someone’s backyard, lighting their summer barbecue.

While the emergency phase of Hurricane Sandy is ramping down, the effort to rebuild is just beginning.

New York City relief: Day eight

Fri, 16 Nov 2012 17:02:00 -0500

One week. It’s been one week since our group left Tampa International Airport bound for New York City. When we left, we had only an incomplete idea of how bad things were up here. Now, we have the stories and photos to back up what we had suspected all along… this storm was devastating.

I spoke with a guy who works for the city’s department of transportation. He and his crew were out on Staten Island doing debris removal. It also turns out that the neighborhood he was working in was where he and his wife were looking for a home for their young family. They had settled on an area with newer, well manicured homes. In fact, he was able to show me a picture of the home from a real estate website.

Nice place, right? Well, after a few hours of work, he ended up in this same neighborhood. He didn’t realize it for a while, because the damage was so extensive. But, after a while, he determined that he was at the same house. And, here’s what it looked like.

This is how all of the homes in that neighborhood looked. The damage was surreal, with piles of debris taller than the truck he was driving. Totaled cars littered the streets, which had to be pushed out of the way to make room for the rescue vehicles. And, the stories of the survivors were enough to send shivers up the spine of a tough New Yorker.

One resident described how he was stuck in a second floor room of his house - with water already pouring through the window. He saw his neighbor’s house floating down the street in front of his home, close enough to leap on to. So, he grabbed his family and they made the jump. As they were drifting down the street, the house they were in less than a minute before collapsed, which would have been fatal.

Stories like this were all too common. It will take a long time for people to recover from this.

While life - and news - moves on, it’s important that we not lose sight of the massive rebuilding effort that will be required. As we sit down to Thanksgiving dinner this year, let’s remember the folks here who are recovering and those assisting with that recovery.

Click here for a list of organizations that are helping with the Hurricane Sandy relief effort.

New York City relief: Day seven

Thu, 15 Nov 2012 18:30:00 -0500

When a disaster the magnitude of Hurricane Sandy happens in a densely-populated area like New York City, additional resources are needed quickly to begin the response and relief efforts as quickly as possible.

The city’s emergency managers were able to bring personnel and materiel in quickly from around the country using the EMAC system. EMAC - the Emergency Management Assistance Compact - is an interstate agreement that allows for the rapid deployment of response teams from all corners of the country. Louisiana, Maine, Ohio, Arizona, Texas and many others are well represented on the ground, along with Florida, of course.

Here at Logistics, we’ve been working shoulder to shoulder with representatives from the cities of Boston and New York. I had a chance to sit down with one of the members of the Boston contingent to find out what the deployment is like for her.

I spoke with Christine Invencion, an IT Business Analyst with the Boston Centers for Youth and Families (BCYF). This team came to New York thinking they were going to be working in shelters, serving meals and assisting evacuees - a task that BCYF performs for the City of Boston during times of emergency. Upon arriving in NYC however, they discovered there was a manpower need in the NYC OEM Logistics Center and soon found their expertise redirected to the mobilization effort. “I didn’t even bring my laptop with me, but I was happy to be brought over for the logistics team doing what I’m best at.” Her expertise with data was put to the task as she built a master database of equipment deployed to the field. “I’m proud of that database. It’s going to make it easier for the city to serve impacted residents faster, and will help when it comes time to bring that equipment back after the need is over.”

I also had an opportunity to interview Alex Markowski, the assistant commissioner for logistics at New York City’s Office of Emergency Management. Alex pointed out that while the city has had plans on the books for how to deal with a storm of this magnitude, there have been a lot of changes since the last time New York City took a major impact from a hurricane. “It’s been nearly 80 years since the Long Island Express of 1938, and there has been a lot of buildings and infrastructure built in the affected areas since then.” Alex continued, “The amount of damage we experienced will take some time to rebuild from.”

And, how has it been having so many people in from out of town to help with the recovery effort? “We appreciate the help. It’s great to have the experience and talent here from around the country, and we appreciate what everyone has been doing.”

The Boston team will be leaving after Friday’s shift, headed back to Bean Town. They will be replaced by a team from Texas, which will also eventually replace our Tampa Bay group as well.

For those who want to see how widespread the damage is in New York City and the New Jersey coastline, NASA has a page with some dramatic before and after aerial photos that can be found here.

And, New York 1’s political director Bob Hart has been blogging about the storm from his home in the Rockaways. Some of the reports from the time of Sandy’s impacts are hair raising…

New York City relief: Day six

Wed, 14 Nov 2012 18:02:00 -0500

The response to a disaster invariably moves in phases. Whether a tornado, hurricane, earthquake, flood, wildfire… each has several distinct steps that follow one another as sure as the Sun rises in the east every morning. They are:

Preparation. Response. Recovery. Mitigation.

Preparation for Hurricane Sandy here in New York City was given a boost, especially after last year’s Hurricane Irene targeted the area. Many plans were established here and given a workout as that storm threatened the city. The fact that Irene’s impact wasn’t as large as expected, many residents believed that the warnings were overblown, and they stayed in their vulnerable homes.

The city’s response to the effort was massive. You are talking about the largest city in the United States - with a population of more than eight million inside the city alone - a Herculean undertaking. Again, going through the requests for resources quickly point out how enormous the undertaking was.

The city is now transitioning from response to recovery. We are still sending generators, National Guard troops, light towers, cranes and other resources into the field for response, but the office has also sent items into the field to create disaster relief centers. It’s amazing to see just how quickly these facilities can be set up - one on Staten Island was totally rebuilt in about a day, including paint, carpet, restrooms and showers for residents to use.

The real challenge for New York City is going to be mitigation. How do you plan for future events with an impact like Sandy? You can’t move the enormous population away from the coastline - there is no place to move them. You can’t easily make the subways and tunnels waterproof - they are below ground level. How do you rebuild many historical structures to remove the threat of surge flooding?

Let’s just say they have their work cut out for them.

By the way, for those who are reading this and wondering what the fuss is about with this storm - after all, it was only a category 1 storm when it made landfall - these images are for you.

The threat is real and serious - regardless of the strength of the system. Know your risks. Have a plan. Be prepared.

New York City relief: Day five

Tue, 13 Nov 2012 19:11:00 -0500

There is one constant when it comes to disasters - the weather continues. And New York City is no exception. Yesterday, the sun was shining and the mercury flirted with 70 degrees. The snow we saw on the ground when we arrived on the first day has long since melted away.

But, that warm weather changed dramatically today as a cold front swept through the area. The crews working up in the state command center in Albany told us that yes, snow was falling. A cold rain fell in the morning.

Besides changing the mood of the relief workers, this also presented a real challenge for emergency response. Plunging temperatures presented a risk Sandy’s survivors, so plans had to be put into place for those who didn’t have power or are in shelters.

To help residents stay warm, New York City transit deployed a number of buses around the city to serve as warming centers. Even some brief relief from the rain and cold is a welcome comfort for those trying to rebuild their lives.

Another critical need is to push supplies from the city’s storehouse. This massive facility holds critical supplies for distribution to shelters, public housing and other facilities. The warehouse is huge, and stuffed to the rafters with supplies. The blankets, water, first aid kits and tons of other supplies were tagged to be pushed out quickly to address the needs of the hardest hit residents.

Hurricane Sandy’s effects have put regular life on hold for so many New Yorkers, including Craig, one of the city’s logistics specialists. His new baby was born just days before Hurricane Sandy made landfall, keeping him from his newborn child and wife. I can’t help but think of the stories he will have to tell his son as he grows up.

While it may seem like the impact of the storm has passed, there are still many areas of the city that are suffering greatly. One of the most heartbreaking stories of the entire tragedy was reported by the New York Times. You can read the article by clicking here.

New York City relief: Day four

Tue, 13 Nov 2012 06:53:00 -0500

The day shift crew from the Tampa Bay crew have been gathering for breakfast at the coffee shop in the lobby of our hotel. And, every morning, as we look out into the street, there is an assembly of people who appear to look out of place in

trendy midtown Manhattan.

But, they are some of the most appreciated folks here in the city. They are power line crews that have come from places far and wide to help restore power in the heavily damaged areas. Crews from Oregon, Washington state, Idaho, Georgia and Alabama are in our hotel, and they gather on the sidewalk in the early morning to get a jump on the day’s work. For many of them, they are now in their third week on assignment, having been deployed in advance of Hurricane Sandy.

The valets who handle parking pull a fleet of large pickup trucks to the curbside, and the crews line up to get in, ready for another day of stringing line.

At the logistics center, we are sharing space with the New York City employees and crew from the city of Boston. The Boston crew is pulled from the city’s office of emergency management and the Boston Center for Youth and Families. Initially sent to help with shelter operations, they have seamlessly taken to logistics tracking. The crew is led by the city’s director of planning, a retired Army Lt. Colonel with a quick wit and an exceptional sense of duty. He’s been here for nearly two weeks now, working with a second dispatched crew from the city.

I guess it only make sense that in such a huge city that has been a melting pot for centuries that the relief crew comes from around the country.

We had a few of the Tampa Bay area staff start to move around to different assignments. Some are helping with well-being checkups in the hard-hit borough of Staten Island, while others went out to warehouse facilities to move supplies pouring into the city.

Since I’m talking supplies - many people have asked how they can help with the relief effort. While items such as blankets and coats are appreciated, they do cause logistical issues with storage, sorting and delivery. Contributions to agencies which are providing direct relief are the best option. Find a list of these organizations by clicking on this link.

New York City relief: Day three

Sun, 11 Nov 2012 23:16:00 -0500

There is an expression people use when they are trying to understand a tremendous amount of information coming at them at a very high rate of speed - it’s like trying to take a drink from a fire hose.

That’s exactly what life is like in the Logistics center. A disaster in the country’s most populous city requires a tremendous amount of resources to respond to - and, often in a very short amount of time.

My job for the past few days has been in tracking. Basically, all of the requests for stuff come in to the logistics center, and those request are entered into a computer database which allows for easy tracking and the ability to assign the task quickly. I have been tasked with going through the thousands of request that came in to determine which job tickets have been completed and need to be closed.

When Hurricane Sandy was coming in to the city, the records recorded a flurry of activity - the Fire Department needed high-water vehicles for command and response in each of the city’s five boroughs. Shelters needed the essentials to house residents who had to evacuate. Computers. Skilled staff members. And pumps. Lots and lots of pumps.

In New York, many of the most-traveled paths are underground - the subway, commuter trains and the tunnels across the Hudson River and between boroughs. All of those throughfares had to be dewatered - pumped out, as it were. A monumental undertaking.

But, it’s not an unfamiliar situation to many of the people working in the center who were at their desks the morning of September 11, 2001.

Another thing that I can’t get over is the view of the New York skyline through the window over my shoulder. The New Yorkers are used to it, but there’s something to be said working in the line of sight of the Empire State Building.

New York City Relief: Day Two

Sat, 10 Nov 2012 22:38:00 -0500

Today,we hit the ground running in the city that never sleeps. It took some time for the day shift to get the rental cars and navigate the congested city roads, but after a longer-than-it-should-have-been drive, we arrived at the logistics command post - a warehouse in Brooklyn.

Sure, we were ready to jump right into things, but what’s a trip to New York City without a few signature bagels to get the day started off on the right foot?

After some tasty treats, the day began in earnest. The crew working at the city’s office of emergency management had been at their posts since the threat of Hurricane Sandy - nearly three weeks. Many of these folks have seen power outages, damage and have had to leave their loved ones behind. But, there is a job to be done, and they do it with a smile.

The requests for assets come in first to the dispatchers. They process a mountain of calls for all types of things needed for the storm recovery. Generators. Clothing. Medical supplies. Scaffolding. The works.

Once the requests come in, they are forwarded to work groups to fill the orders. Sometimes, a simple call gets the job done. Sometimes, you quickly realize you are trying to recover from a disaster the city that never sleeps. One of the city’s employees told me the disaster is kind of like trying to fix a car’s motor while the someone is still revving the engine…

Fortunately, though we have a team of talented and seasoned emergency managers helping us get accustomed to the pace of operations. Johanna was calling the shots today, ensuring we kept the priorities where they belonged.

After a long 12-hour day in the center, we had a shift change briefing in order to get the night crew ready for the next 12-hour operational period. We drove back to the hotel and I think the entire crew called it an early night.

After all, that 5 a.m. alarm comes very early in the morning.

New York City relief: Day one

Sat, 10 Nov 2012 10:53:00 -0500

We were at Tampa International Airport early for our flight up to New York City for the Hurricane Sandy relief effort. Media interest for the event was extensive.

The team, consisting of members from Pinellas, Polk, Pasco and Citrus counties assembled for a few words before departure. The whole focus of the mission is to assist the emergency operations people in the city and to document the storm’s impact.

The flight was a quick two and a half hours, and as we started our descent into New York’s JFK airport, we got our first view of the battered Jersey shore. While the beach looked OK from 20,000 feet, the damage became more evident as we descended.

Our first stop was New York City’s logistics command center - set up in a city warehouse in Queens. We had an extensive briefing from the commander on scene who painted the scene for us - a situation that was improving, but still needed a lot of attention.

We were also given a tour of the logistics ops center after the briefing. This will be home for us for the next ten days.

More work tomorrow…

Tampa Bay area emergency team deploying to New York City

Thu, 08 Nov 2012 16:33:28 -0500

A team of emergency managers is deploying to New York City on Friday, Nov. 9, to assist in the relief effort in response to Hurricane Sandy. The team will assemble in the terminal in front of Airside A at 8:30 a.m. at Tampa International Airport to fly to their assignment.

The storm, which made landfall on Oct. 29, has become the second costliest hurricane in American history - passing 2008’s Hurricane Ike. The difficult situation was compounded by a Nor’Easter, which dumped additional rain and snow on the New York City metropolitan area.

The team is expected to return to Florida on Tuesday, Nov. 20.

Updates from NYC will be posted to http://pinellasem.tumblr.com.

The relief trip to New York City

Wed, 07 Nov 2012 15:38:22 -0500

Well, we just got the word. New York City has officially requested assistance in recovering from Hurricane Sandy.

A team is being assembled from the greater Tampa Bay area, and we should be leaving for the affected area sometime this Friday morning.

I will be posting from the road on this account. I’m not sure what I will be seeing, but stay tuned as we get an idea of what the recovery effort will be like.