Hurricane Recovery
Samantha Abell says the city prepared for a Category 3 storm but got something closer to random tornadoes, and a utility failure left even the city’s Emergency Operation Center in the dark.
Gulf Breeze’s natural gas pressure dropped so low during the hurricane that the city stopped receiving gas itself. City Manager Samantha Abell told Rick’s Blog Live that the Emergency Operations Center, the police department and the fire department all lost service for a period of time.
- Abell joined the show three weeks after the storm. She has responded to 12 to 14 storms in her career, and she said this one was full of surprises.
The gas system: The city’s natural gas service reaches Pensacola Beach and stretches almost to Navarre. Abell said officials did not realize how much the service area had grown since Hurricane Sally.
“We always prepare for the storm we anticipate, but then you have to respond to the storm you actually get.”
What Gulf Breeze planned for: Staff prepared for a Category 3 hurricane and reviewed the after-action reports from Hurricane Ivan. They deployed generators and pumps and prepared for storm surge, as neighboring communities did.
What actually arrived: Abell described something closer to random tornadoes. The storm tracked east of the city, which made officials think Gulf Breeze would be spared. Then the eye seemed to pass overhead.
- About 20 minutes of calm, followed by wind from the north
- Heavy tree damage across the city
- Real-time calls with the hospital and the county EOC as conditions changed
The hospital connection: Abell said the city has kept in close contact with the hospital. During an earlier winter storm, crews put Cardwell in an excavator so she could reach the hospital. Gulf Breeze also cleared the helipad.
What worked: Abell credited well-trained people in decision-making roles and strong relationships with county and state partners. She told her team before the storm that mistakes would be made and to fall back on their training.
I also saw one of the city’s strengths myself. Crews were running trucks through neighborhoods at 1:30 in the morning clearing pathways on the streets, something I had not seen before. The chainsaws started the next morning, and neighbors were helping neighbors.
“Resilience… really is the measure of how quickly you bounce back.”
