July 3, 2025 • 22 mins
Hurricane season demands our attention, especially after last year's devastating storms that impacted Florida. Jessica McCracken, Pinellas County's Whole Community Readiness Coordinator, shares crucial insights about preparing for the next hurricane season with particular emphasis on the lessons learned from recent storms.
Most residents don't realize that Debbie, Helene, and Milton weren't direct hits to Pinellas County, yet caused significant damage. This sobering reality highlights why proper preparation matters regardless of a storm's projected path. Jessica breaks down three essential hurricane preparedness steps: knowing your risk, making a plan, and staying informed.
A critical misconception Jessica addresses is the difference between evacuation zones and flood zones. Evacuation zones are based on storm surge models, while flood zones determine insurance requirements. The entire state of Florida sits in a flood zone—the question is simply whether you're in a high-risk or moderate-risk area. This distinction matters tremendously for insurance coverage, as standard homeowner policies don't cover flood damage. Many residents learned this lesson the hard way during recent storms when areas outside traditional flood zones experienced significant flooding.
Property preparation follows the simple ABCs: anchor, brace, cover, and strap anything that could become windborne during a storm. For condo and HOA residents, Jessica emphasizes the importance of understanding both personal and community-level emergency procedures, including what happens with elevators, common areas, and trash facilities during evacuations.
Perhaps most valuable is Jessica's practical evacuation advice: "Go tens of miles, not hundreds." Often traveling just beyond evacuation zones provides sufficient safety while avoiding long-distance traffic congestion. And don't rely solely on the "cone of uncertainty" when making evacuation decisions—it only shows the potential path of a storm's center, not its size or impact area.
Register today for your county's emergency notification service (like Alert Pinellas) to receive critical information before, during, and after storms. This simple step connects you with life-saving alerts and resources when you need them most.
Are you prepared for hurricane season? Take action now to protect your home, family, and peace of mind before the next storm arrives.
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:00):
Hey everyone, welcome back to Real Estate Disruptors
podcast.
I am your host, Amir Habibzadeh, and I am sitting down with
Jessica McCracken, who is thePinellas County Whole Community
Readiness Coordinator.
Thank you so much for joiningus today, jess.
Speaker 2 (00:16):
Hello, thank you so much for having us.
Speaker 1 (00:18):
Absolutely so.
Your title is kind of amouthful.
You know, I think I have, youknow, an understanding of what
the Pinellas County WholeCommunity Readiness Coordinator
is.
But would you mind telling uswho you are, what you do and you
know what services you provide.
Speaker 2 (00:37):
Sure, so we can actually jump into some stats
and facts about last season withmy perspective.
From the community standpointis pretty unique.
I get to do all the educationand outreach programs throughout
Pinellas County, meaning I getto work with every walk of life,
every stage of life, every typeof community located all
(00:58):
throughout Pinellas County.
So especially going into thisyear with what we've experienced
last year really took theapproach to try to listen and
get that feedback about what theexperience was in that
community.
And we have a saying inemergency management every
disaster is local and thatreally is ringing true depending
on what community I'm talkingto or working with, where
(01:21):
they're located.
If they're especially one ofthose particularly vulnerable
populations, it really dictatestheir experience and their
perception of the 2024 season.
I think one of the biggesttakeaways going into this year
is just trying to focus oncommunicating that of Debbie,
(01:41):
helene and Milton.
None of those storms were adirect hit to Pinellas County
which.
I think is pretty important.
It's a pretty big dealconsidering the damages that we
saw and how many of our folkswere impacted.
Speaker 1 (01:54):
Yeah, because it felt like a direct hit.
Speaker 2 (01:58):
It looked like a direct hit in some areas.
Yeah, definitely.
Speaker 1 (02:03):
So what do you want people to know and how to
prepare for hurricane season.
Speaker 2 (02:09):
So we ask people to do three things to prepare for
hurricane season, and that'sknow your risk, make a plan and
stay informed.
So by know your risk, we meanknow your home, know your zone.
Are you in one of thoseparticularly vulnerable
populations or areas mobile home, park, barrier, islands which
is all evacuation zone A?
By know your zone we mean knowyour evacuation zone, and I know
(02:33):
we're talking to people notonly in Pinellas.
But there are several ways tolook up your evacuation zone.
For Pinellas We've got theReady Pinellas app.
You can go to our website, lookup Know your Zone.
So it really is one of thosethree major risks which we have
storm surge, wind and flooding.
(02:54):
A common misperception is thatflood and evacuation zones are
the same thing, but it'simportant to know both.
We have a lot of people thatare coming in from out of the
state never have experiencedhurricanes.
I even had somebody ask me in apresentation what does the
siren sound like when you hearthat?
So it's kind of fixing thosemyths and those misperceptions.
(03:16):
But evacuation zones are builton storm surge models.
That's really important to knowbecause if we call your
evacuation zone, that is becausewe are saying you will have
impacts from storm surge.
So, it's based on storm surgemodels, but we also can
experience inland flooding,flooding just an afternoon storm
and then the rain bands.
(03:37):
So we have a lot of folks thatlook at that cone of uncertainty
.
We've got to remember that thecone does not tell the whole
story, sure.
So the cone talk you know, willtell you where the center of
the storm is going to be apercentage of the time, but it
doesn't show you how big thestorm is, doesn't show you how
the size of the storm right,which was particularly important
with helene, because helene wassuch a large storm.
(03:58):
So we really try to reiterate,not to make any decisions,
evacuation decisions based onthat cone.
It's kind of the tropics way ofpopping up and saying hey, you
know, you might have impacts.
Speaker 1 (04:09):
Gotcha, gotcha Makes sense.
So when people talk about youknow, knowing your zone, go to
that website or download the appand whatnot.
I know you can find it onPinellas County.
I always find ours on thePinellas County Property
Appraiser site, but then there'salso a map that goes along with
that and you know.
So you know, get to know whereyour zone is and then, I would
(04:30):
assume, where you can evacuateto as well, right?
Speaker 2 (04:34):
That's right.
So it's easy to make your planonce you know what your risk is.
So are you going to have toevacuate?
Are you in?
You know that that first levelevacuation mobile home
communities are always asked toevacuate when an evacuation
order is called.
So once you know what you'regoing to have to do, it's much
easier to start figuring outthat plan.
But what a plan is is reallyjust where you're going to go.
(04:55):
So are you going to shelter inplace because you're in a
non-evacuation zone, or are youin one of those evacuation zones
where you're going to have toleave?
Where are you going to go?
Who do you have to take care of, and what does that entail?
So even when we're talkingabout hurricane kits, I've had
people tell me well, I shelterin place because I'm in a
non-evacuation zone, so, so Idon't really need to get
(05:19):
anything Right.
And every level of every planrequires some sort of supplies.
So it's really important toknow who you're going to be
responsible for.
Do you have kiddos?
Do you have furry kiddos?
Are you going to a shelter,special needs shelter, whatever
that looks like for your planand plan?
Speaker 1 (05:31):
accordingly.
Yeah, and you know, along thosesame plans, I think you know
insurance and making sure yourpolicy is up to date and make
sure you have the right coverageright.
Speaker 2 (05:42):
Absolutely so.
Trying to get that culture ofpreparedness and thinking about
insurance as a preparation toolis something that I am very
passionate about.
I come from the dark side.
I come from the insurance worldbefore my time in EM and having
those conversations now duringblue skies not just an automatic
(06:08):
renewal, making those payments,but really understanding what
your policy entails.
So an insurance policy is aone-way contract that requires
you to do X amount of things inorder to make sure that you get
paid out, but it's yourresponsibility to know what your
deductibles are, what iscovered, what's excluded.
So not just paying that renewal, but having that conversation
with your insurance professional.
Speaker 1 (06:30):
Gotcha, gotcha and then, just because you have, you
know, homeowners insurance and,like we experienced in these
last storms, a lot of placesthat weren't in a flood zone or
weren't in an evacuation zonestill got flooded.
And you know then thehomeowners battling for coverage
and unfortunately they didn'thave flood insurance.
So it might be worth it to some, some people, to go out and
(06:52):
proactively get that.
Speaker 2 (06:53):
Sure.
So something we hear a lot isI'm not in a flood zone and the
entire state of Florida is in aflood zone.
Whether you're in a high riskflood zone or a low risk to
moderate risk flood zone isreally the difference people
associate if they're in a floodzone with if their mortgage
requires that they pay for floodinsurance.
And that's just kind of how theindustry has been for such a
long time.
(07:13):
I was in the insurance industryfor 15 years.
I've written hundreds ofthousands of homeowners policies
.
We were never required to tellsomebody what their evacuation
zone is.
It just wasn't part of theprocess.
I'm sure in the back, theunderwriters, it's all in that
algorithm, but it wasn't aconversation that we had to have
as an insurance agent.
So I would say for a realestate professional know what
(07:37):
those both zones are for aproperty that you're selling, so
that you can be an advocate foryour client, and let them know
hey, this is what you're goingto be responsible for.
If you are not in a standardflood zone or a high risk flood
zone meaning it's going to berequired by your mortgage, you
can still get flood insuranceand let's say you're not in a
flood zone, or you're not in ahigh risk flood zone but you are
(07:58):
an evacuation zone and you havestorm surge damage that's not
covered in your homeowner'spolicy but you can still have
that flood policy that willcover it and it's substantially
less money if you're in thatpreferred zone yeah absolutely.
Speaker 1 (08:11):
And you know, I think , just making your clients aware
as realtors, that there is adifference between a flood zone
and an evacuation zone.
And you know, I, I, we hear itquite often where, oh no, I'm
not in a flood zone.
Yeah, I understand, but thereis an evacuation zone and you
know that could really dictatewhether you want to just go
(08:34):
ahead and get flood insurance,just preemptively.
You know, I know for myself, Ilive in Seminole, so I sit like
60 feet above sea level.
So you know for us floodinsurance, you know I don't have
to have it, but you know it'spretty inexpensive, just to have
that peace of mind.
So it's definitely part of ourplan this year to make sure we
(08:55):
got it.
Speaker 2 (08:55):
I'd love to hear that .
Speaker 1 (08:57):
So what about shared communities, condos and
homeowners associations?
How does that play intoemergency management?
Speaker 2 (09:05):
Sure.
So we have a lot of condominiumassociations and homeowners
associations in the state ofFlorida, a ton on the barrier
islands here in Pinellas.
So there's kind of a two-stepprocess.
You've got to have thatpersonal plan as somebody that's
an owner of a unit, somebodythat's living in one of those
units, but also having a planfor the community.
And a lot of those communitieshave the professional property
(09:26):
management companies.
What is the property managementcompany's plan?
Speaker 1 (09:31):
as well.
Speaker 2 (09:31):
So who's doing what?
Who's taking care of the commonareas?
Who's moving the pool furniture?
What is that plan?
You're going to have peoplethat are going to just resist
and they're going to want tostay even though the order is to
evacuate.
So how are you going to handlethat as an association?
What does the propertymanagement company do and what
(09:52):
are they required to do by law?
That may be taking yourelevator up to the top floor,
turning it off, locking it,locking your dumpsters, so if
somebody's got mobility issuesand they're on the 10th floor,
they're not going to have accessto an elevator.
That's really importantinformation to know.
Yes, so we don't want to putmore people in danger, our first
responders in danger, if we'vegot somebody trapped in a
(10:14):
building when they should haveleft.
And the point of the matter is,at a certain point we have to
pull those response vehicles offthe road.
35, 40 miles an hour.
Their equipment especially likea fire truck ladder truck, they
just can't withstand the windsand they have to get to their
safe place.
Speaker 1 (10:30):
Absolutely.
Speaker 2 (10:31):
The goal with evacuations is always get to
your safe place before the onsetof the tropical or storm force
winds.
So, um, it's going to be thesame thing for all of us who
have to yeah, you know shelterin place or at the emergency
operations, and that's part ofit.
Speaker 1 (10:46):
You know, as part of that making your plan, you know,
don't sit there and get stuckon the analysis, paralysis of
what, um, you know, dennisphillips is saying on the news
and you know you just got topick a point where, hey, if I'm
going to leave, I'm leaving now,and make that part of your plan
.
And so I think, because youdon't want to put the first
(11:08):
responders at risk either, andthey're not going to risk to
come get you, and you don't haveto wait until an evacuation
order is called.
Speaker 2 (11:15):
If you think that you're going to have to leave or
you, in your experience, youare getting evacuated, go ahead
and pack up and go, get on theroad.
That way you're not sitting intraffic, you're not waiting in
lines for gas.
I mean, we've got a millionpeople here in Pinellas, so just
a level A evacuation is, Ithink, 340,000 people.
Oh wow, not everybody is goinghundreds of miles.
(11:38):
You know, we tell people don'tgo hundreds of miles, go tens of
miles.
If you look at an evacuationmap of Pinellas, all the white
area are non-evacuation zones.
So you don't have to go too far, right, but you don't want to
be on the road when everybodyelse is on the road.
So that's why it's great tohave all your stuff prepared so
you can just hop in.
Good stuff.
Speaker 1 (11:58):
So how can residents prepare their homes?
Speaker 2 (12:01):
I always tell people remember the ABCs anchor, brace,
cover, strap.
Anything that can becomewindborne will become windborne
with those strong winds.
So make sure to take everything, bring it inside, put it to
where it can't be affected bythose winds.
After Irma we saw a lot ofpeople took lawn furniture those
(12:24):
little gnomes that you see intheir yard and put it up against
their homes, which really endedup causing a lot more damage to
the homes.
You can do things like replacethe big gravel, the big rocks,
with some lightweight mulch,Make sure you're trimming all
your limbs, and so there's kindof two parts to preparing your
home.
There's the blue skiespreparation.
Those are the things thatprobably take a little bit
(12:45):
longer.
If you've got to cut boards, ifthat's the way you're going to
go to protect your windows,Don't wait until the storm's
coming to do those things.
And then you're going to havethat evacuation level
preparation, where you'reshutting everything off, locking
it up and kind of those lastminute things before you head
out.
Gotcha.
Speaker 1 (13:01):
Gotcha.
So in Pinellas County, what aresome options for evacuation?
Speaker 2 (13:08):
So in Pinellas County we tell folks you can go to a
hotel, motel, airbnb, of course,in a non-evacuation zone.
You can go to a host home whichis the home of a friend or
family member in anon-evacuation zone, out of the
area Again, um tens of miles,not hundreds of miles.
Um, we do have people that haveout of state homes and you know
(13:29):
they take off and go thereRight.
And then we've got ouremergency um evacuation shelters
, Gotcha.
Speaker 1 (13:35):
And, you know, speak, just go uh, speaking of, out of
town, you know, obviously wehave a lot of snowbirds that are
here, you know, before they goback home.
They should really, you know,as agents.
I think it's a good touch pointfor you to reach out to those
clients who are the snowbirdsand, you know, be prepared, you
know, prepare that house beforethey leave to go back home for
(13:55):
the summer.
Speaker 2 (13:56):
Absolutely.
Especially in those sharedcommunities, mobile home
communities, we see a lot oftimes they're vacant for that
part of the year becauseeverybody leaves to go back.
So don't leave it up to yourproperty management company or
those folks that do stay around.
Get everything up, get itinside and help prepare your
community.
Speaker 1 (14:15):
Definitely when people are planning to evacuate
to a shelter, what do they needto know?
Speaker 2 (14:21):
So we have shelters for anybody that needs shelter,
but it is kind of the option oflast resort.
So we say it's a lifeboat, nota cruise ship.
Speaker 1 (14:31):
It's going to be loud the lights are going to be on.
Speaker 2 (14:33):
There's going to be lots of people.
You have a very smalldesignated space, but it is a
safe place to ride out the storm.
Sure, and we have.
You know, most counties have alive list on their website that
they will activate when anemergency is happening so you
can see what type of shelter itis, if they've got occupancy, do
(14:53):
they take pets, and if they'reopen.
So not every shelter is openfor every storm, so please do
not evacuate to a county shelterunless it's announced as open.
It really depends on thevariable of the storm, the
direction and what level ofevacuation we're calling.
But again, lifeboat, not acruise ship.
So, it's really important toeducate yourself about your
(15:15):
county, your community and whatoptions are available to you.
Speaker 1 (15:17):
Definitely, because I think you know if you have pets
and I assume you know theshelters that do accept pets you
know they're going to be yourregular household pets.
You know cat, dog and whatnot,but I think you know part of
that planning process they do.
Pet emergency kit should bethat county license.
Speaker 2 (15:44):
We always encourage folks to have their pets
microchipped, just in case theyare lost during a storm, you're
able to find your furry babiesafter the fact, any kind of toys
that make them feel more athome or comfortable.
It can be scary for people toevacuate just as scary for pets,
definitely and have them eithermuzzled or in a cage or crate,
(16:06):
especially if you're going to beusing public transit to get to.
Speaker 1 (16:09):
Gotcha, gotcha and what do you find?
You know what prevents peoplefrom evacuating a lot of times?
Speaker 2 (16:16):
The complacency is a big thing.
I've seen some of that stigmadrop off as we're doing outreach
.
That it can never happen to us,it can never happen here, it
will never happen to me.
Some of that has gone awaybecause it has.
Speaker 1 (16:29):
It has happened now.
Speaker 2 (16:30):
Right and so many people were affected.
So I've seen some of thatcomplacency stigma drop off.
But everything from timing totraffic to pets you know I've
got two parrots or two parakeets.
I'm not leaving, no matter what.
So we really want folks tounderstand that we have a lot of
resources that can help you, nomatter what it is.
(16:52):
If you are concerned about pets, if your special needs or you
have mobility issues, if you'reworried about you're a caregiver
and the person that you carefor has Alzheimer's or dementia
and you're kind of freaked outabout going to a shelter because
of that, our special needsshelter are staffed by our
Department of Health staff so inaddition to you being able to
(17:15):
bring your caregiver there,you've got some extra hands on
site to help with that.
We've really thought ofeverything and have all those
resources out there, so wereally want people to stay safe.
Speaker 1 (17:26):
Gotcha, and so do your research ahead of time to
make sure you're going to theright shelter that has the
special needs or allows pets orcaregivers and things along
those lines.
What happens if you don'tevacuate?
Speaker 2 (17:44):
So this is a question that we get.
A lot is just will I getarrested if I don't evacuate?
Surprisingly, people ask that alot, so we're not going to use
resources that we need to keeppeople safe that are actually
listening to evacuation ordersto go around and arrest people.
The bottom line is you're goingto be on your own If you're in
(18:08):
evacuation zone.
Consider that storm surge water.
I hate to tell people to takean ax if they're going to
evacuate up in their own home.
Water's rising, but we've seenit.
We've seen it in Lee County andit can be very scary.
So don't make a disaster withina disaster.
Just heed the warnings and headout Makes sense.
Speaker 1 (18:32):
Yeah, cause those you know, those waters come in and
you now, all of a sudden, you'rein your attic and you ain't got
nowhere to go.
So that's right, it's goodadvice, bring an X.
Speaker 2 (18:40):
I know we see a lot of people say I'm going to wait
and see if the weather gets bad.
Right and so winds may beinside, they don't look as bad
or feel as bad, but now we'vegot rising water and people
jumping in cars to try to getout.
And at that point it's just toolate.
Speaker 1 (18:53):
Yeah, no, it makes sense, Don't want to, don't want
to be.
We talk about the impacts andthe cone of uncertainty we
always hear about as a storm isapproaching what.
What are the impacts?
Speaker 2 (19:13):
of that.
So, like we talked about before, that cone of uncertainty, it
really doesn't tell the wholestory.
The cone of uncertainty tellsyou where the center of the
storm is going to be apercentage of the time, but not
what the size of the storm is.
So you know the eye of thestorm is the calm part of the
storm.
Right.
The impacts are all the bandsaround it.
So that could be wind,tornadoes, storm surge, all the
(19:37):
impacts that come with the storm.
So do not use the cone to makethose evacuation decisions.
Really get tuned into youremergency management team in
whatever county you live in.
You will see the NationalHurricane Center has issued a
new kind of updated graphic forthe cone.
(19:58):
So it's going to show windimpacts inland so to help kind
of communicate what those risksare a little bit better, because
so many people have beendependent on the cone for such a
long time but not reallyknowing what it means or what
it's communicating to the public.
Speaker 1 (20:18):
Yeah, Because I mean, as we saw, you know, Helene was
essentially a hundred miles offher coast and I think the cone
was going in an oppositedirection and you know Helene
was the one with the storm surge.
Correct, yeah, so it's.
It's definitely something yougot to pay attention to, but, as
we talked before, you know,don't sit there and just focus
on that cone.
You got to make that plan and,you know, get get safe,
(20:41):
Absolutely yeah, definitely sohow can I know?
We kind of touched on thisalready, but residents can stay
informed via your app, via thewebsite and any, any other good
options for them.
Speaker 2 (20:57):
Sure, so our website's disasterpinellasgov.
But one thing that you can dotoday is register for Alert
Pinellas.
Are you registered for AlertPinellas?
I am there, you go, see, you'rechecking all the boxes.
So that's our.
Speaker 1 (21:11):
Bought my batteries too.
Speaker 2 (21:13):
That's our emergency notification service.
That's how we communicate withyou before, during and after a
storm, and we've even beenpushing out some recovery
messaging and resources andinformation since the last
storms.
So you can register up to fiveaddresses.
So if you've got kids' schoolor another property, oh wow.
Speaker 1 (21:31):
I didn't know you could do that.
Speaker 2 (21:33):
So you can get a phone call, email text, and it's
severe weather alerts, boilwater notices, evacuation orders
, all that good stuff.
Speaker 1 (21:41):
Very cool, very good stuff.
Yeah, I mean, it's all aboutkeeping the community safe.
Speaker 2 (21:45):
And I, I, uh, every County's got their own version
of alert Pinellas, so check out,um, you know, hillsborough
County, pasco County, whereveryou live, check out the
emergency management website andyou you'll be able to find that
.
Speaker 1 (21:57):
Absolutely.
We will definitely get that outto our listeners and put it in
the podcast notes.
Well, Jess, hey, I reallyappreciate you coming in and
talking to us about gettingready for this season.
Would just kind of follow upwhat are you expecting to see
this season?
Speaker 2 (22:15):
Everybody evacuating when the order is called.
Speaker 1 (22:18):
Gotcha.
Speaker 2 (22:18):
Hopefully we've had some lessons learned all across
the board and all across thecounty and residents will take
it serious.
Speaker 1 (22:25):
Yeah, I think people will start to take it serious
now.
Well, once again, thank you forjoining us today.
Speaker 2 (22:30):
My pleasure.
Thanks so much, absolutely.
Speaker 1 (22:32):
All right, everybody.
We'll see you next time on theReal Estate Disruptors podcast.
Take care.
Hey everyone, welcome back to Real Estate Disruptors
podcast.
I am your host, Amir Habibzadeh, and I am sitting down with
Jessica McCracken, who is thePinellas County Whole Community
Readiness Coordinator.
Thank you so much for joiningus today, jess.
Speaker 2 (00:16):
Hello, thank you so much for having us.
Speaker 1 (00:18):
Absolutely so.
Your title is kind of amouthful.
You know, I think I have, youknow, an understanding of what
the Pinellas County WholeCommunity Readiness Coordinator
is.
But would you mind telling uswho you are, what you do and you
know what services you provide.
Speaker 2 (00:37):
Sure, so we can actually jump into some stats
and facts about last season withmy perspective.
From the community standpointis pretty unique.
I get to do all the educationand outreach programs throughout
Pinellas County, meaning I getto work with every walk of life,
every stage of life, every typeof community located all
(00:58):
throughout Pinellas County.
So especially going into thisyear with what we've experienced
last year really took theapproach to try to listen and
get that feedback about what theexperience was in that
community.
And we have a saying inemergency management every
disaster is local and thatreally is ringing true depending
on what community I'm talkingto or working with, where
(01:21):
they're located.
If they're especially one ofthose particularly vulnerable
populations, it really dictatestheir experience and their
perception of the 2024 season.
I think one of the biggesttakeaways going into this year
is just trying to focus oncommunicating that of Debbie,
(01:41):
helene and Milton.
None of those storms were adirect hit to Pinellas County
which.
I think is pretty important.
It's a pretty big dealconsidering the damages that we
saw and how many of our folkswere impacted.
Speaker 1 (01:54):
Yeah, because it felt like a direct hit.
Speaker 2 (01:58):
It looked like a direct hit in some areas.
Yeah, definitely.
Speaker 1 (02:03):
So what do you want people to know and how to
prepare for hurricane season.
Speaker 2 (02:09):
So we ask people to do three things to prepare for
hurricane season, and that'sknow your risk, make a plan and
stay informed.
So by know your risk, we meanknow your home, know your zone.
Are you in one of thoseparticularly vulnerable
populations or areas mobile home, park, barrier, islands which
is all evacuation zone A?
By know your zone we mean knowyour evacuation zone, and I know
(02:33):
we're talking to people notonly in Pinellas.
But there are several ways tolook up your evacuation zone.
For Pinellas We've got theReady Pinellas app.
You can go to our website, lookup Know your Zone.
So it really is one of thosethree major risks which we have
storm surge, wind and flooding.
(02:54):
A common misperception is thatflood and evacuation zones are
the same thing, but it'simportant to know both.
We have a lot of people thatare coming in from out of the
state never have experiencedhurricanes.
I even had somebody ask me in apresentation what does the
siren sound like when you hearthat?
So it's kind of fixing thosemyths and those misperceptions.
(03:16):
But evacuation zones are builton storm surge models.
That's really important to knowbecause if we call your
evacuation zone, that is becausewe are saying you will have
impacts from storm surge.
So, it's based on storm surgemodels, but we also can
experience inland flooding,flooding just an afternoon storm
and then the rain bands.
(03:37):
So we have a lot of folks thatlook at that cone of uncertainty
.
We've got to remember that thecone does not tell the whole
story, sure.
So the cone talk you know, willtell you where the center of
the storm is going to be apercentage of the time, but it
doesn't show you how big thestorm is, doesn't show you how
the size of the storm right,which was particularly important
with helene, because helene wassuch a large storm.
(03:58):
So we really try to reiterate,not to make any decisions,
evacuation decisions based onthat cone.
It's kind of the tropics way ofpopping up and saying hey, you
know, you might have impacts.
Speaker 1 (04:09):
Gotcha, gotcha Makes sense.
So when people talk about youknow, knowing your zone, go to
that website or download the appand whatnot.
I know you can find it onPinellas County.
I always find ours on thePinellas County Property
Appraiser site, but then there'salso a map that goes along with
that and you know.
So you know, get to know whereyour zone is and then, I would
(04:30):
assume, where you can evacuateto as well, right?
Speaker 2 (04:34):
That's right.
So it's easy to make your planonce you know what your risk is.
So are you going to have toevacuate?
Are you in?
You know that that first levelevacuation mobile home
communities are always asked toevacuate when an evacuation
order is called.
So once you know what you'regoing to have to do, it's much
easier to start figuring outthat plan.
But what a plan is is reallyjust where you're going to go.
(04:55):
So are you going to shelter inplace because you're in a
non-evacuation zone, or are youin one of those evacuation zones
where you're going to have toleave?
Where are you going to go?
Who do you have to take care of, and what does that entail?
So even when we're talkingabout hurricane kits, I've had
people tell me well, I shelterin place because I'm in a
non-evacuation zone, so, so Idon't really need to get
(05:19):
anything Right.
And every level of every planrequires some sort of supplies.
So it's really important toknow who you're going to be
responsible for.
Do you have kiddos?
Do you have furry kiddos?
Are you going to a shelter,special needs shelter, whatever
that looks like for your planand plan?
Speaker 1 (05:31):
accordingly.
Yeah, and you know, along thosesame plans, I think you know
insurance and making sure yourpolicy is up to date and make
sure you have the right coverageright.
Speaker 2 (05:42):
Absolutely so.
Trying to get that culture ofpreparedness and thinking about
insurance as a preparation toolis something that I am very
passionate about.
I come from the dark side.
I come from the insurance worldbefore my time in EM and having
those conversations now duringblue skies not just an automatic
(06:08):
renewal, making those payments,but really understanding what
your policy entails.
So an insurance policy is aone-way contract that requires
you to do X amount of things inorder to make sure that you get
paid out, but it's yourresponsibility to know what your
deductibles are, what iscovered, what's excluded.
So not just paying that renewal, but having that conversation
with your insurance professional.
Speaker 1 (06:30):
Gotcha, gotcha and then, just because you have, you
know, homeowners insurance and,like we experienced in these
last storms, a lot of placesthat weren't in a flood zone or
weren't in an evacuation zonestill got flooded.
And you know then thehomeowners battling for coverage
and unfortunately they didn'thave flood insurance.
So it might be worth it to some, some people, to go out and
(06:52):
proactively get that.
Speaker 2 (06:53):
Sure.
So something we hear a lot isI'm not in a flood zone and the
entire state of Florida is in aflood zone.
Whether you're in a high riskflood zone or a low risk to
moderate risk flood zone isreally the difference people
associate if they're in a floodzone with if their mortgage
requires that they pay for floodinsurance.
And that's just kind of how theindustry has been for such a
long time.
(07:13):
I was in the insurance industryfor 15 years.
I've written hundreds ofthousands of homeowners policies
.
We were never required to tellsomebody what their evacuation
zone is.
It just wasn't part of theprocess.
I'm sure in the back, theunderwriters, it's all in that
algorithm, but it wasn't aconversation that we had to have
as an insurance agent.
So I would say for a realestate professional know what
(07:37):
those both zones are for aproperty that you're selling, so
that you can be an advocate foryour client, and let them know
hey, this is what you're goingto be responsible for.
If you are not in a standardflood zone or a high risk flood
zone meaning it's going to berequired by your mortgage, you
can still get flood insuranceand let's say you're not in a
flood zone, or you're not in ahigh risk flood zone but you are
(07:58):
an evacuation zone and you havestorm surge damage that's not
covered in your homeowner'spolicy but you can still have
that flood policy that willcover it and it's substantially
less money if you're in thatpreferred zone yeah absolutely.
Speaker 1 (08:11):
And you know, I think , just making your clients aware
as realtors, that there is adifference between a flood zone
and an evacuation zone.
And you know, I, I, we hear itquite often where, oh no, I'm
not in a flood zone.
Yeah, I understand, but thereis an evacuation zone and you
know that could really dictatewhether you want to just go
(08:34):
ahead and get flood insurance,just preemptively.
You know, I know for myself, Ilive in Seminole, so I sit like
60 feet above sea level.
So you know for us floodinsurance, you know I don't have
to have it, but you know it'spretty inexpensive, just to have
that peace of mind.
So it's definitely part of ourplan this year to make sure we
(08:55):
got it.
Speaker 2 (08:55):
I'd love to hear that .
Speaker 1 (08:57):
So what about shared communities, condos and
homeowners associations?
How does that play intoemergency management?
Speaker 2 (09:05):
Sure.
So we have a lot of condominiumassociations and homeowners
associations in the state ofFlorida, a ton on the barrier
islands here in Pinellas.
So there's kind of a two-stepprocess.
You've got to have thatpersonal plan as somebody that's
an owner of a unit, somebodythat's living in one of those
units, but also having a planfor the community.
And a lot of those communitieshave the professional property
(09:26):
management companies.
What is the property managementcompany's plan?
Speaker 1 (09:31):
as well.
Speaker 2 (09:31):
So who's doing what?
Who's taking care of the commonareas?
Who's moving the pool furniture?
What is that plan?
You're going to have peoplethat are going to just resist
and they're going to want tostay even though the order is to
evacuate.
So how are you going to handlethat as an association?
What does the propertymanagement company do and what
(09:52):
are they required to do by law?
That may be taking yourelevator up to the top floor,
turning it off, locking it,locking your dumpsters, so if
somebody's got mobility issuesand they're on the 10th floor,
they're not going to have accessto an elevator.
That's really importantinformation to know.
Yes, so we don't want to putmore people in danger, our first
responders in danger, if we'vegot somebody trapped in a
(10:14):
building when they should haveleft.
And the point of the matter is,at a certain point we have to
pull those response vehicles offthe road.
35, 40 miles an hour.
Their equipment especially likea fire truck ladder truck, they
just can't withstand the windsand they have to get to their
safe place.
Speaker 1 (10:30):
Absolutely.
Speaker 2 (10:31):
The goal with evacuations is always get to
your safe place before the onsetof the tropical or storm force
winds.
So, um, it's going to be thesame thing for all of us who
have to yeah, you know shelterin place or at the emergency
operations, and that's part ofit.
Speaker 1 (10:46):
You know, as part of that making your plan, you know,
don't sit there and get stuckon the analysis, paralysis of
what, um, you know, dennisphillips is saying on the news
and you know you just got topick a point where, hey, if I'm
going to leave, I'm leaving now,and make that part of your plan
.
And so I think, because youdon't want to put the first
(11:08):
responders at risk either, andthey're not going to risk to
come get you, and you don't haveto wait until an evacuation
order is called.
Speaker 2 (11:15):
If you think that you're going to have to leave or
you, in your experience, youare getting evacuated, go ahead
and pack up and go, get on theroad.
That way you're not sitting intraffic, you're not waiting in
lines for gas.
I mean, we've got a millionpeople here in Pinellas, so just
a level A evacuation is, Ithink, 340,000 people.
Oh wow, not everybody is goinghundreds of miles.
(11:38):
You know, we tell people don'tgo hundreds of miles, go tens of
miles.
If you look at an evacuationmap of Pinellas, all the white
area are non-evacuation zones.
So you don't have to go too far, right, but you don't want to
be on the road when everybodyelse is on the road.
So that's why it's great tohave all your stuff prepared so
you can just hop in.
Good stuff.
Speaker 1 (11:58):
So how can residents prepare their homes?
Speaker 2 (12:01):
I always tell people remember the ABCs anchor, brace,
cover, strap.
Anything that can becomewindborne will become windborne
with those strong winds.
So make sure to take everything, bring it inside, put it to
where it can't be affected bythose winds.
After Irma we saw a lot ofpeople took lawn furniture those
(12:24):
little gnomes that you see intheir yard and put it up against
their homes, which really endedup causing a lot more damage to
the homes.
You can do things like replacethe big gravel, the big rocks,
with some lightweight mulch,Make sure you're trimming all
your limbs, and so there's kindof two parts to preparing your
home.
There's the blue skiespreparation.
Those are the things thatprobably take a little bit
(12:45):
longer.
If you've got to cut boards, ifthat's the way you're going to
go to protect your windows,Don't wait until the storm's
coming to do those things.
And then you're going to havethat evacuation level
preparation, where you'reshutting everything off, locking
it up and kind of those lastminute things before you head
out.
Gotcha.
Speaker 1 (13:01):
Gotcha.
So in Pinellas County, what aresome options for evacuation?
Speaker 2 (13:08):
So in Pinellas County we tell folks you can go to a
hotel, motel, airbnb, of course,in a non-evacuation zone.
You can go to a host home whichis the home of a friend or
family member in anon-evacuation zone, out of the
area Again, um tens of miles,not hundreds of miles.
Um, we do have people that haveout of state homes and you know
(13:29):
they take off and go thereRight.
And then we've got ouremergency um evacuation shelters
, Gotcha.
Speaker 1 (13:35):
And, you know, speak, just go uh, speaking of, out of
town, you know, obviously wehave a lot of snowbirds that are
here, you know, before they goback home.
They should really, you know,as agents.
I think it's a good touch pointfor you to reach out to those
clients who are the snowbirdsand, you know, be prepared, you
know, prepare that house beforethey leave to go back home for
(13:55):
the summer.
Speaker 2 (13:56):
Absolutely.
Especially in those sharedcommunities, mobile home
communities, we see a lot oftimes they're vacant for that
part of the year becauseeverybody leaves to go back.
So don't leave it up to yourproperty management company or
those folks that do stay around.
Get everything up, get itinside and help prepare your
community.
Speaker 1 (14:15):
Definitely when people are planning to evacuate
to a shelter, what do they needto know?
Speaker 2 (14:21):
So we have shelters for anybody that needs shelter,
but it is kind of the option oflast resort.
So we say it's a lifeboat, nota cruise ship.
Speaker 1 (14:31):
It's going to be loud the lights are going to be on.
Speaker 2 (14:33):
There's going to be lots of people.
You have a very smalldesignated space, but it is a
safe place to ride out the storm.
Sure, and we have.
You know, most counties have alive list on their website that
they will activate when anemergency is happening so you
can see what type of shelter itis, if they've got occupancy, do
(14:53):
they take pets, and if they'reopen.
So not every shelter is openfor every storm, so please do
not evacuate to a county shelterunless it's announced as open.
It really depends on thevariable of the storm, the
direction and what level ofevacuation we're calling.
But again, lifeboat, not acruise ship.
So, it's really important toeducate yourself about your
(15:15):
county, your community and whatoptions are available to you.
Speaker 1 (15:17):
Definitely, because I think you know if you have pets
and I assume you know theshelters that do accept pets you
know they're going to be yourregular household pets.
You know cat, dog and whatnot,but I think you know part of
that planning process they do.
Pet emergency kit should bethat county license.
Speaker 2 (15:44):
We always encourage folks to have their pets
microchipped, just in case theyare lost during a storm, you're
able to find your furry babiesafter the fact, any kind of toys
that make them feel more athome or comfortable.
It can be scary for people toevacuate just as scary for pets,
definitely and have them eithermuzzled or in a cage or crate,
(16:06):
especially if you're going to beusing public transit to get to.
Speaker 1 (16:09):
Gotcha, gotcha and what do you find?
You know what prevents peoplefrom evacuating a lot of times?
Speaker 2 (16:16):
The complacency is a big thing.
I've seen some of that stigmadrop off as we're doing outreach
.
That it can never happen to us,it can never happen here, it
will never happen to me.
Some of that has gone awaybecause it has.
Speaker 1 (16:29):
It has happened now.
Speaker 2 (16:30):
Right and so many people were affected.
So I've seen some of thatcomplacency stigma drop off.
But everything from timing totraffic to pets you know I've
got two parrots or two parakeets.
I'm not leaving, no matter what.
So we really want folks tounderstand that we have a lot of
resources that can help you, nomatter what it is.
(16:52):
If you are concerned about pets, if your special needs or you
have mobility issues, if you'reworried about you're a caregiver
and the person that you carefor has Alzheimer's or dementia
and you're kind of freaked outabout going to a shelter because
of that, our special needsshelter are staffed by our
Department of Health staff so inaddition to you being able to
(17:15):
bring your caregiver there,you've got some extra hands on
site to help with that.
We've really thought ofeverything and have all those
resources out there, so wereally want people to stay safe.
Speaker 1 (17:26):
Gotcha, and so do your research ahead of time to
make sure you're going to theright shelter that has the
special needs or allows pets orcaregivers and things along
those lines.
What happens if you don'tevacuate?
Speaker 2 (17:44):
So this is a question that we get.
A lot is just will I getarrested if I don't evacuate?
Surprisingly, people ask that alot, so we're not going to use
resources that we need to keeppeople safe that are actually
listening to evacuation ordersto go around and arrest people.
The bottom line is you're goingto be on your own If you're in
(18:08):
evacuation zone.
Consider that storm surge water.
I hate to tell people to takean ax if they're going to
evacuate up in their own home.
Water's rising, but we've seenit.
We've seen it in Lee County andit can be very scary.
So don't make a disaster withina disaster.
Just heed the warnings and headout Makes sense.
Speaker 1 (18:32):
Yeah, cause those you know, those waters come in and
you now, all of a sudden, you'rein your attic and you ain't got
nowhere to go.
So that's right, it's goodadvice, bring an X.
Speaker 2 (18:40):
I know we see a lot of people say I'm going to wait
and see if the weather gets bad.
Right and so winds may beinside, they don't look as bad
or feel as bad, but now we'vegot rising water and people
jumping in cars to try to getout.
And at that point it's just toolate.
Speaker 1 (18:53):
Yeah, no, it makes sense, Don't want to, don't want
to be.
We talk about the impacts andthe cone of uncertainty we
always hear about as a storm isapproaching what.
What are the impacts?
Speaker 2 (19:13):
of that.
So, like we talked about before, that cone of uncertainty, it
really doesn't tell the wholestory.
The cone of uncertainty tellsyou where the center of the
storm is going to be apercentage of the time, but not
what the size of the storm is.
So you know the eye of thestorm is the calm part of the
storm.
Right.
The impacts are all the bandsaround it.
So that could be wind,tornadoes, storm surge, all the
(19:37):
impacts that come with the storm.
So do not use the cone to makethose evacuation decisions.
Really get tuned into youremergency management team in
whatever county you live in.
You will see the NationalHurricane Center has issued a
new kind of updated graphic forthe cone.
(19:58):
So it's going to show windimpacts inland so to help kind
of communicate what those risksare a little bit better, because
so many people have beendependent on the cone for such a
long time but not reallyknowing what it means or what
it's communicating to the public.
Speaker 1 (20:18):
Yeah, Because I mean, as we saw, you know, Helene was
essentially a hundred miles offher coast and I think the cone
was going in an oppositedirection and you know Helene
was the one with the storm surge.
Correct, yeah, so it's.
It's definitely something yougot to pay attention to, but, as
we talked before, you know,don't sit there and just focus
on that cone.
You got to make that plan and,you know, get get safe,
(20:41):
Absolutely yeah, definitely sohow can I know?
We kind of touched on thisalready, but residents can stay
informed via your app, via thewebsite and any, any other good
options for them.
Speaker 2 (20:57):
Sure, so our website's disasterpinellasgov.
But one thing that you can dotoday is register for Alert
Pinellas.
Are you registered for AlertPinellas?
I am there, you go, see, you'rechecking all the boxes.
So that's our.
Speaker 1 (21:11):
Bought my batteries too.
Speaker 2 (21:13):
That's our emergency notification service.
That's how we communicate withyou before, during and after a
storm, and we've even beenpushing out some recovery
messaging and resources andinformation since the last
storms.
So you can register up to fiveaddresses.
So if you've got kids' schoolor another property, oh wow.
Speaker 1 (21:31):
I didn't know you could do that.
Speaker 2 (21:33):
So you can get a phone call, email text, and it's
severe weather alerts, boilwater notices, evacuation orders
, all that good stuff.
Speaker 1 (21:41):
Very cool, very good stuff.
Yeah, I mean, it's all aboutkeeping the community safe.
Speaker 2 (21:45):
And I, I, uh, every County's got their own version
of alert Pinellas, so check out,um, you know, hillsborough
County, pasco County, whereveryou live, check out the
emergency management website andyou you'll be able to find that
.
Speaker 1 (21:57):
Absolutely.
We will definitely get that outto our listeners and put it in
the podcast notes.
Well, Jess, hey, I reallyappreciate you coming in and
talking to us about gettingready for this season.
Would just kind of follow upwhat are you expecting to see
this season?
Speaker 2 (22:15):
Everybody evacuating when the order is called.
Speaker 1 (22:18):
Gotcha.
Speaker 2 (22:18):
Hopefully we've had some lessons learned all across
the board and all across thecounty and residents will take
it serious.
Speaker 1 (22:25):
Yeah, I think people will start to take it serious
now.
Well, once again, thank you forjoining us today.
Speaker 2 (22:30):
My pleasure.
Thanks so much, absolutely.
Speaker 1 (22:32):
All right, everybody.
We'll see you next time on theReal Estate Disruptors podcast.
Take care.
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