What does it take to stay safe during a hurricane in coastal Florida? Discover the invaluable insights from Kathy Perkins, Director of Pinellas County Emergency Management Services, who brings over three decades of experience, including her firsthand involvement in Hurricane Andrew. Kathy helps us navigate the unique challenges that each storm brings, from storm surges and high winds to inland flooding. Learn why it's crucial not to get fixated on the "cone of uncertainty," and hear Kathy's expert advice on staying informed and understanding the broader risks.
Ever felt "hurricane fatigue"? We tackle this critical issue by reflecting on personal experiences with major storms like Hurricane Charlie, Ian, and Irma. Kathy shares the complexities of hurricane forecasting and stresses the importance of staying vigilant despite the unpredictable nature of these storms. We dive into the challenges of evacuation planning, especially for vulnerable populations, and discuss the necessity of preparing for best, mid, and worst-case scenarios. This segment aims to keep you ready for rapid changes in storm intensity and direction, emphasizing the dangers of complacency.
Preparation is key, and that's why we focus on practical strategies for evacuation and hurricane preparedness in our final chapter. Drawing parallels to everyday safety measures, you'll get practical advice on creating a well-thought-out plan tailored to your family's needs, including pets and specific medical requirements. Learn about the importance of timely preparation and how to use resources like Alert Pinellas and the Ready Pinellas app. Kathy's insights will guide you through knowing your risk, making a plan, and staying informed to ensure your safety during hurricane season.
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:03):
Hello everybody and welcome back to the podcast.
I am Mike Webb and I am pleasedto announce our guest today.
We're going to take it out ofreal estate and bring it back
into something that you're goingto find very important to you
here living on the coast inFlorida, and I have a special
(00:26):
guest today.
Her name is Kathy Perkins andshe is the Director of Pinellas
County Emergency ManagementServices.
Welcome to the show, kathy.
How are you doing?
Speaker 2 (00:38):
Thanks, mike, I'm great.
Speaker 1 (00:40):
All right, so we will do a quick little bio on you
and you can tell us how you gotto where you are and why in the
world do you love to jump into acrisis situation and take the
bull by the horn, so to speak?
So how long you been in?
Speaker 2 (00:58):
been doing this emergency management for over 30
years.
That actually started afterHurricane Andrew in 1992 down in
Miami-Dade County.
So it wasn't anything I went toschool for.
I didn't even know this was ajob and over the years it has
transitioned.
Now you can go to school, youcould get degrees in emergency
management.
(01:18):
It really is exciting becausewe are dealing with every facet
of the community and I lovetalking to every group out there
for what role they could play.
So I know you said that this iskind of removed from the Realty
Group, but it really isn't,because you're all emergency
managers too, whether that'swithin your companies or with
your clients and within your ownhomes.
Speaker 1 (01:40):
Great circle back, because, yes, we are crises
management professionals.
If you've ever been in a realestate transaction, there's
typically about a half a dozencrises before you get to closing
.
So, ironically enough which wedidn't know this I was working
for a company called State Farmin 1993 when Andrew hit and my
(02:03):
father and I volunteer, uh,volunteer.
We didn't volunteer.
The company, uh engaged us toleave here and go down to Miami
to help out other state farmagents.
And wow, that was a soberingevent for me in my life.
It literally looked like a.
If I knew what a bomb lookedlike going off, that's what it
looked like.
It was incredible.
(02:24):
So what a way to get inductedinto your business is by being
down there.
It was crazy times.
It really was.
Speaker 2 (02:31):
Yeah, and I think unless you've really experienced
a large scale hurricane, peoplecan't picture it right, because
you think of your home as yoursafe space.
It's where you go every night,you get to lay down on your
pillows.
But during disasters, you know,we may ask people to leave the
safety of their homes and you'veseen the kind of devastation
that can occur and that could befrom you know multiple hazards
(02:54):
that are present with hurricanes, storm surge being the most
life-threatening.
And if you remember, a fewyears ago down in Lee County
with Hurricane Ian, we hadhouses that were completely
washed off of their foundations.
Wind is another big hazard, soyou can have winds up over 180
miles per hour, you can havetornadoes and downbursts, so all
(03:15):
things we need to be thinkingabout.
And then we can have a lot ofrainfall too.
So we saw that again withHurricane Ian, with over 20
inches of rainfall fallingacross almost the entire state
of Florida.
So you talked about it being acoastal issue.
Hurricanes can be across theentire state.
So we really need people to payattention to when a storm is
coming, how far out those risksextend and what that risk is, so
(03:39):
you can do that assessment foryour own home.
Speaker 1 (03:42):
Yeah, you know what I have found, being a lifelong
Florida resident, lifelongClearwater resident, finally,
after watching these for many,many years, every storm takes on
its own unique characteristicsand sometimes it is the coastal
storm surge that gets you whichis the most dangerous.
I live about 100, less than 100yards from the open coast and I
(04:04):
have to be very mindful of that, remembering what I've seen in
these other storms.
But they also can be windevents.
They can be wind events noteven close to the eye of the
storm, and then the inlandflooding which we see in Orlando
all the time from these storms.
So there's so many things thatlooking at a storm can.
You can get sucked into watchingthat slow motion track and
(04:26):
thinking, oh, it's only a catone, it's only a cat two, with
all the new things happening andrapid intensification and all
these things.
I certainly don't understand.
I guess I'm going to kick itback to you.
What would you recommend andwhat would you tell everybody?
That if you're watching a stormand it's looking like it's
going to make a Tampa Clearwaterlandfall, everybody that if
you're watching a storm and it'slooking like it's going to make
a Tampa Clearwater landfall,don't get caught?
Speaker 2 (04:47):
up in the what Don't get caught up in just looking at
the cone.
So you hear a lot about thiscone of uncertainty and that
cone only tells you where thecenter of the storm is going to
be two-thirds of the time.
What it doesn't tell you andyou just touched on this is that
those wind fields can extendout for hundreds of miles from
the center of the storm and, aswe saw with Hurricane Ian, that
(05:09):
storm was coming to us here inTampa Bay right Until it wasn't,
and it was a 20-mile shift inthe trajectory of the storm as
it came off of the coast of Cuba.
And we heard horror stories ofpeople in Lee County who looked
at the cone days out and said,oh, it's gone to Tampa, it's not
(05:31):
going to be our problem, andthey stopped paying attention to
the storm.
Well, you know, storms change,mother Nature changes.
They speed up, they slow down,they stall, they stall.
So that's why you really have tolook at what are the hazards
with each storm.
So we use that cone as aguideline.
You know I always say it's kindof mother's way of saying heads
(05:54):
up, something bad might becoming right.
So once you see that that coneis anywhere near you, you know,
start paying attention.
And that's one of our keytenets is staying informed,
right, and those advisories willcome out every six hours.
So it's a good idea every sixhours or you could sleep through
the night, right, if it's notright on you.
You know, I mean, just makesure that you're checking in on
a daily basis and then lookingat what are the local
(06:16):
forecasters telling you it'sgoing to look like, so even like
Adalia.
Adalia was 100 miles offshore,right Didn't make landfall here,
but we had over 1,500 homesflooded down in St Petersburg,
right In the Shore Acres,riviera Bay neighborhoods.
Speaker 1 (06:34):
Right.
Speaker 2 (06:34):
So you don't have to have a direct landfalling storm
to have impacts from that.
So you really want to look atis there a storm surge watch or
warning being issued?
How much rainfall, right, sopeople get caught up in that?
Oh, I live 100 miles inland.
It's not going to be a problemfor me, but if you've got 22
inches of rain that falls on topof you in less than a 24-hour
(06:57):
period, that water is not goingto be able to drain off quickly.
So we saw a lot ofneighborhoods that were flooding
, and I think this is somethingthat's really important when
realtors are working withclients and especially these
people that are new to Floridaand maybe they're only used to
storms in the wintertime lettingthem understand what their
risks are, helping them evaluatethe homes that they're looking
(07:19):
at.
We get that question a lotabout flood zones versus storm
surge and evacuation zones.
They're not the same things,and sometimes you might be in an
evacuation zone but not in aFEMA flood zone.
Speaker 1 (07:34):
So you're not.
Speaker 2 (07:35):
You're not required to have flood insurance, so it
may not come up during your realestate transaction, but that
doesn't mean that you aren't atrisk.
So really important so that'sour first tenant that we tell
people is you need to know yourrisk for where you're located,
and that's great for homeownersand business owners alike, right
?
So even your offices here.
What is your risk here?
(07:56):
I think you guys are probablyI'd be high and dry here.
I don't know.
I haven't looked up youraddress.
Speaker 1 (07:59):
Yeah, we have a good elevation here, but this is
actually a building that I wouldcome evacuate to.
Speaker 2 (08:04):
Yeah, this looks like it's a concrete block building,
yeah, and you want to look atyour windows.
What is the shape of the roofthat you had?
Some roofs are better athandling winds than others, so
there's a lot of factors thatyou can look at.
What is the finished floorelevation?
So a lot of great things thatwhen you're working with your
realtor to look at that.
I know when I moved up herefrom Miami-Dade, my realtor
(08:27):
probably was like who is thiswoman?
Because I was like I want anon-Thema flood zone, I want to
be outside of the storm surgezone and I want a house with
hurricane protection.
You know, I wasn't asking abouthow many bedrooms and bathrooms
and square footage or theschool zone.
Speaker 1 (08:48):
I was looking at it from a very different
perspective.
That's funny.
Coming from your background,that makes sense.
So you left Miami Dade, youcame, you moved to you know a
hot area that you need to beconcerned about storms from a
white hot area.
So this has been following youyour whole life and you know we
talk about these other events.
I remember back in 2012, we hada rain event here by a tropical
storm Donna.
I think it was in June.
We had like four days of rainflooded out local here.
(09:13):
I don't remember the exact inchcount and that's a situation.
So when we talk about Kathy'srole, it's not just for
hurricanes, it's any kind ofemergency preparation.
And I know personally, Ilearned I believe it was either
04, 05.
We all remember the 04 thatlived here, the 04, 05
hurricanes, but it was HurricaneCharlie and I had gone to bed
(09:34):
that night.
My mother at the time was beingstubborn and would not evacuate
.
So I went to my mother's houseand said, well, at least I'll go
drown with her, I guess I'llhelp her swim out.
And because I went to bedthat's house and said, well, at
least I'll go drown with her, Iguess I'll help her swim out.
And because I went to bed thatnight and it was headed right
for Tarpon Springs, I went tobed, I woke up and Charlie,
talking about your cone had madea hard right hand turn, dumped
(09:57):
into Fort Myers, to the Bocaarea down there, as we know, it
almost busted out of the cone.
It made such a right-hand turn.
So that's something, like yousaid, people really need to be
mindful of.
And the other thing I will tellyou my plan and my fouled
thinking, my flawed thinking,was well, it's only a two, I'm
(10:20):
going to go to bed.
It's coming into Tarpon, I'mgoing to stay here with my
mother.
I'll turn the generator on forlater.
But it also not only made ahard right-hand turn and almost
got out of the cone, it wentfrom a two to a four.
It experienced that rapidintensification.
So I learned a very valuablelesson with Hurricane Charlie
that if in fact I'm going toevacuate, I need to evacuate
(10:41):
long enough out that I don't.
I-75 doesn.
And I can't do it based uponthe storm's intensity at that
time, because it is subject tochange at any time.
Speaker 2 (10:53):
Absolutely.
That's where that stayinginformed is so critical, and
this season that's why they havethe really high projections for
numbers.
Right, the waters are reallywarm and we have seen over the
last 10 years that a lot of thestorms that have become Category
4 and 5 storms were tropicalstorms a couple of days before
so and we had that really flukeof a storm in Acapulco that went
(11:16):
from a tropical storm to a catfive in 24 hours.
So you know, that's one of thethings that we're looking at
very closely.
So we have daily calls with thestate division of emergency
management and the nationalhurricane center.
We're talking with our localNational Weather Service
partners and we're reallylooking at what are they saying.
So are they talking aboutintensification?
And when we do our planning, wedo what I like to call the BMW.
(11:38):
So it's your best mid and worstcase scenarios.
So your best is really.
What are they saying?
It's going to be now right, sowe don't go with no impacts.
That's the hope.
Right, we have nothing right,but our best is what is the
minimum, and then our mid is ifit was a little bit stronger
than that, and then our worst iswe look at usually, you know
sometimes it could be two orthree categories higher, and we
(12:00):
do this with every storm.
So with Ian early on, weactually had as our worst case
scenario potentially categoryfour or five here in Tampa Bay.
So that way we could already bethinking about what is our
clearance time, how many peopleare we going to ask to evacuate?
And people need to keep in mindthat I know from the
perspective of an individual,you're thinking it's just you
(12:21):
and your home that you've got totake care of.
Right, as a business owner, youmay be thinking about what you
have to do for your business.
As a county EM person, I'mthinking holistically this giant
county with a million people,you know, thousands and
thousands of tourists here, andwe have hospitals, we have
nursing homes, we have assistedliving facilities that all have
(12:42):
very vulnerable people that mayhave to evacuate.
So it gets very complex veryquickly.
Speaker 1 (12:49):
The logistics of trying to evacuate and how long
it's going to take and are theroads going to get jammed up?
So I think too that people, youknow, hurricane season already
started.
We watched this one move outthere, a very powerful storm.
Now we're having a littleSaharan dust.
Come on dust.
It makes beautiful sunsets,keeps it warm, but it keeps the
(13:11):
hurricanes down too.
It won't last forever.
But I think what happenssometimes, and I don't know if
you have some advice for us howto overcome this, but I think we
get hurricane fatigue.
Sometimes we watch three orfour storms and they're in slow
motion and we're turning onevery day and we're watching
them and they finally go toMexico or they go someplace else
, or they spin back out into theAtlantic and spin off and we
(13:34):
start thinking well, this onewill do the same.
How would you tell people thathave been through the 04, 05
hurricane?
There was a point in 04 that wewere preparing for a hurricane
every other weekend Differenthurricane, by the way.
So when people, when it's, youknow, late August or in the
middle of September, at the peakof the season and they've
already been watching thesethings for, you know, six weeks
(13:55):
brew out there in the Gulf?
How do you keep them encouragedto?
This might be the one.
Stay on your toes.
Speaker 2 (14:01):
Yeah, that's a huge problem.
You talked about it before.
Each storm has a differentpersonality, right?
Each one is different andpeople that pigeonhole into I
survived the last one, or thelast one turned and it didn't
hit me, or the last one wasn'tso bad.
We actually heard that frompeople in Lee County, right with
(14:23):
Charlie because, or Irma whenIrma came through, the storm
surge was maybe three or fourfeet.
So you know, they saw that andthey thought, oh, it's going to
be the same when Ian comes in.
Well, ian was 10 to 15 feet.
So you know, people basedlife-saving decisions of old
information or past experience,and I can't stress that enough.
(14:45):
It's like every time you get inyour car, right, and you put,
do you, do you decide whether ornot to put your seatbelt on
Right, that's a life-savingmeasure that you take and thank
goodness you don't get in anaccident every day, right, but
you've done something to helpprotect yourself every time you
get in the car, right, cause younever know, never know when
you're going to have a caraccident, right?
(15:11):
So we're telling you that whenthere's a hurricane coming or a
tropical storm, when something'sbrewing, it's kind of like
putting your seatbelt on right,it's paying attention, it's
watching that storm, it's havingthat plan.
And that's the second key thing.
We tell people you want to makea plan because you got to think
about who in my family do Ineed to plan for?
Can I stay in my home?
So if you live 100 feet fromthe water, I'm going to tell you
please don't stay in your home,right, you need to go.
(15:33):
So you know these are all thethings that we have to think
about.
So I trust me, I get fatiguedtoo.
We work days and days, usuallybefore most people are even
paying attention, and we worklong after the storm may have
passed, when most people havegone back to normal.
So I totally get the fatiguething.
But we're talking aboutpeople's lives and we have
(15:55):
people out there that areelectric dependent, right.
So when the power goes out,that means that they could die,
and those people we need to makesure that we've got plans for
right.
We have a lot of mobile homeparks.
Here in Pinellas County we have44,000 mobile home units very
susceptible to high winds, soeven if they're not in an area
for storm surge, we actuallyevacuate them with our level A
(16:18):
evacuation.
Speaker 1 (16:18):
That's an A evacuation.
Speaker 2 (16:20):
Yes, because we worry about those high winds and
we've got a lot of older mobilehomes and you could have a tree
come down on top of your mobilehome.
You could have a downburst or atornado happen.
You've got a lot of flyingdebris with these storms.
Speaker 1 (16:32):
Seems like the storms always sniff out the mobile
home parks.
I believe, it feels that way.
Anyways, maybe that's justbecause where we see, the damage
a lot.
Speaker 2 (16:41):
Because they're very vulnerable.
Yeah, and I think even with thelast few tornadoes that we've
had that come through here, theyalways seem to pick on the
mobile home parks.
It feels that way, doesn't it?
Speaker 1 (16:50):
And those are the people that we least want to
have to suffer those type ofburdens.
So every year, every year I'vebeen doing this a long time they
start talking about the localnews channels will do their
stories on, you know, preparingfor the storm.
You know they sell drama andyou're the opposite.
You're getting all thisinformation and you're taking it
(17:13):
and you're dissecting it anddisseminating it and trying to
advise the county on the on thebest way to go.
But every year I start secondguessing myself on what I need
to have, if I do need ahurricane kit.
So what would you say?
Uh, for somebody like myselfthat knows better should have
plenty of water and theresources and the batteries and
(17:33):
the medications.
What should you tell me toeither relax or get better
prepared?
Speaker 2 (17:37):
Always have a kit, always be prepared, and you can
get great information.
So here in Pinellas County, youcan go to disasterpinellasgov,
you can download our ReadyPinellas app and you can get our
hurricane guide online ordigitally.
We also have that embedded intoour Ready Pinellas app.
Inside of that has a list ofall the types of things that you
(17:57):
might need.
So you really need to bethinking about right, because
it's we recommend one gallon perperson per day.
Well, do you have pets?
How many people in your family?
So you're going to have tocustomize your kit to your needs
, and you have to.
So if you're staying, your kitmight look a little bit
different than if you wereevacuating right.
Because if you're staying, youwant to make sure that you've
(18:18):
got tarps and you want to makesure that you've got your
generator and everything ready.
You know, like you've got toidentify what is your safe room
within your home.
You know, heaven forbid, westart to get those really
extreme winds and you need tomove into an interior space
within your home.
Speaker 1 (18:33):
Right, and that's when it's critical to have a
weather radio, maybe during thestorm that you know, if you do
get some, maybe you've alreadylost power and you have a
weather radio, maybe they cantell you that there's some
tornadic activity in your areaand you get into the interior.
Speaker 2 (18:51):
Yeah, and sometimes, even when cell phones you can't
make a call, sometimes you canstill get text messages.
So we recommend that peoplesign up for Alert Pinellas.
We'll actually send texts outto their phone.
You'll also can get texts fromthe National Weather Service or
you know, like during that locktime or extreme winds period,
and I do want to make a point.
So for those people that cannotstay at home, we do offer free
(19:14):
shelters in the communitybecause we heard from people
that went through Hurricane Ianin Lee County.
Some people didn't know thatthose resources were there so
they stayed home.
Right.
So we have shelters that weopen right, general population
shelters.
We have shelters with peoplefor pets, so you could bring
your pet in with you.
We don't want you to stay homebecause of Fido right, bring
Fido in with you.
(19:35):
And we also have special needsshelters.
So for those people that mightneed assistance with activities
of daily living, people thathave mobility issues or medical
issues, they can come into theseshelters where we have
Department of Health nurses.
We have backup generators inthere.
You know we can do at leastpeople that are on oxygen
(19:55):
concentrators.
And then we work with some ofour local hospitals for people
that have higher levels of need.
So you want to make sure you'rethinking about everybody in your
family Transportation youtalked about that, about.
You know, when we have a lot ofcounties evacuating, we end up
with this just clogged trafficall the way to Orlando.
You don't have to evacuatehundreds of miles, you can go
(20:15):
tens of miles Right.
So get to know the evacuationzones and pay attention to which
zones are being evacuated.
Like you said, we mightactually plan for a higher
evacuation level depending uponwhat it looks like the storm is
going to do.
Evacuation level depending uponwhat it looks like the storm's
going to do.
So even though they might betalking about the storm being a
cat one today, I might bealready planning for a cat three
(20:36):
, and then we might evacuate upto the level C.
So we got to be thinking abouthaving all these contingencies,
even within your own plan, sopeople can get out.
Speaker 1 (20:46):
You know, as we were talking before the show started
about our location right here inClearwater, we have a very
structurally sound building hereand it is actually one of my
contingency plans.
As I told you, I live aboutless than 100 yards from the
open gulf but I'm not in a floodzone so, ironically enough, I
have newer construction.
My elevation is good.
But I do also understand thatman, that storm comes in just a
(21:09):
little bit to the northeast ofme and I've got tidal surge and
storm surge to deal with.
If it comes in a little bit tothe south or west of me, I
should say that's a whole otherissue.
I've got the wind and differentthings that I really need to
worry about.
So my plan is I have aboutthree to four different
locations, probably all within20 miles, that I can go to.
(21:32):
I have family in Tampa I can goto.
I can come to this officebuilding right here and bring my
family, and I also have, youknow, one north and one south
that I can go to.
So I'm going to watch this asclose as I can and make the
decision based on the bestinformation that I have at that
time.
So I think that a lot of peopleshould probably have some kind
(21:54):
of contingencies in theirevacuation plan.
Speaker 2 (21:56):
And I love that and I love that you've done that.
You've thought about what areother places I could go.
So hopefully this office hereis something that could be a
contingency for the familiesthat work here.
Right so, for the other peoplethat work in this office, make
sure so you guys are going to gothrough this.
Right so, for the other peoplethat work in this office, make
sure so you guys are going to gothrough this.
Right You're going to gothrough the know, your risk, you
know.
Find out who's in whichevacuation level.
And then how is you as abusiness, how can you support
(22:19):
your employees during a storm?
Right so know who has toevacuate, where they're going,
make accommodations there andthey might be bringing Fido and
their cats and all you know,maybe their aunts and uncles or
grandparents in here have a plan.
Stock up on the food.
Do you have a backup generatorhere?
Really, just think about it andthen pool your resources right,
(22:39):
because that's one of thethings with having a kit
sometimes is it can getexpensive.
Right, we got another taxholiday coming up, I think in
August.
Speaker 1 (22:48):
I love all the tax holidays.
Speaker 2 (22:49):
Thank you, so it's a great, great time to stock up on
stuff.
You know, go get your BOGOs.
You know, look for coupons.
But you could pool yourresources so, as a company or
your neighbors or yourhomeowners association, get
together with your neighbors,think about how you can work
together to put maybe somebody'sgot the generator, somebody
else commits to buying thegasoline right To be able to
power it up.
You know, maybe someone's gotthe mini fridge.
(23:10):
So, to work together, look outfor each other, because that's
really what we need to do.
I cannot solve all of thechallenges that are out there,
so the more prepared that we areat the individual and the
business level, that will reallyhelp us.
You know, get back on our feetafterwards.
Speaker 1 (23:27):
So, if I am hearing you right, it comes down to a
very profound concept, whichwould be personal responsibility
.
Kathy is going to give us allthe available information, point
us with the right resourceswhere we need to go, but at the
end of the day, we have to takeresponsibility for ourselves and
our own families and pets andmake those decisions.
Speaker 2 (23:50):
And Mike, you talked about something I always like to
call it analysis paralysis.
Right, Because I think peoplejust start.
They just start watching the TVand they're just staring at
that cone.
Right, they're watching it forhours on end, and I want to
remind people that time is theone resource you cannot get more
of.
So there will come a point intime where it's no longer safe
to evacuate, and the longer youwait, the fewer options you have
(24:13):
.
Right, Because the buses willstop running.
You know there might not be asmany resources available, so we
would encourage even employers,right?
So do you need to keep youremployees?
Do you need to stay open untiltropical storm force winds
arrive?
No, probably not, right, Unlessyou are emergency providers.
You know.
Shut down a little bit early.
Let your employees go home.
(24:34):
Make sure that your employeesare in a safe place.
Make sure they've been able toharden their homes or really put
up their shutters or bring inall their lawn furniture.
I was surprised at how long ittook me to bring in everything
from the outside of my house.
Speaker 1 (24:47):
How to dig it and get all my lawn furniture out of
the pool.
Speaker 2 (24:49):
Exactly, yeah.
And then like, where do youstick it?
I had my barbecue grill in myliving room and you know it was
just crazy.
I had lizards running around myhouse forever.
But you know, I mean, let'sthink collectively, how do we
work through this?
How do we prepare for this?
And that's really going to helpus because there's good.
Like I said, there's going tocome that point where we have no
more time left to do anythingand then people are going to be
(25:10):
stuck in horrible situations.
We've heard the 911 calls.
I don't want that to happen.
Speaker 1 (25:16):
And I know that it's a moving target to ask, because
it depends on the speed of thestorm, the size of the storm,
where the storm's coming in.
But is there a typical timeframe that you would say, okay,
batten down the hatches, or isit more?
The wind speeds have gotten toa certain level, like now?
It's better to just ride it outwhere you are.
We'll send help when the stormclears.
Speaker 2 (25:38):
Yeah, so I think everybody has to determine how
long will it take you to getyour home ready right?
So if you already have impactwindows, much easier than if
you've got to be putting upplywood.
You know if you've got thoseshutters that you can push a
button and they go down mucheasier than if you have to climb
up a ladder and put them on.
So everybody needs to.
Again, that's part of yourplanning process, right?
(25:58):
You need to think about howlong it's going to take you to
secure your home and I would sayyou know, traditionally watches
and warnings are really good.
I know it's funny because peopleused to say they'd look to see
if I was putting my shutters up.
You were the catalyst and I'musually doing it days in advance
because I know I'm going tohave to go to work and it's
going to be hard for me to getback home.
But you know, I mean really youcould use that watch and that
(26:20):
warning, so you know you'regoing to get that time period
and then it's like once you hearthe one, like you can start
putting up your shutter, so youdon't have to shutter up
everything.
You could do the hardest onesfirst.
Leave the easiest ones.
I used to leave a few off soI'd get some daylight.
Speaker 1 (26:34):
I could see and not feel like I was, yeah,
incarcerated.
Speaker 2 (26:43):
Yeah.
Speaker 1 (26:43):
And there's been some storm seasons where I've left a
lot of them up, just opened upenough, just in case I had to
get out.
After I saw the nationalhurricanes forecast this year, I
asked my HOA president if Icould go ahead and put them up
now and leave them up to OctoberI'm kidding, of course and he
kidded me back and saidabsolutely not.
That'll be a $200 a day, fine,or whatever it was.
Speaker 2 (27:02):
But that's a problem too, because if you have people
that don't live here, you'rearound.
That's right.
Are they?
Who's closing their shutters?
Because, especially if you livein a condominium right, the
interior walls aren't built forthe wind once it gets inside.
So you know.
That's why, no matter where youwere you know, live or work
have those conversations abouthow do we prepare for ourselves,
how do we prepare the structure, who's going to do what as
realtors.
I think that's a greatopportunity, you know to be able
(27:28):
to have those conversations.
Speaker 1 (27:28):
That's a great point and a great way to go back and
touch your clients is hey, wantto let you know it's hurricane
season and this is the type ofthing, and maybe tell them about
your app and download your app.
Speaker 2 (27:34):
We've got lots of resources and we even created a
brochure here for boat owners.
We've got the second highestvessel registration in the state
of Florida.
We all saw what happened to thevessels down in Lee County so
you know people securing theirboats or moving their boats in
advance.
So lots of great information weappreciate.
You know you guys work with alot of people coming in and
(27:55):
moving around, so the more thatyou can help us help people get
prepared, truly appreciate that.
Speaker 1 (28:01):
Well, we will certainly do that.
We appreciate having you comeon the show today and share this
information, so I'm going tohave you repeat it one last time
Give me the number one thingthat you would have people do,
the number one source ofinformation, whether it's the
app or a website that you talkedabout and then give us your
(28:23):
last personal tip that you wouldwrap it up with.
Speaker 2 (28:26):
So I'm going to give you three things you have to do,
right, you need to know yourrisk, you need to make a plan
and you need to stay informed.
Okay so, know your risk, andI'm going to give you one
website.
It's your one-stop shop, blueSkies.
You could go today and getinformation on how to prepare,
and then you can use it duringgray skies, because it will have
updated information for what'shappening.
It's disasterpinellasgov, andif you live in another county,
(28:50):
just Google your local emergencymanagement county emergency
management and you'll find theequivalent within your county.
So disasterpinellasgov, andthat's going to get you that
information.
You can also sign up for AlertPanellist and we will text you
information right to your phoneto say, hey, pay attention, the
storm is coming.
Speaker 1 (29:08):
I'm on that.
I need you to evacuate.
Speaker 2 (29:10):
I've been on that for a while or a tornado is coming,
because with hurricanes weusually have days With tornadoes
, you might only have minutes toprepare.
So we want to make sure thatpeople are using this for all
hazards like we talked about.
Speaker 1 (29:21):
And when that alert goes off, it goes off.
It's like the Amber Alert orsome of them going off.
So we want to thank you so muchfor coming out sharing this
information with us today andappreciate all the hard work you
and your organization do tokeep us safe during these trying
times.
We see quite a bit here inFlorida.
So that's it for this editionof the podcast.
(29:43):
Guys, we will catch you allnext time on the Gulf Coast to
Space Coast.
See you next time.
Hello everybody and welcome back to the podcast.
I am Mike Webb and I am pleasedto announce our guest today.
We're going to take it out ofreal estate and bring it back
into something that you're goingto find very important to you
here living on the coast inFlorida, and I have a special
(00:26):
guest today.
Her name is Kathy Perkins andshe is the Director of Pinellas
County Emergency ManagementServices.
Welcome to the show, kathy.
How are you doing?
Speaker 2 (00:38):
Thanks, mike, I'm great.
Speaker 1 (00:40):
All right, so we will do a quick little bio on you
and you can tell us how you gotto where you are and why in the
world do you love to jump into acrisis situation and take the
bull by the horn, so to speak?
So how long you been in?
Speaker 2 (00:58):
been doing this emergency management for over 30
years.
That actually started afterHurricane Andrew in 1992 down in
Miami-Dade County.
So it wasn't anything I went toschool for.
I didn't even know this was ajob and over the years it has
transitioned.
Now you can go to school, youcould get degrees in emergency
management.
(01:18):
It really is exciting becausewe are dealing with every facet
of the community and I lovetalking to every group out there
for what role they could play.
So I know you said that this iskind of removed from the Realty
Group, but it really isn't,because you're all emergency
managers too, whether that'swithin your companies or with
your clients and within your ownhomes.
Speaker 1 (01:40):
Great circle back, because, yes, we are crises
management professionals.
If you've ever been in a realestate transaction, there's
typically about a half a dozencrises before you get to closing
.
So, ironically enough which wedidn't know this I was working
for a company called State Farmin 1993 when Andrew hit and my
(02:03):
father and I volunteer, uh,volunteer.
We didn't volunteer.
The company, uh engaged us toleave here and go down to Miami
to help out other state farmagents.
And wow, that was a soberingevent for me in my life.
It literally looked like a.
If I knew what a bomb lookedlike going off, that's what it
looked like.
It was incredible.
(02:24):
So what a way to get inductedinto your business is by being
down there.
It was crazy times.
It really was.
Speaker 2 (02:31):
Yeah, and I think unless you've really experienced
a large scale hurricane, peoplecan't picture it right, because
you think of your home as yoursafe space.
It's where you go every night,you get to lay down on your
pillows.
But during disasters, you know,we may ask people to leave the
safety of their homes and you'veseen the kind of devastation
that can occur and that could befrom you know multiple hazards
(02:54):
that are present with hurricanes, storm surge being the most
life-threatening.
And if you remember, a fewyears ago down in Lee County
with Hurricane Ian, we hadhouses that were completely
washed off of their foundations.
Wind is another big hazard, soyou can have winds up over 180
miles per hour, you can havetornadoes and downbursts, so all
(03:15):
things we need to be thinkingabout.
And then we can have a lot ofrainfall too.
So we saw that again withHurricane Ian, with over 20
inches of rainfall fallingacross almost the entire state
of Florida.
So you talked about it being acoastal issue.
Hurricanes can be across theentire state.
So we really need people to payattention to when a storm is
coming, how far out those risksextend and what that risk is, so
(03:39):
you can do that assessment foryour own home.
Speaker 1 (03:42):
Yeah, you know what I have found, being a lifelong
Florida resident, lifelongClearwater resident, finally,
after watching these for many,many years, every storm takes on
its own unique characteristicsand sometimes it is the coastal
storm surge that gets you whichis the most dangerous.
I live about 100, less than 100yards from the open coast and I
(04:04):
have to be very mindful of that, remembering what I've seen in
these other storms.
But they also can be windevents.
They can be wind events noteven close to the eye of the
storm, and then the inlandflooding which we see in Orlando
all the time from these storms.
So there's so many things thatlooking at a storm can.
You can get sucked into watchingthat slow motion track and
(04:26):
thinking, oh, it's only a catone, it's only a cat two, with
all the new things happening andrapid intensification and all
these things.
I certainly don't understand.
I guess I'm going to kick itback to you.
What would you recommend andwhat would you tell everybody?
That if you're watching a stormand it's looking like it's
going to make a Tampa Clearwaterlandfall, everybody that if
you're watching a storm and it'slooking like it's going to make
a Tampa Clearwater landfall,don't get caught?
Speaker 2 (04:47):
up in the what Don't get caught up in just looking at
the cone.
So you hear a lot about thiscone of uncertainty and that
cone only tells you where thecenter of the storm is going to
be two-thirds of the time.
What it doesn't tell you andyou just touched on this is that
those wind fields can extendout for hundreds of miles from
the center of the storm and, aswe saw with Hurricane Ian, that
(05:09):
storm was coming to us here inTampa Bay right Until it wasn't,
and it was a 20-mile shift inthe trajectory of the storm as
it came off of the coast of Cuba.
And we heard horror stories ofpeople in Lee County who looked
at the cone days out and said,oh, it's gone to Tampa, it's not
(05:31):
going to be our problem, andthey stopped paying attention to
the storm.
Well, you know, storms change,mother Nature changes.
They speed up, they slow down,they stall, they stall.
So that's why you really have tolook at what are the hazards
with each storm.
So we use that cone as aguideline.
You know I always say it's kindof mother's way of saying heads
(05:54):
up, something bad might becoming right.
So once you see that that coneis anywhere near you, you know,
start paying attention.
And that's one of our keytenets is staying informed,
right, and those advisories willcome out every six hours.
So it's a good idea every sixhours or you could sleep through
the night, right, if it's notright on you.
You know, I mean, just makesure that you're checking in on
a daily basis and then lookingat what are the local
(06:16):
forecasters telling you it'sgoing to look like, so even like
Adalia.
Adalia was 100 miles offshore,right Didn't make landfall here,
but we had over 1,500 homesflooded down in St Petersburg,
right In the Shore Acres,riviera Bay neighborhoods.
Speaker 1 (06:34):
Right.
Speaker 2 (06:34):
So you don't have to have a direct landfalling storm
to have impacts from that.
So you really want to look atis there a storm surge watch or
warning being issued?
How much rainfall, right, sopeople get caught up in that?
Oh, I live 100 miles inland.
It's not going to be a problemfor me, but if you've got 22
inches of rain that falls on topof you in less than a 24-hour
(06:57):
period, that water is not goingto be able to drain off quickly.
So we saw a lot ofneighborhoods that were flooding
, and I think this is somethingthat's really important when
realtors are working withclients and especially these
people that are new to Floridaand maybe they're only used to
storms in the wintertime lettingthem understand what their
risks are, helping them evaluatethe homes that they're looking
(07:19):
at.
We get that question a lotabout flood zones versus storm
surge and evacuation zones.
They're not the same things,and sometimes you might be in an
evacuation zone but not in aFEMA flood zone.
Speaker 1 (07:34):
So you're not.
Speaker 2 (07:35):
You're not required to have flood insurance, so it
may not come up during your realestate transaction, but that
doesn't mean that you aren't atrisk.
So really important so that'sour first tenant that we tell
people is you need to know yourrisk for where you're located,
and that's great for homeownersand business owners alike, right
?
So even your offices here.
What is your risk here?
(07:56):
I think you guys are probablyI'd be high and dry here.
I don't know.
I haven't looked up youraddress.
Speaker 1 (07:59):
Yeah, we have a good elevation here, but this is
actually a building that I wouldcome evacuate to.
Speaker 2 (08:04):
Yeah, this looks like it's a concrete block building,
yeah, and you want to look atyour windows.
What is the shape of the roofthat you had?
Some roofs are better athandling winds than others, so
there's a lot of factors thatyou can look at.
What is the finished floorelevation?
So a lot of great things thatwhen you're working with your
realtor to look at that.
I know when I moved up herefrom Miami-Dade, my realtor
(08:27):
probably was like who is thiswoman?
Because I was like I want anon-Thema flood zone, I want to
be outside of the storm surgezone and I want a house with
hurricane protection.
You know, I wasn't asking abouthow many bedrooms and bathrooms
and square footage or theschool zone.
Speaker 1 (08:48):
I was looking at it from a very different
perspective.
That's funny.
Coming from your background,that makes sense.
So you left Miami Dade, youcame, you moved to you know a
hot area that you need to beconcerned about storms from a
white hot area.
So this has been following youyour whole life and you know we
talk about these other events.
I remember back in 2012, we hada rain event here by a tropical
storm Donna.
I think it was in June.
We had like four days of rainflooded out local here.
(09:13):
I don't remember the exact inchcount and that's a situation.
So when we talk about Kathy'srole, it's not just for
hurricanes, it's any kind ofemergency preparation.
And I know personally, Ilearned I believe it was either
04, 05.
We all remember the 04 thatlived here, the 04, 05
hurricanes, but it was HurricaneCharlie and I had gone to bed
(09:34):
that night.
My mother at the time was beingstubborn and would not evacuate
.
So I went to my mother's houseand said, well, at least I'll go
drown with her, I guess I'llhelp her swim out.
And because I went to bedthat's house and said, well, at
least I'll go drown with her, Iguess I'll help her swim out.
And because I went to bed thatnight and it was headed right
for Tarpon Springs, I went tobed, I woke up and Charlie,
talking about your cone had madea hard right hand turn, dumped
(09:57):
into Fort Myers, to the Bocaarea down there, as we know, it
almost busted out of the cone.
It made such a right-hand turn.
So that's something, like yousaid, people really need to be
mindful of.
And the other thing I will tellyou my plan and my fouled
thinking, my flawed thinking,was well, it's only a two, I'm
(10:20):
going to go to bed.
It's coming into Tarpon, I'mgoing to stay here with my
mother.
I'll turn the generator on forlater.
But it also not only made ahard right-hand turn and almost
got out of the cone, it wentfrom a two to a four.
It experienced that rapidintensification.
So I learned a very valuablelesson with Hurricane Charlie
that if in fact I'm going toevacuate, I need to evacuate
(10:41):
long enough out that I don't.
I-75 doesn.
And I can't do it based uponthe storm's intensity at that
time, because it is subject tochange at any time.
Speaker 2 (10:53):
Absolutely.
That's where that stayinginformed is so critical, and
this season that's why they havethe really high projections for
numbers.
Right, the waters are reallywarm and we have seen over the
last 10 years that a lot of thestorms that have become Category
4 and 5 storms were tropicalstorms a couple of days before
so and we had that really flukeof a storm in Acapulco that went
(11:16):
from a tropical storm to a catfive in 24 hours.
So you know, that's one of thethings that we're looking at
very closely.
So we have daily calls with thestate division of emergency
management and the nationalhurricane center.
We're talking with our localNational Weather Service
partners and we're reallylooking at what are they saying.
So are they talking aboutintensification?
And when we do our planning, wedo what I like to call the BMW.
(11:38):
So it's your best mid and worstcase scenarios.
So your best is really.
What are they saying?
It's going to be now right, sowe don't go with no impacts.
That's the hope.
Right, we have nothing right,but our best is what is the
minimum, and then our mid is ifit was a little bit stronger
than that, and then our worst iswe look at usually, you know
sometimes it could be two orthree categories higher, and we
(12:00):
do this with every storm.
So with Ian early on, weactually had as our worst case
scenario potentially categoryfour or five here in Tampa Bay.
So that way we could already bethinking about what is our
clearance time, how many peopleare we going to ask to evacuate?
And people need to keep in mindthat I know from the
perspective of an individual,you're thinking it's just you
(12:21):
and your home that you've got totake care of.
Right, as a business owner, youmay be thinking about what you
have to do for your business.
As a county EM person, I'mthinking holistically this giant
county with a million people,you know, thousands and
thousands of tourists here, andwe have hospitals, we have
nursing homes, we have assistedliving facilities that all have
(12:42):
very vulnerable people that mayhave to evacuate.
So it gets very complex veryquickly.
Speaker 1 (12:49):
The logistics of trying to evacuate and how long
it's going to take and are theroads going to get jammed up?
So I think too that people, youknow, hurricane season already
started.
We watched this one move outthere, a very powerful storm.
Now we're having a littleSaharan dust.
Come on dust.
It makes beautiful sunsets,keeps it warm, but it keeps the
(13:11):
hurricanes down too.
It won't last forever.
But I think what happenssometimes, and I don't know if
you have some advice for us howto overcome this, but I think we
get hurricane fatigue.
Sometimes we watch three orfour storms and they're in slow
motion and we're turning onevery day and we're watching
them and they finally go toMexico or they go someplace else
, or they spin back out into theAtlantic and spin off and we
(13:34):
start thinking well, this onewill do the same.
How would you tell people thathave been through the 04, 05
hurricane?
There was a point in 04 that wewere preparing for a hurricane
every other weekend Differenthurricane, by the way.
So when people, when it's, youknow, late August or in the
middle of September, at the peakof the season and they've
already been watching thesethings for, you know, six weeks
(13:55):
brew out there in the Gulf?
How do you keep them encouragedto?
This might be the one.
Stay on your toes.
Speaker 2 (14:01):
Yeah, that's a huge problem.
You talked about it before.
Each storm has a differentpersonality, right?
Each one is different andpeople that pigeonhole into I
survived the last one, or thelast one turned and it didn't
hit me, or the last one wasn'tso bad.
We actually heard that frompeople in Lee County, right with
(14:23):
Charlie because, or Irma whenIrma came through, the storm
surge was maybe three or fourfeet.
So you know, they saw that andthey thought, oh, it's going to
be the same when Ian comes in.
Well, ian was 10 to 15 feet.
So you know, people basedlife-saving decisions of old
information or past experience,and I can't stress that enough.
(14:45):
It's like every time you get inyour car, right, and you put,
do you, do you decide whether ornot to put your seatbelt on
Right, that's a life-savingmeasure that you take and thank
goodness you don't get in anaccident every day, right, but
you've done something to helpprotect yourself every time you
get in the car, right, cause younever know, never know when
you're going to have a caraccident, right?
(15:11):
So we're telling you that whenthere's a hurricane coming or a
tropical storm, when something'sbrewing, it's kind of like
putting your seatbelt on right,it's paying attention, it's
watching that storm, it's havingthat plan.
And that's the second key thing.
We tell people you want to makea plan because you got to think
about who in my family do Ineed to plan for?
Can I stay in my home?
So if you live 100 feet fromthe water, I'm going to tell you
please don't stay in your home,right, you need to go.
(15:33):
So you know these are all thethings that we have to think
about.
So I trust me, I get fatiguedtoo.
We work days and days, usuallybefore most people are even
paying attention, and we worklong after the storm may have
passed, when most people havegone back to normal.
So I totally get the fatiguething.
But we're talking aboutpeople's lives and we have
(15:55):
people out there that areelectric dependent, right.
So when the power goes out,that means that they could die,
and those people we need to makesure that we've got plans for
right.
We have a lot of mobile homeparks.
Here in Pinellas County we have44,000 mobile home units very
susceptible to high winds, soeven if they're not in an area
for storm surge, we actuallyevacuate them with our level A
(16:18):
evacuation.
Speaker 1 (16:18):
That's an A evacuation.
Speaker 2 (16:20):
Yes, because we worry about those high winds and
we've got a lot of older mobilehomes and you could have a tree
come down on top of your mobilehome.
You could have a downburst or atornado happen.
You've got a lot of flyingdebris with these storms.
Speaker 1 (16:32):
Seems like the storms always sniff out the mobile
home parks.
I believe, it feels that way.
Anyways, maybe that's justbecause where we see, the damage
a lot.
Speaker 2 (16:41):
Because they're very vulnerable.
Yeah, and I think even with thelast few tornadoes that we've
had that come through here, theyalways seem to pick on the
mobile home parks.
It feels that way, doesn't it?
Speaker 1 (16:50):
And those are the people that we least want to
have to suffer those type ofburdens.
So every year, every year I'vebeen doing this a long time they
start talking about the localnews channels will do their
stories on, you know, preparingfor the storm.
You know they sell drama andyou're the opposite.
You're getting all thisinformation and you're taking it
(17:13):
and you're dissecting it anddisseminating it and trying to
advise the county on the on thebest way to go.
But every year I start secondguessing myself on what I need
to have, if I do need ahurricane kit.
So what would you say?
Uh, for somebody like myselfthat knows better should have
plenty of water and theresources and the batteries and
(17:33):
the medications.
What should you tell me toeither relax or get better
prepared?
Speaker 2 (17:37):
Always have a kit, always be prepared, and you can
get great information.
So here in Pinellas County, youcan go to disasterpinellasgov,
you can download our ReadyPinellas app and you can get our
hurricane guide online ordigitally.
We also have that embedded intoour Ready Pinellas app.
Inside of that has a list ofall the types of things that you
(17:57):
might need.
So you really need to bethinking about right, because
it's we recommend one gallon perperson per day.
Well, do you have pets?
How many people in your family?
So you're going to have tocustomize your kit to your needs
, and you have to.
So if you're staying, your kitmight look a little bit
different than if you wereevacuating right.
Because if you're staying, youwant to make sure that you've
(18:18):
got tarps and you want to makesure that you've got your
generator and everything ready.
You know, like you've got toidentify what is your safe room
within your home.
You know, heaven forbid, westart to get those really
extreme winds and you need tomove into an interior space
within your home.
Speaker 1 (18:33):
Right, and that's when it's critical to have a
weather radio, maybe during thestorm that you know, if you do
get some, maybe you've alreadylost power and you have a
weather radio, maybe they cantell you that there's some
tornadic activity in your areaand you get into the interior.
Speaker 2 (18:51):
Yeah, and sometimes, even when cell phones you can't
make a call, sometimes you canstill get text messages.
So we recommend that peoplesign up for Alert Pinellas.
We'll actually send texts outto their phone.
You'll also can get texts fromthe National Weather Service or
you know, like during that locktime or extreme winds period,
and I do want to make a point.
So for those people that cannotstay at home, we do offer free
(19:14):
shelters in the communitybecause we heard from people
that went through Hurricane Ianin Lee County.
Some people didn't know thatthose resources were there so
they stayed home.
Right.
So we have shelters that weopen right, general population
shelters.
We have shelters with peoplefor pets, so you could bring
your pet in with you.
We don't want you to stay homebecause of Fido right, bring
Fido in with you.
(19:35):
And we also have special needsshelters.
So for those people that mightneed assistance with activities
of daily living, people thathave mobility issues or medical
issues, they can come into theseshelters where we have
Department of Health nurses.
We have backup generators inthere.
You know we can do at leastpeople that are on oxygen
(19:55):
concentrators.
And then we work with some ofour local hospitals for people
that have higher levels of need.
So you want to make sure you'rethinking about everybody in your
family Transportation youtalked about that, about.
You know, when we have a lot ofcounties evacuating, we end up
with this just clogged trafficall the way to Orlando.
You don't have to evacuatehundreds of miles, you can go
(20:15):
tens of miles Right.
So get to know the evacuationzones and pay attention to which
zones are being evacuated.
Like you said, we mightactually plan for a higher
evacuation level depending uponwhat it looks like the storm is
going to do.
Evacuation level depending uponwhat it looks like the storm's
going to do.
So even though they might betalking about the storm being a
cat one today, I might bealready planning for a cat three
(20:36):
, and then we might evacuate upto the level C.
So we got to be thinking abouthaving all these contingencies,
even within your own plan, sopeople can get out.
Speaker 1 (20:46):
You know, as we were talking before the show started
about our location right here inClearwater, we have a very
structurally sound building hereand it is actually one of my
contingency plans.
As I told you, I live aboutless than 100 yards from the
open gulf but I'm not in a floodzone so, ironically enough, I
have newer construction.
My elevation is good.
But I do also understand thatman, that storm comes in just a
(21:09):
little bit to the northeast ofme and I've got tidal surge and
storm surge to deal with.
If it comes in a little bit tothe south or west of me, I
should say that's a whole otherissue.
I've got the wind and differentthings that I really need to
worry about.
So my plan is I have aboutthree to four different
locations, probably all within20 miles, that I can go to.
(21:32):
I have family in Tampa I can goto.
I can come to this officebuilding right here and bring my
family, and I also have, youknow, one north and one south
that I can go to.
So I'm going to watch this asclose as I can and make the
decision based on the bestinformation that I have at that
time.
So I think that a lot of peopleshould probably have some kind
(21:54):
of contingencies in theirevacuation plan.
Speaker 2 (21:56):
And I love that and I love that you've done that.
You've thought about what areother places I could go.
So hopefully this office hereis something that could be a
contingency for the familiesthat work here.
Right so, for the other peoplethat work in this office, make
sure so you guys are going to gothrough this.
Right so, for the other peoplethat work in this office, make
sure so you guys are going to gothrough this.
Right You're going to gothrough the know, your risk, you
know.
Find out who's in whichevacuation level.
And then how is you as abusiness, how can you support
(22:19):
your employees during a storm?
Right so know who has toevacuate, where they're going,
make accommodations there andthey might be bringing Fido and
their cats and all you know,maybe their aunts and uncles or
grandparents in here have a plan.
Stock up on the food.
Do you have a backup generatorhere?
Really, just think about it andthen pool your resources right,
(22:39):
because that's one of thethings with having a kit
sometimes is it can getexpensive.
Right, we got another taxholiday coming up, I think in
August.
Speaker 1 (22:48):
I love all the tax holidays.
Speaker 2 (22:49):
Thank you, so it's a great, great time to stock up on
stuff.
You know, go get your BOGOs.
You know, look for coupons.
But you could pool yourresources so, as a company or
your neighbors or yourhomeowners association, get
together with your neighbors,think about how you can work
together to put maybe somebody'sgot the generator, somebody
else commits to buying thegasoline right To be able to
power it up.
You know, maybe someone's gotthe mini fridge.
(23:10):
So, to work together, look outfor each other, because that's
really what we need to do.
I cannot solve all of thechallenges that are out there,
so the more prepared that we areat the individual and the
business level, that will reallyhelp us.
You know, get back on our feetafterwards.
Speaker 1 (23:27):
So, if I am hearing you right, it comes down to a
very profound concept, whichwould be personal responsibility
.
Kathy is going to give us allthe available information, point
us with the right resourceswhere we need to go, but at the
end of the day, we have to takeresponsibility for ourselves and
our own families and pets andmake those decisions.
Speaker 2 (23:50):
And Mike, you talked about something I always like to
call it analysis paralysis.
Right, Because I think peoplejust start.
They just start watching the TVand they're just staring at
that cone.
Right, they're watching it forhours on end, and I want to
remind people that time is theone resource you cannot get more
of.
So there will come a point intime where it's no longer safe
to evacuate, and the longer youwait, the fewer options you have
(24:13):
.
Right, Because the buses willstop running.
You know there might not be asmany resources available, so we
would encourage even employers,right?
So do you need to keep youremployees?
Do you need to stay open untiltropical storm force winds
arrive?
No, probably not, right, Unlessyou are emergency providers.
You know.
Shut down a little bit early.
Let your employees go home.
(24:34):
Make sure that your employeesare in a safe place.
Make sure they've been able toharden their homes or really put
up their shutters or bring inall their lawn furniture.
I was surprised at how long ittook me to bring in everything
from the outside of my house.
Speaker 1 (24:47):
How to dig it and get all my lawn furniture out of
the pool.
Speaker 2 (24:49):
Exactly, yeah.
And then like, where do youstick it?
I had my barbecue grill in myliving room and you know it was
just crazy.
I had lizards running around myhouse forever.
But you know, I mean, let'sthink collectively, how do we
work through this?
How do we prepare for this?
And that's really going to helpus because there's good.
Like I said, there's going tocome that point where we have no
more time left to do anythingand then people are going to be
(25:10):
stuck in horrible situations.
We've heard the 911 calls.
I don't want that to happen.
Speaker 1 (25:16):
And I know that it's a moving target to ask, because
it depends on the speed of thestorm, the size of the storm,
where the storm's coming in.
But is there a typical timeframe that you would say, okay,
batten down the hatches, or isit more?
The wind speeds have gotten toa certain level, like now?
It's better to just ride it outwhere you are.
We'll send help when the stormclears.
Speaker 2 (25:38):
Yeah, so I think everybody has to determine how
long will it take you to getyour home ready right?
So if you already have impactwindows, much easier than if
you've got to be putting upplywood.
You know if you've got thoseshutters that you can push a
button and they go down mucheasier than if you have to climb
up a ladder and put them on.
So everybody needs to.
Again, that's part of yourplanning process, right?
(25:58):
You need to think about howlong it's going to take you to
secure your home and I would sayyou know, traditionally watches
and warnings are really good.
I know it's funny because peopleused to say they'd look to see
if I was putting my shutters up.
You were the catalyst and I'musually doing it days in advance
because I know I'm going tohave to go to work and it's
going to be hard for me to getback home.
But you know, I mean really youcould use that watch and that
(26:20):
warning, so you know you'regoing to get that time period
and then it's like once you hearthe one, like you can start
putting up your shutter, so youdon't have to shutter up
everything.
You could do the hardest onesfirst.
Leave the easiest ones.
I used to leave a few off soI'd get some daylight.
Speaker 1 (26:34):
I could see and not feel like I was, yeah,
incarcerated.
Speaker 2 (26:43):
Yeah.
Speaker 1 (26:43):
And there's been some storm seasons where I've left a
lot of them up, just opened upenough, just in case I had to
get out.
After I saw the nationalhurricanes forecast this year, I
asked my HOA president if Icould go ahead and put them up
now and leave them up to OctoberI'm kidding, of course and he
kidded me back and saidabsolutely not.
That'll be a $200 a day, fine,or whatever it was.
Speaker 2 (27:02):
But that's a problem too, because if you have people
that don't live here, you'rearound.
That's right.
Are they?
Who's closing their shutters?
Because, especially if you livein a condominium right, the
interior walls aren't built forthe wind once it gets inside.
So you know.
That's why, no matter where youwere you know, live or work
have those conversations abouthow do we prepare for ourselves,
how do we prepare the structure, who's going to do what as
realtors.
I think that's a greatopportunity, you know to be able
(27:28):
to have those conversations.
Speaker 1 (27:28):
That's a great point and a great way to go back and
touch your clients is hey, wantto let you know it's hurricane
season and this is the type ofthing, and maybe tell them about
your app and download your app.
Speaker 2 (27:34):
We've got lots of resources and we even created a
brochure here for boat owners.
We've got the second highestvessel registration in the state
of Florida.
We all saw what happened to thevessels down in Lee County so
you know people securing theirboats or moving their boats in
advance.
So lots of great information weappreciate.
You know you guys work with alot of people coming in and
(27:55):
moving around, so the more thatyou can help us help people get
prepared, truly appreciate that.
Speaker 1 (28:01):
Well, we will certainly do that.
We appreciate having you comeon the show today and share this
information, so I'm going tohave you repeat it one last time
Give me the number one thingthat you would have people do,
the number one source ofinformation, whether it's the
app or a website that you talkedabout and then give us your
(28:23):
last personal tip that you wouldwrap it up with.
Speaker 2 (28:26):
So I'm going to give you three things you have to do,
right, you need to know yourrisk, you need to make a plan
and you need to stay informed.
Okay so, know your risk, andI'm going to give you one
website.
It's your one-stop shop, blueSkies.
You could go today and getinformation on how to prepare,
and then you can use it duringgray skies, because it will have
updated information for what'shappening.
It's disasterpinellasgov, andif you live in another county,
(28:50):
just Google your local emergencymanagement county emergency
management and you'll find theequivalent within your county.
So disasterpinellasgov, andthat's going to get you that
information.
You can also sign up for AlertPanellist and we will text you
information right to your phoneto say, hey, pay attention, the
storm is coming.
Speaker 1 (29:08):
I'm on that.
I need you to evacuate.
Speaker 2 (29:10):
I've been on that for a while or a tornado is coming,
because with hurricanes weusually have days With tornadoes
, you might only have minutes toprepare.
So we want to make sure thatpeople are using this for all
hazards like we talked about.
Speaker 1 (29:21):
And when that alert goes off, it goes off.
It's like the Amber Alert orsome of them going off.
So we want to thank you so muchfor coming out sharing this
information with us today andappreciate all the hard work you
and your organization do tokeep us safe during these trying
times.
We see quite a bit here inFlorida.
So that's it for this editionof the podcast.
(29:43):
Guys, we will catch you allnext time on the Gulf Coast to
Space Coast.
See you next time.
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