Central Florida partners prepare for hurricane season

Local and regional partners gathered in central Florida today to discuss hurricane preparedness and response as we enter hurricane season, which officially began on June 1.

PALATKA, Fla., June 9, 2023 —The St. Johns River Water Management District invited representatives from city, county and state agencies to attend a coordination meeting to share ideas on how to better predict, manage and respond before and after a storm event.

“We appreciate the participation and interest from our central Florida partners,” said St. Johns River Water Management District Executive Director Mike Register. “This region experienced historical amounts of rainfall last hurricane season, and while I’m proud of our staff’s efforts and response, we want to continue to find ways to improve coordination and collaboration between us and our local and regional partners.”

Many attendees echoed Register’s thoughts with several city and county officials saying their main goals for attending today was to improve communication before a storm hits, learn who to call when disaster strikes, and to better understand how their actions may impact others around them.

Florida’s Chief Resilience Officer, Dr. Wesley Brooks, joined the meeting virtually welcoming attendees and commending them for coming together to identify ways to improve resiliency efforts in central Florida.

“The ability to come together, share ideas and establish meaningful relationships is extremely beneficial and makes emergency response more manageable,” said the District’s Chief Resilience Officer Tom Frick. “Knowing who to call and how we each implement our emergency management strategies allows us to better serve our partners and help our communities more quickly recover after a storm event.”

Residents can help, and in fact play a vital role, in protecting their local communities before and during hurricane season, which officially runs through Nov. 30, by:

• Keeping debris out of storm drains and ditches;
• Reporting clogged ditches and culverts to local governments;
• Retrofitting buildings to make them watertight;
• Cleaning out gutters and extending downspouts at least four feet from structures;
• Determining who has responsibility for stormwater pond maintenance in your neighborhood — it may be the homeowners’ association;
• Obtaining flood insurance through the National Flood Insurance Program.

For more information on the District’s role in flood protection and storm preparedness and response, visit www.sjrwmd.com/storm.

For more information on the Resilient Florida Grant Program, visit here.