Dealing with disaster: the importance of preparedness.

• Author: Anclade, Cathy
• Position: South Florida Water Management District

The South Florida Water Management District felt the full fury of Hurricane Andrew. Long-standing hurricane preparedness measures and contingency plans enabled the district's personnel and facilities to continue functioning through the storm, to assist the state in its disaster response, and to immediately begin effective recovery activities.

Hurricane Andrew roared into South Florida in the pre-dawn hours of Monday, August 24, 1992. By all estimates, it was the worst disaster to ever hit South Florida and the third worst natural disaster in the history of the United States. Weeks after landfall, thousands of people remained homeless and the trauma of the relentless storm continues to haunt the minds and souls of every South Floridian.

Preparedness

The South Florida Water Management District (SFWMD) is uniquely situated to deal with hurricanes. As one of five water management districts in Florida, and the local sponsor of a Corps of Engineers water management project, the SFWMD traces its roots to a flood protection agency born of the hurricanes of the 1920s and '40s.

The SFWMD operates a water management project consisting of 1,400 miles of canals, 19 major pumping stations and hundreds of water control structures throughout central and southeastern Florida. The system is designed to lower surface water levels in response to threatening flood conditions and, conversely, convey water from surface reservoirs to recharge wellfields during times of water shortage.

As a water management agency, the SFWMD is intimately involved with hurricane preparedness. Although Florida has historically been the target of devastating hurricanes, it had been 22 years since the state had been severely tested with a "killer" storm. Yet, given recent hurricanes experiences in Texas and South Carolina, the SFWMD had long recognized the need to fortify its emergency response capabilities in the event of a major storm.

Since the mid 1980s, the SFWMD has taken measures to prepare for the inevitable hurricane. An infrastructure-intense program to repower area pump stations and reconstruct aging coastal water control structures in southeastern Florida has proven critical to the agency's ability to manage water during severe storms. In addition, the SFWMD has invested in a regionwide telemetry system that enables it to gather real-time data on water levels and resource conditions and, more importantly, to manipulate water control structures by remote control. Finally, the SFWMD has assembled a first-rate meteorological team and weather predictive capabilities. This resource is essential to operations in South Florida where weather conditions can vary dramatically within a relatively short distance.

On the morning of Wednesday, August 19, 1992, SFWMD staff were closely monitoring the development of a tropical depression in the eastern Atlantic. Given the SFWMD's monitoring stations and meteorological capacity, the agency was able to engage in real-time tracking of Hurricane Andrew (even when the National Hurricane Center experienced damage during the storm), make the earliest and most accurate description of the hurricane's storm surge, and report that information to the National Weather Service.

Andrew Roars In

Perhaps the most telling characteristic of Hurricane Andrew was the speed with which it developed. On Friday morning, August 21, SFWMD staff convened to review storm conditions. Based on every reasonable forecast, the storm was predicted to reach only Category 1 hurricane status by the following Monday morning with a position predicted at 200 miles offshore from the mainland. But Andrew had a mind of its own; it gathered extraordinary strength over the weekend of August 22-23. Seeing these strengthening conditions, SFWMD staff took immediate action: all coastal canals throughout southeastern Florida...