|
Just as South Florida was preparing to weather a tropical storm, hurricane preparedness and emergency management were the focus of an Aventura Marketing Council Chairman’s Roundtable luncheon co-hosted by Associa / Association Services of Florida and Florida Power & Light Company.
AMC Chair Cliff Schulman of Weiss, Serota, Helfman helped welcome business and community leaders gathered at Christine Lee’s at Gulfstream Park for the informative event featuring Chuck Lanza, Director of Emergency Management Division, Environmental Protection and Growth Management Department for Broward County; Curtis Sommerhoff, Director of Emergency Management and Homeland Security, Miami-Dade County; Fire Chief Daniel Sullivan of the City of Hallandale Beach; and Max Mayfield, WPLG 10 hurricane specialist and former National Hurricane Center Director.
On behalf of FPL, Vice President Aletha Player explained, “FPL has embarked on a series of comprehensive investments and improvements to strengthen its electrical infrastructure to be more resilient when impacted by severe weather. While no electrical system is 100 percent storm proof, FPL continues to deliver reliability that has been ranked forty-six percent higher than the national average and for two years running, FPL’s average restoration time outperformed all major utilities nationwide.
“FPL has a plan and we want to make sure our residential and business customers do too. Develop a plan to tap a back-up power supply or clear the way to relocate anyone who requires power to sustain life functions. Other storm prep basics include ensuring you have the supplies you need to be self-sufficient for three to fourteen days.”
George Skrbin, President and CEO of Associa / Association Services of Fl., noted, “ASF specializes in the management of upscale, developer and established homeowner communities, so we know how important it is to be prepared in such an aggressive storm season.
“ASF is an international leader in community association management. With offices across the nation and Mexico, Associa is devoted exclusively to the management of community associations, representing hundreds of thousands of homes in thousands of communities across the country.”
Lanza noted that photos representing degrees of damage can now be accessed via wireless devices – enabling property owners to more easily receive assistance from emergency management officials. “This also enables us to tell FEMA if we need trailers or housing and helps me know where to send emergency rescue teams,” he said.
Focusing on business recovery after a storm, Sommerhoff noted, “There is now a Business Continuity Information Network (BCIN) facilitating collaboration among local, state, federal agencies and the business community for rapid disaster recovery.”
Sullivan added, “My responsibility is to help prepare the community to deal with an emergency, recover and minimize the effects of a similar type of event in the future. A popular program is our Community Emergency Response Team that can teach you how to get involved to help prepare and respond to an emergency.”
Mayfield reported, “A lot of people who make the forecasts are all in agreement that we’re going to have a very active hurricane season. For your home and business, you need to know exactly what you’re going to do now and not wait until that hurricane comes knocking at your door. This year, the Hurricane Center is going to extend watch and warning times up to 48 hours in advance for a major hurricane so that will be helpful.”
|
