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A LOOK BACK: FLORIDA HURRICANE RESPONSE
Just 10 months ago Hurricane
Matthew walloped Haiti, Cuba, the Dominican Republic, and the southeastern United States – especially Florida’ s northeast coast – leaving billions of dollars in damage and hundreds of deaths in its wake.
Tropical storm development already this hurricane season( June 1 to November 30) has forecasters intrigued. It also has Ayres Associates’ inspection teams in preparation mode with training and lessonslearned discussions fresh in their minds from last year’ s post-storm response in Florida Department of Transportation( FDOT) Districts 2 and 5. Services included immediate damage assessments on roads, bridges, culverts, and ancillary highway structures and providing repair recommendations.
The response started days before the storm, with FDOT giving consulting firms the first alert. As the impending strike became imminent, FDOT assigned each field inspection team specific roles. Immediately after the storm passed Brevard County the morning of October 7, Ayres’ crews mobilized to immediately assess infrastructure while the storm continued up the coast. The priority was to inspect infrastructure on major roads leading to barrier islands so they could be opened as soon as possible.
Despite forecasters predicting lower-than-average numbers of storms for the Atlantic, parts of the southeastern United States remain at risk.“ The Gulf of Mexico coast, especially central and eastern areas including all of Florida, will be the greatest areas of concern for direct and indirect impacts from tropical storms and hurricanes during the 2017 season,” AccuWeather Hurricane Expert Dan Kottlowski said in a recent article.