Hurricane Matthew’s dangerous eye wall stayed off Broward County‘s coast, and our community was spared from sustained hurricane and tropical storm force winds.
However, there were squalls of heavy winds, torrential rains, power outages and hazardous conditions throughout Thursday and into the early morning on Friday.
Broward County did not sustain heavy damage and loss of life because our residents and visitors took this storm seriously. Most people put up shutters, bought supplies, stayed off the roads and hunkered down in their homes or a shelter until hazardous conditions subsided.
People also sought guidance from Broward County‘s 3-1-1 emergency hotline, which worked around the clock providing assistance to our residents and visitors. Those responsible actions allowed the Broward Emergency Response Team (BERT), which includes Broward County Government, all 31 cities, the Broward School Board, the Broward Sheriff’s Office and others, to safely and efficiently implement all policies and procedures designed to keep our residents safe.
The cooperation among the various BERT agencies was excellent. A good example occurred the night before the storm. Broward County Transit needed additional assistance in transporting adults with special needs to shelters. BERT contacted Broward Schools Superintendent Robert Runcie, who immediately provided wheelchair accessible buses to assist in transporting these residents.
The news media should also be commended as their stellar coverage gave BERT the ability to communicate important information with Broward County residents and visitors.
Broward County has returned to normal. We have resumed all important community functions, such as reopening Broward County Government services, the Fort Lauderdale-Hollywood International Airport, Port Everglades and Broward County Transit.
Some intersections and thousands of households lost power from storm conditions. Once BERT received the “all clear” early Friday morning, approximately 1,400 FPL crews started working around the clock to restore power to residents. All critical infrastructure was restored by Friday morning.
Moving forward, BERT will be performing a damage assessment and, if necessary, will seek reimbursement from the state and federal government for critical infrastructure damage, beach erosion and the cost of emergency operations.
Even though Broward County was fortunate to have been spared by Matthew, a potentially catastrophic hurricane could hit Broward County sometime in the future. Our residents should use this as an opportunity to review their hurricane preparedness plan and identify ways to make improvements if need be.
In this instance, the responsible actions of our residents and visitors, BERT and the news media prove that we are ready to weather any storm that nature throws at us.
Marty Kiar is the mayor of Broward County. He can be reached at 954-357-7001 or mkiar@broward.org.
