DI POA fine tunes emergency preparedness plan in response to big storms

It’s been several years in the making, but Daniel Island’s updated emergency preparedness plan got a good test during Hurricane Dorian’s recent assault on the Lowcountry – and it performed without a hitch.

According to Chris Hamil, field operations manager for the Daniel Island Property Owners Association, he began taking a look at the plan close to five years ago at the request of Jane Baker, vice president of community services for the POA. At the time, there was a good plan in place, but they recognized it needed some fine tuning. Hamil and the POA team determined it would be more effective to delineate out responsibilities for needed actions with clear instructions in the days leading up to a storm’s potential landfall.

“When you’re in the heat of the moment, you don’t want to have to figure out who’s doing what,” said Hamil, who works with Dave Perry, Henry Jackson and Guri Sandhu on the POA’s field operations team. “…So when I have probably a three days’ understanding that a storm is coming, that’s when we start pulling the trigger, or if the governor issues an evacuation. Then we immediately go into clean-up.”

The POA took care of some initial tweaking to the plan after the 1000-year flood in South Carolina in 2015. More suggestions for improvement came a year later after Hurricane Matthew, which generated a huge amount of debris. After that mega storm, there were Hurricanes Irma and Florence. When the POA knows a storm is tracking towards the Charleston area with a possible landfall, it sets in motion a series of action plans. When a system is four to seven days out, Hamil reaches out to all of their contractors – pools, ponds, landscaping, lighting, etc. – and tells them that they will be giving them 24-48 hours-notice to clean up and secure property. That means packing up all the furniture and equipment in community areas, including hanging flower baskets and other decorative items. They also created a form letter with a checklist that goes out to all contractor builders on the island to alert them of their responsibilities.

“There’s a lot of loose wood debris, a lot of construction material that can become a projectile,” said Hamil. The builders must complete their clean-up of work sites within 24-48 hours of receiving the letter or face fines.

“We wanted to add some teeth to it,” added Hamil. “We’re not just fining to fine you. It’s a serious concern. This year, with Dorian, they were very responsible. It’s probably the quickest response we’ve ever gotten. I think it’s part of the routine now.”

Another addition to the plan is a new email address for residents to report storm-related problems – reportaproblem@dicommunity.org. It keeps everything in one place and allows the POA team to coordinate their response with contractors as needed. For Dorian, more than 100 messages were received and processed.

“It worked successfully for Dorian,” noted Hamil. “Probably at its best!”

Hurricane Matthew offered up some additional lessons. With that storm, debris piled up for weeks before getting picked up – mainly due to the sheer volume of material. Since then, there has been better communication between the City of Charleston, Berkeley County and the POA on the delineation of those responsible for completing tasks.

“They have been able to do a better job,” noted Hamil, on the city’s and county’s efforts. “And I think their response time has been a lot better.”

Hamil also recognized the efforts of arborist P.O. Mead, the contractor who takes care of trees in the island’s common areas. According to Hamil, Mead was present on the island during Dorian’s pounding rains and high winds ready to do “on the spot” clean-ups.

“P.O. deserves a lot of credit,” he said. “P.O. and The Greenery. He got things cleared up quick. He’s been here for every single storm. He’s been here since the very beginning and has a high respect for this place.”

Additionally, engineers were on site post-storm to check bridges and ponds to make sure everything was clear and in order, added Hamil. The POA also now conducts stormwater inspections every spring to prepare for storm season – another lesson learned from Matthew. Hamil also thanked the City of Charleston for coming out at his request prior to Dorian to clean out pipe areas in potential flooding “hot spots.”

“To my knowledge, I don’t know of any flooding we had in the area,” added Hamil. “That’s huge.”

In the end, all worked exactly according to plan.

“The Boy Scout motto is ‘Be Prepared,’” said Hamil. “We’re as prepared as we can be.”

Daniel Island Publishing

225 Seven Farms Drive
Unit 108
Daniel Island, SC 29492 

Office Number: 843-856-1999
Fax Number: 843-856-8555

 

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