Its Back - Hurricane season officially has begun
by Frank Halas
Commentary for June, 2008 Frank Halas, Collier County Commissioner for District 2
Its officially hurricane season. Dire warnings salted with predictions of a worse than usual season flow daily from the Weather Channel. Most Neapolitans, despite the recent serious impacts of Charley and Wilma, blithely assume such warnings are not intended for us. Wrong! This assumption is dangerous.
It is true that Collier County is fortunate to have an expert Emergency Management Director, Dan Summers. Dan was recognized by the Florida Emergency Preparedness Association as the 2008 Emergency Manager of the Year. Also, under his leadership, Jim von Rinteln, Emergency Management Coordinator, received the Governors 2008 Emergency Management Award; others within Emergency Operations were similarly recognized for their outstanding performance. We also have a top flight County Manager and administrative staff. Those of you who were here during the last two hurricanes will remember how quickly we pulled our area back together in comparison to many others hit by the same storms. Unfortunately, many people drew the erroneous conclusion that we were not hit very hard and that Collier County continued to live a charmed life. Not true. Damage here was extensive and... [more]
Photos
|
|