As the calendar flips to June, signaling the onset of the 2024 hurricane season, local emergency managers are gearing up for storm season.
The Atlantic hurricane season is June 1-Nov. 30.
Bradenton Beach Police Chief John Cosby has weathered many such seasons. He has more than 36 years of service under his belt as the city’s emergency operations manager.
“My first storm with the city was tropical storm Keith in 1988,” Cosby said in a May 22 interview.
He highlighted preparations the city is undertaking to ensure public safety and community recovery in the event of a hurricane or tropical storm.
“This year we have rebid all our contracts for debris monitoring, the FEMA help and debris hauling,” Cosby said. “If we have a hurricane that causes serious devastation, we will need someone who can do it 24/7.”
Cosby also cautioned islanders to heed emergency warnings ahead of a storm.
“If you are told to evacuate, evacuate,” Cosby said, “The thing people don’t understand is, they don’t realize how fast that water is going to rise.”
Cosby outlined the process of determining evacuation needs, saying city, county and emergency management officials work together with the state emergency operations center on decisions.
Post-storm, Bradenton Beach staff return to the city to assess damage, connect with insurance companies and coordinate cleanups.
The city is prepared but Cosby underscored the importance of individual readiness, encouraging people to gather important documents and assemble their hurricane kits to be ready to move.
In Holmes Beach, police Chief Bill Tokajer led a forum on readiness May 22 at city hall that involved police, code compliance, public works and building departments and focused on evacuation, storm readiness, emergency planning, sandbagging and recovery.
The chief reminded people to think now about evacuation plans and to identify potential destinations.
He also said it is important people prepare storm kits that include their prescription medicines and cash, as power outages would disrupt electronic transactions.
In Anna Maria, early storm season preparations can include signing up on the city’s website, cityofannamaria.com, for alerts and updates via email.
The city site also contains resources for storm season, including websites and phone numbers for key contacts.
Anna Maria Mayor Dan Murphy did not respond as of May 27 to The Islander’s phone and email messages May 23.
If a storm threatens the area, Manatee County leads the response from its emergency operations center, 2101 47th Terrace E., Bradenton.
In a May 20 email to The Islander, county public information officer Bill Logan said the EOC is operational 365 days a year and 24 hours a day.
“We maintain a standby list to be ready to activate the EOC … as soon as we are called upon,” Logan said. “For a hurricane, our teams are meeting generally 3-5 days prior to landfall to begin assessing potential impacts, unmet needs, shelter operations long before the storm is here.”
Logan said before a potential landfall the EOC would go to Level 1 activation, meaning it is operational and fully staffed 24 hours a day.
“We have various emergency support functions comprised of county and state agencies that will work together for any activation to assess needs, request resources and make sure that resources are brought into the county as soon as it is safe to do so,” according to Logan. “It is a large collaborative effort.”
During restorative efforts, public safety officials will screen vehicles attempting to reenter impacted areas.
To ensure safety and eliminate unneeded traffic on AMI during restorative efforts, vehicle tags are needed for re-entry.
Each city issues tags to residents and businesses.
For more information, contact Anna Maria City Hall at 941-708-6130; HBPD at 941-708-5807; and Bradenton Beach City Hall at 941-778-1005.