Hurricane Committee prepares for 2009 season
The Captiva Hurricane Preparation and Response Committee met last week to discuss plans for hurricane season readiness.
Jay Halverson of the Captiva Island Fire Control District provided an update
regarding the structural safety inspection team and also announced that Rich Dickerson of the CIFCD has left Captiva for a fire chief position on Longboat Key.
According to Halverson, South Seas Island Resort had a separate structural safety inspection training session and the public SSI training session was attended by four people, all returning volunteers.
Halverson said that he would update the committee at their July meeting as to whether or not more volunteers and more training will be necessary.
If you have questions concerning the SSI team and would like more
information, contact Alan Delameter at the Captiva Island Fire Control
District at 472-9494.
Also on the committee’s agenda was a communications update from committee member Nathalie Pyle. Phyllis Gibson, through Pyle, indicated that she would be checking on the Best Western on Daniels Parkway as a meeting
location for Captivans should a mandatory island-wide evacuation occur.
Steve Pasquale of South Seas Island Resort noted that an 800 number
would be available for information-seeking residents in the event of an
evacuation and that SSIR has also arranged for a barge to come to the island
for the use of SSIR and emergency personnel should the causeway become
flooded due to a storm.
The committee also discussed hurricane passes, which are now available
through the Sanibel Police Department, and homeowner letters.
If you would like more information about how to obtain hurricane passes and homeowner letters, visit the committee’s Web site, www.mycaptiva.info.
The Web site is also useful for tracking storm activity and all residents
are encouraged to sign up for the site’s mailing list, operated by administrator Beth Oden, who sends out frequent updates and informative e-mails pertaining to storms to all those on the list.
The committee urges all residents to get hurricane passes, and as yet, very few have been requested by Captiva residents and homeowners. Residents that are planning to have someone else check their property on Captiva after an evacuation must contact the Fire Department with the information.
The committee’s Web site is a one-stop destination for all storm preparation information.
“The committee has done preparation for a storm, which we hope we don’t need to implement,” said committee member Doris Holzheimer.
But residents shouldn’t rely solely on the steps being taken by the committee Holzheimer noted.
“All residents and homeowners need to prepare their properties,” she noted.
If you have questions about the committee or are curious as to how you as a
resident can become better prepared for hurricane season, visit