Hurricane committee to present storm preparedness program

Hurricane season officially begins June 1, and while Captiva hasn’t dealt with any major storms since Hurricane Charley in 2005, members of the Captiva Hurricane Preparation and Response Committee want to make sure that island residents are prepared should a hurricane sweep through Southwest Florida this season.
To help educate residents, the committee will present a hurricane preparedness program on Tuesday, June 15 at 3:30 p.m. in the Auger Room at South Seas Island Resort.
“I’m very excited that this year we’re having a collaborative program, which is free and open to the public, at South Seas Island Resort. There will be information for resort employees, residents of Captiva and visitors. Anyone that has an interest in learning how to prepare for hurricane season is welcome,” said committee member Ann Bradley, who is also helping to organize the event.
So far, program presenters will include representatives from the Captiva Island Fire Control District, the Lee County Sheriff’s Department and Amy Hoyt, Geographic Information System (GIS) mapping manager for the Lee County Emergency Operations Center (EOC).
“There will be updated information in terms of educational brochures, lists of items to buy in preparation, hurricane passes and homeowner’s letters,” Bradley said. “But this won’t be just the same old information. There will be a recap of what you already know, in addition to more information you need to know.”
Unlike the last committee program, this year’s session will feature Amy Hoyt of the Lee County EOC.
“I’m going to be talking about an application we’ve created to do field damage assessment,” Hoyt said, describing a special program that’s used by first responders and emergency crews, such as the Captiva Structural Safety Inspection team, to collect property damage data and immediately upload it to a website.
“It will be good news if we don’t have any need for all the preparation. But if you do need to prepare, this educational program will provide up-to-date information so you’ll know what to expect in the event of a storm,” Bradley added.
For more information about how you can prepare for a storm, including printable homeowner’s letters and a storm update mailing list, visit the Captiva Hurricane Preparation and Response Committee’s website, located at www.MyCaptiva.info.