Craig Fugate to speak at 15th Annual Disaster Preparedness Seminar

In 2012, Hurricane Sandy ripped through the northeastern United States, Canada and the Caribbean. It killed 147 people, wrecked power grids, destroyed thousands of homes and businesses and damaged thousands more.

In March, Longboat Key Chamber of Commerce President Gail Loefgren spoke with a man from New Jersey whose home had been in the direct path of the storm. When he returned after the hurricane, he stood in front of his house with no idea of what to do.

Still today, he told her, people haven’t recovered.

The 15th annual Disaster Preparedness Seminar on May 25 will address this exact situation.

“I think that’s what we’ll be building on, and just really, are you emotionally and physically prepared for what you come back to?” Loefgren said.

In years past, the event’s speakers have focused on preparedness, but this year the town and chamber decided to make a change.

“I think people get complacent,” Loefgren said. “We haven’t had a hurricane since 2004. It’s really the town’s and the chamber’s job to remind businesses and members that it’s not if it’ll happen, it’s when. We have to continually remind people to be prepared.”

To get the message across, the town and chamber invited Craig Fugate, former director of Federal Emergency Management Agency and former director of Florida Division of Emergency Management, to be the keynote speaker. Fugate served under former Gov. Jeb Bush from 2001-2009 and former President Barack Obama from 2009-2016.

Other speakers include Bob Harrigan, chief meteorologist for ABC-7 News, and Steven Guetschow, disaster program manager of American Red Cross of Southwest Florida. 

Assistant to the Town Manager Susan Phillips recalled that Fugate was director in 2004 and 2005 when Florida took six hits.

“He’s been through so many hurricanes that he can speak directly to the aftermath,” Loefgren said.

Some of the main points of the program will include discussions on the emotional impacts of personal losses, utility outages, flooding, curfews, limited access to islands and homes and shelters.