Hurricane preparedness seminars come to Lakewood Ranch

With just a slight change in direction, Hurricane Ian could have been worse in the Lakewood Ranch area.

That was the message by county staff members during two hurricane preparedness seminars, the first June 6 in the Cresswind neighborhood and the second June 7 at the Manatee Chamber of Commerce in Lakewood Ranch.

Emergency Management leaders talked about how Hurricane Ian could have had an even more disastrous impact in the Lakewood Ranch area, more like it did in Lee County. They stressed that the citizens need to prepare for the worst-case scenario.

“How many of you would say we were lucky with Hurricane Ian?” Deputy Director of Public Safety Steve Litschauer asked members of the Manatee Chamber of Commerce.

Hands raised immediately.

Litschauer flipped to a PowerPoint slide that showed the damage to homes in Manatee County. Ten were completely destroyed, 276 suffered major damage, 871 had minor damage, and 2,644 were “affected.”

The estimated cost of damages is $99,115,618.

And for most of the county, that was a near miss.

But then Litschauer posed a second question, “If you were in one of those 10 homes, would you say you were lucky?”

Photo by Lesley Dwyer

One of Litschauer's roles is that of emergency management chief in times of disaster. He emphasized the importance of having plans and training to lean on during emergencies. Much like children are put through fire drills at schools, citizens should be running hurricane drills long before the eye forms. 

“What we call an afternoon rainstorm, once it gets in the gulf, it can go from that afternoon storm to a Category 4 or 5 in three days or less,” Litschauer said. “Three days or less is not enough time to start thinking about what you’re going to do.”

County staff members noted that some important things to consider are how many gallons of water your family will go through in a day or how employees get paid when there’s no power at the business and the bank is shut down. 

When a levee broke in Myakka City in the days following Ian, 300 wells were contaminated due to flooding. Eight semi trucks loaded with water had to be brought in.  

Karina Ojeda is the vice president and business development officer for Valley National Bank. She said she attended the seminar as a service to her clients. 

“A lot of my clients, mostly the small businesses, aren’t prepared," Ojeda said. "They don’t have the time to come here. I came to pass the information on.” 

According to the U.S. government, 40% of small businesses won’t reopen after a hurricane, 25% will close within a year and 75% of businesses without a continuity plan will fail within three years.

About 30 business owners attended the presentation at the chamber. The night before, about 100 members of the Cresswind community attended one geared more toward homeowners. About 80% of attendees had lived in Florida for less than five years. 

The statistics, alone, could frighten any newcomer — Ian was responsible for 67 deaths and almost 200,000 FEMA claims in Lee County, which took the biggest hit. But if numbers aren’t enough to convince citizens to prepare, sped-up security footage taken during Ian’s storm surge is included in the presentation, too.  

A bright pink house is prominent in the frame. Water rises around it until only the roof and second floor windows are visible. Next, the house is swept off its foundation. 

Litschauer and his team have delivered over 30 seminars in the past two months. There’s been a significant increase in requests from prior years, and he's happy to see it. 

“People will say, ‘Oh, we went through Irma. We went through Ian, and nothing happened. Don’t look at past history to survive,” Litschaur said. “Every storm is different, and it only takes one. Please, listen to us.”