LIVE OAK, Fla. (WTXL) — With a new emergency management director taking over this week, Suwannee County officials are preparing for this hurricane season by taking lessons from the past couple of active seasons.
- Formerly deputy director Heather Henderson-Scheu stepped into the director role this week.
- She says the team plans to improve efficiency in opening shelters and the flood risk in Downtown Live Oak.
- Watch the video below to see how neighbors can help the county adapt its emergency response strategy.
BROADCAST TRANSCRIPT:
Over the last two years, Suwannee County's Emergency Management Division has dealt with an unusually high number of severe weather events.
Now they're crafting a new mitigation strategy based on that experience and asking for neighbor input.
I'm Alberto Camargo, your neighborhood reporter in Live Oak.
Learning how emergency management officials are adapting their response.
"Idalia, Debby, Helene, Milton, and even the occasional tornado — more severe weather than Suwannee County Emergency Management director Heather Henderson-Scheu says this area has received in any two years before."
Resulting in heavy flooding and power wiped out county-wide.
"We are learning so much every storm, to where the next time, hopefully in years that it happens again, we will be more prepared quicker than we have been if you compare to when we started with Idalia."
Henderson-Scheu says the last few storms have put a spotlight on downtown Live Oak, which is especially prone to flooding.
That lesson is being added to the county's Local Mitigation Strategy, a document that has to be updated every five years.
Officials are encouraging neighbors to request a copy of the document and provide feedback by the end of the week, that way they can adapt their responses to what the community needs.
"It's kind of like a playbook that we set up for future events that we kind of can go by for mitigation so we already have things in place for mitigation when that time comes."
Henderson-Scheu says neighbors can e-mail or call her to request that copy, and they must submit their feedback by end of day Friday.
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