WEBVTT
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Welcome to the St. John's County podcast program
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called County Conversations, a show to provide
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you, the public, with greater community trust
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in your government operations and access and
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understanding of county operations. Today we're
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with Kelly Wilson, our Deputy Director of Emergency
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Management on County Conversations. Kelly, welcome
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to the show. Thanks for having me, Wayne. It's
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good to be here today. Well, we're in hurricane
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season and we wanted to kind of do a deep dive
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on the Emergency Operations Center for the county,
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also known as the EOC. Give us an overview of
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just in general terms, what is the EOC operation
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like day to day and then particularly when there's
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activation of the EOC. So when the EOC is activated,
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it's the coordination hub for the county for
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emergencies. We coordinate information and resources
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as our most Basic mission and it's our local
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state federal and community partners inside the
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EOC coordinating the response and recovery to
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our community the day to day We spend a great
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deal of time doing planning training and exercising
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so we are in fact prepared in the event of an
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emergency I mentioned hurricane earlier, but
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there's so many other types of either activations
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where staff comes in to deal with the situation,
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or just planning and preparation that goes into
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the EOC and your staff. Can you give us a few
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examples of the types of incidences, whether
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they're weather related or not, that the EOC
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has dealt with in recent time? Yeah, so while
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hurricanes are a very big part of what we do
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at the EOC, You know we can be activated for
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wildfires tornadoes any other sort of natural
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disaster but the other big one was covid covid
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during twenty twenty and twenty twenty one would
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have been our longest activation we were activated
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for close to. a year and a half to two years
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between COVID testing and vaccinations and things
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like that. The EOC is multifaceted and what I
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said makes us a good emergency managers and good
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EOC. We rise to the occasion, we solve problems.
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Whatever the problem is given to us, we figure
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out the answer and how to solve it to help our
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community. You've got two decades of experience
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when it comes to emergency management. And in
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those 20 years, one of the elements of EOC operations
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that you've spoken to a lot is the pride that
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you take and the partnerships that you have in
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the community with different nonprofits and other
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government agencies. Can you speak to that a
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little bit? So I like to remind people there
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are seven of us in emergency management EOC day
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to day. We could never accomplish our mission
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without that EOC, which when activated can has
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about 120 people in it. all working towards the
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same mission of helping our community respond
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and recover from a disaster. And it is everyone
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from folks that work in a library, public works,
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fire rescue, the sheriff's office, but it's also
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our partners at Parks and Recreation. It's the
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Red Cross, it's the Salvation Army, it's Catholic
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Charities, it's the Highway Patrol. It is a collection
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of our community and all the folks that work
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and live here. and we're all working towards
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that mission of helping our community. Those
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partnerships are invaluable when we see those
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people in the EOC. You mentioned that there could
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be upwards around 120 people working in the EOC
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and all these different partners having a role.
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Give the public a sense of what is happening
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in the EOC in terms of the amenities and the
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continuity of operations that take place in the
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EOC, the sleeping opportunities, food and recovery,
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rest and recovery, kind of what goes into the
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day -to -day, hour -by -hour operations to provide
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resources to those partners working in the EOC.
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So when we stand the EOC up to what we would
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consider level one, which means a full activation,
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all of our partners are there. For something
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like, we'll use a hurricane for an example. The
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EOC, as it stands up, it will become a 24 -hour
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operation, which means we have to feed and house
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people. Our partners over at the Council on Aging,
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begin working in our kitchen and it's a full
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service meal service. Three meals a day plus
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for the midnight shifts they have food out. We
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want to make sure that folks can eat and they
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can rest. We also have bunk rooms in the EOC.
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The bunk rooms are made, there's about 40 in
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a men's and women's bunk areas. That is where
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folks will rest when they are off shift. and
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they will be able to be arrested and come back
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to work. We have showers, areas, and the facility
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itself was built to withstand a 200 mile an hour
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wind load. That building is made to maintain
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our response and recovery operations, no matter
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what happens outside. Because whatever emergency
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comes to our community, we have to, no matter
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what, be able to continue our operations because
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we have to move the community forward towards
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recovery and every day again. You mentioned moving
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the community towards recovery and the response
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that you have. It's interesting that in the EOC
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operations, you and your team are not only helping
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the community with response and recovery, at
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the same time, you're helping the very people
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that are helping the community with their rest
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and recovery. I'm sure that's got to be a daunting
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task for you and your staff to not only service
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the public, but the very team and partners that
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are helping the public. Yeah, it is, you know,
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especially, and I would say especially, Matthew
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and Irma would have been one of my real, it was
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a pivotal moment because you saw the folks that
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were working in that EOC, they had been working
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for five straight days. Their homes had flooded.
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Their lives had been significantly affected by
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those storms. They still came to work. They still
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did the job. We have to make sure that those
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people are okay and we find them relief to send
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them home to help their families because That's
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the thing is the people in that room, they have
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families, their kids play soccer with your kids,
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they're your next door neighbor. All of those
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people in that room, so we all have skin in the
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game. This is our community and we want to help
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it. As you're helping our neighbors, the staff,
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help our neighbors, our friends and family out
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there in the community, I gotta imagine that
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that partnership and that peer relationships
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you mentioned earlier in the show goes well beyond
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county departments. and localized partnerships.
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You've got state level partners and federal partners.
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We do. We have state partners with the Florida
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Division of Emergency Management, Florida Department
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of Health, with the Florida Department of Law
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Enforcement that is in there. Highway Patrol.
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I will tell you there's a Highway Patrol that
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usually they send the same folks from Highway
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Patrol and I remember standing there and talking
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to the gentleman that's been in the EOC with
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us a conversation when they thought that they
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were going to have to shut down 95 after an evacuation
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or I'm sorry shut down 75 and send all evacuees
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back down 95 and it's one of those partnerships
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after you've known each other for a lot of years
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I was looking at his face and I was like is this
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I don't know how we're going to send millions
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of people down 95. And that partnership, that
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relationship with all of those people, another
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one is Florida Power and Light. Florida Power
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and Light and JEA provide most of the power in
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this community. It is a critical relationship.
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We have the same Florida Power and Light representative
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that we've had since Matthew. He comes to our
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exercises, he's always there. The EOC knows who
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he is. He lives over on Anastasia Island. He
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is one of our community members. He is there
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to help folks, to assure everybody that power
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is getting turned back on. They're doing it as
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quickly as possible. So when we see those people
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year after year, you know their name, you know
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who they are, you know their kids' names, you
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know that they just got a new dog. So we're working
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together and we have relationships with all of
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those people and I feel like that's what the
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EOC does. It brings together all of the people.
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that make the community what it is and help it
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recover and respond. While you're building that
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rapport both inside and outside the EOC, we've
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got about a minute left. Kelly, give our listeners
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a kind of a snapshot of the mitigation programs
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that you all do and what is mitigation when it
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comes to education on different programs or out
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there they can take advantage of in advance of
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hurricane season. Mitigation lies close to my
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heart. It's my favorite phase of emergency management.
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It is the piece of emergency management where
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we can help stop that cycle of damage and rebuilding.
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That is the thing that helps mitigate against
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flooding. It might be elevating homes, it might
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be flood proofing buildings, hardening infrastructure
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so that power lights are still standing post
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disaster. We have flood mitigation assistance
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programs, hazard mitigation grant programs, The
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state of Florida has Elevate Florida. Each of
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these programs are usually, each one of those,
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some can be when, but majority of those are flood
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mitigation. And I will tell you that I'm excited
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to announce that we just received several mitigation
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grants for several homes that we've been waiting
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for several years with the flood mitigation assistance
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and hazard mitigation grants that are going to
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be elevated. And what that means, while it might
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be a handful of homes between the city and the
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county, That's a handful of homes that next time
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will not experience flooding. And mitigation
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is the way that we move forward and we stop experiencing
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damage in our community and get better and more
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resilient. Well, speaking about being resilient,
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thank you so much, Kelly Wilson, Deputy Director
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of Emergency Management for making sure that
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we have the comfort and reassurance that you've
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got our back during emergencies and even before
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emergencies hit. Thank you so much for being
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on the program. Thank you for having me. For
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more information on emergency management, check
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out their webpage at sjcemergencymanagement .com
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and you can get your hurricane guide there on
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their website. You've been listening to County
00:10:14.120 --> 00:10:16.440
Conversations with Director of Public Affairs
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for St. Johns County, Wayne Larson. If you'd
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like to keep the dialogue going, like, share
00:10:21.639 --> 00:10:24.440
and leave a review on our social media. For news,
00:10:24.639 --> 00:10:27.340
events and resources, make sure you visit our
00:10:27.340 --> 00:10:34.539
county website. sjcfl .us that is sjcfl .us
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Welcome to the St. John's County podcast program
00:00:11.109 --> 00:00:13.730
called County Conversations, a show to provide
00:00:13.730 --> 00:00:16.690
you, the public, with greater community trust
00:00:16.690 --> 00:00:18.769
in your government operations and access and
00:00:18.769 --> 00:00:21.690
understanding of county operations. Today we're
00:00:21.690 --> 00:00:24.390
with Kelly Wilson, our Deputy Director of Emergency
00:00:24.390 --> 00:00:26.969
Management on County Conversations. Kelly, welcome
00:00:26.969 --> 00:00:29.089
to the show. Thanks for having me, Wayne. It's
00:00:29.089 --> 00:00:31.829
good to be here today. Well, we're in hurricane
00:00:31.829 --> 00:00:34.570
season and we wanted to kind of do a deep dive
00:00:34.570 --> 00:00:37.409
on the Emergency Operations Center for the county,
00:00:37.509 --> 00:00:41.890
also known as the EOC. Give us an overview of
00:00:41.890 --> 00:00:44.729
just in general terms, what is the EOC operation
00:00:44.729 --> 00:00:48.229
like day to day and then particularly when there's
00:00:48.229 --> 00:00:51.729
activation of the EOC. So when the EOC is activated,
00:00:51.929 --> 00:00:54.750
it's the coordination hub for the county for
00:00:54.750 --> 00:00:57.990
emergencies. We coordinate information and resources
00:00:57.990 --> 00:01:01.700
as our most Basic mission and it's our local
00:01:01.700 --> 00:01:04.599
state federal and community partners inside the
00:01:04.599 --> 00:01:08.120
EOC coordinating the response and recovery to
00:01:08.120 --> 00:01:10.799
our community the day to day We spend a great
00:01:10.799 --> 00:01:14.359
deal of time doing planning training and exercising
00:01:14.359 --> 00:01:17.219
so we are in fact prepared in the event of an
00:01:17.219 --> 00:01:20.859
emergency I mentioned hurricane earlier, but
00:01:20.859 --> 00:01:24.769
there's so many other types of either activations
00:01:24.769 --> 00:01:27.709
where staff comes in to deal with the situation,
00:01:27.790 --> 00:01:31.069
or just planning and preparation that goes into
00:01:31.069 --> 00:01:33.829
the EOC and your staff. Can you give us a few
00:01:33.829 --> 00:01:36.489
examples of the types of incidences, whether
00:01:36.489 --> 00:01:39.629
they're weather related or not, that the EOC
00:01:39.629 --> 00:01:43.349
has dealt with in recent time? Yeah, so while
00:01:43.349 --> 00:01:45.709
hurricanes are a very big part of what we do
00:01:45.709 --> 00:01:49.129
at the EOC, You know we can be activated for
00:01:49.129 --> 00:01:52.409
wildfires tornadoes any other sort of natural
00:01:52.409 --> 00:01:55.430
disaster but the other big one was covid covid
00:01:55.430 --> 00:01:57.569
during twenty twenty and twenty twenty one would
00:01:57.569 --> 00:02:00.030
have been our longest activation we were activated
00:02:00.030 --> 00:02:03.250
for close to. a year and a half to two years
00:02:03.250 --> 00:02:06.409
between COVID testing and vaccinations and things
00:02:06.409 --> 00:02:09.990
like that. The EOC is multifaceted and what I
00:02:09.990 --> 00:02:12.330
said makes us a good emergency managers and good
00:02:12.330 --> 00:02:15.169
EOC. We rise to the occasion, we solve problems.
00:02:15.310 --> 00:02:17.789
Whatever the problem is given to us, we figure
00:02:17.789 --> 00:02:19.629
out the answer and how to solve it to help our
00:02:19.629 --> 00:02:23.509
community. You've got two decades of experience
00:02:23.509 --> 00:02:25.370
when it comes to emergency management. And in
00:02:25.370 --> 00:02:29.210
those 20 years, one of the elements of EOC operations
00:02:29.210 --> 00:02:32.740
that you've spoken to a lot is the pride that
00:02:32.740 --> 00:02:34.740
you take and the partnerships that you have in
00:02:34.740 --> 00:02:37.759
the community with different nonprofits and other
00:02:37.759 --> 00:02:39.520
government agencies. Can you speak to that a
00:02:39.520 --> 00:02:43.099
little bit? So I like to remind people there
00:02:43.099 --> 00:02:46.039
are seven of us in emergency management EOC day
00:02:46.039 --> 00:02:48.819
to day. We could never accomplish our mission
00:02:48.819 --> 00:02:52.439
without that EOC, which when activated can has
00:02:52.439 --> 00:02:55.539
about 120 people in it. all working towards the
00:02:55.539 --> 00:02:58.460
same mission of helping our community respond
00:02:58.460 --> 00:03:01.379
and recover from a disaster. And it is everyone
00:03:01.379 --> 00:03:04.500
from folks that work in a library, public works,
00:03:04.719 --> 00:03:07.240
fire rescue, the sheriff's office, but it's also
00:03:07.240 --> 00:03:10.039
our partners at Parks and Recreation. It's the
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Red Cross, it's the Salvation Army, it's Catholic
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Charities, it's the Highway Patrol. It is a collection
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of our community and all the folks that work
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and live here. and we're all working towards
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that mission of helping our community. Those
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partnerships are invaluable when we see those
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people in the EOC. You mentioned that there could
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be upwards around 120 people working in the EOC
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and all these different partners having a role.
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Give the public a sense of what is happening
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in the EOC in terms of the amenities and the
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continuity of operations that take place in the
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EOC, the sleeping opportunities, food and recovery,
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rest and recovery, kind of what goes into the
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day -to -day, hour -by -hour operations to provide
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resources to those partners working in the EOC.
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So when we stand the EOC up to what we would
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consider level one, which means a full activation,
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all of our partners are there. For something
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like, we'll use a hurricane for an example. The
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EOC, as it stands up, it will become a 24 -hour
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operation, which means we have to feed and house
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people. Our partners over at the Council on Aging,
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begin working in our kitchen and it's a full
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service meal service. Three meals a day plus
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for the midnight shifts they have food out. We
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want to make sure that folks can eat and they
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can rest. We also have bunk rooms in the EOC.
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The bunk rooms are made, there's about 40 in
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a men's and women's bunk areas. That is where
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folks will rest when they are off shift. and
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they will be able to be arrested and come back
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to work. We have showers, areas, and the facility
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itself was built to withstand a 200 mile an hour
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wind load. That building is made to maintain
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our response and recovery operations, no matter
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what happens outside. Because whatever emergency
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comes to our community, we have to, no matter
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what, be able to continue our operations because
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we have to move the community forward towards
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recovery and every day again. You mentioned moving
00:05:09.949 --> 00:05:13.050
the community towards recovery and the response
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that you have. It's interesting that in the EOC
00:05:16.269 --> 00:05:19.250
operations, you and your team are not only helping
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the community with response and recovery, at
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the same time, you're helping the very people
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that are helping the community with their rest
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and recovery. I'm sure that's got to be a daunting
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task for you and your staff to not only service
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the public, but the very team and partners that
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are helping the public. Yeah, it is, you know,
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especially, and I would say especially, Matthew
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and Irma would have been one of my real, it was
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a pivotal moment because you saw the folks that
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were working in that EOC, they had been working
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for five straight days. Their homes had flooded.
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Their lives had been significantly affected by
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those storms. They still came to work. They still
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did the job. We have to make sure that those
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people are okay and we find them relief to send
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them home to help their families because That's
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the thing is the people in that room, they have
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families, their kids play soccer with your kids,
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they're your next door neighbor. All of those
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people in that room, so we all have skin in the
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game. This is our community and we want to help
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it. As you're helping our neighbors, the staff,
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help our neighbors, our friends and family out
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there in the community, I gotta imagine that
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that partnership and that peer relationships
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you mentioned earlier in the show goes well beyond
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county departments. and localized partnerships.
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You've got state level partners and federal partners.
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We do. We have state partners with the Florida
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Division of Emergency Management, Florida Department
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of Health, with the Florida Department of Law
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Enforcement that is in there. Highway Patrol.
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I will tell you there's a Highway Patrol that
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usually they send the same folks from Highway
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Patrol and I remember standing there and talking
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to the gentleman that's been in the EOC with
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us a conversation when they thought that they
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were going to have to shut down 95 after an evacuation
00:07:03.240 --> 00:07:06.540
or I'm sorry shut down 75 and send all evacuees
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back down 95 and it's one of those partnerships
00:07:09.240 --> 00:07:10.980
after you've known each other for a lot of years
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I was looking at his face and I was like is this
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I don't know how we're going to send millions
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of people down 95. And that partnership, that
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relationship with all of those people, another
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one is Florida Power and Light. Florida Power
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and Light and JEA provide most of the power in
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this community. It is a critical relationship.
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We have the same Florida Power and Light representative
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that we've had since Matthew. He comes to our
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exercises, he's always there. The EOC knows who
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he is. He lives over on Anastasia Island. He
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is one of our community members. He is there
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to help folks, to assure everybody that power
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is getting turned back on. They're doing it as
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quickly as possible. So when we see those people
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year after year, you know their name, you know
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who they are, you know their kids' names, you
00:07:58.100 --> 00:08:01.199
know that they just got a new dog. So we're working
00:08:01.199 --> 00:08:03.740
together and we have relationships with all of
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those people and I feel like that's what the
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EOC does. It brings together all of the people.
00:08:08.670 --> 00:08:11.649
that make the community what it is and help it
00:08:11.649 --> 00:08:15.389
recover and respond. While you're building that
00:08:15.389 --> 00:08:17.889
rapport both inside and outside the EOC, we've
00:08:17.889 --> 00:08:20.689
got about a minute left. Kelly, give our listeners
00:08:20.689 --> 00:08:24.810
a kind of a snapshot of the mitigation programs
00:08:24.810 --> 00:08:27.189
that you all do and what is mitigation when it
00:08:27.189 --> 00:08:30.709
comes to education on different programs or out
00:08:30.709 --> 00:08:33.330
there they can take advantage of in advance of
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hurricane season. Mitigation lies close to my
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heart. It's my favorite phase of emergency management.
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It is the piece of emergency management where
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we can help stop that cycle of damage and rebuilding.
00:08:46.299 --> 00:08:48.399
That is the thing that helps mitigate against
00:08:48.399 --> 00:08:50.639
flooding. It might be elevating homes, it might
00:08:50.639 --> 00:08:54.559
be flood proofing buildings, hardening infrastructure
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so that power lights are still standing post
00:08:57.759 --> 00:09:00.840
disaster. We have flood mitigation assistance
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programs, hazard mitigation grant programs, The
00:09:04.059 --> 00:09:06.580
state of Florida has Elevate Florida. Each of
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these programs are usually, each one of those,
00:09:10.100 --> 00:09:12.360
some can be when, but majority of those are flood
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mitigation. And I will tell you that I'm excited
00:09:14.840 --> 00:09:18.980
to announce that we just received several mitigation
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grants for several homes that we've been waiting
00:09:22.379 --> 00:09:24.620
for several years with the flood mitigation assistance
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and hazard mitigation grants that are going to
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be elevated. And what that means, while it might
00:09:29.600 --> 00:09:32.179
be a handful of homes between the city and the
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county, That's a handful of homes that next time
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will not experience flooding. And mitigation
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is the way that we move forward and we stop experiencing
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damage in our community and get better and more
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resilient. Well, speaking about being resilient,
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thank you so much, Kelly Wilson, Deputy Director
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of Emergency Management for making sure that
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we have the comfort and reassurance that you've
00:09:54.830 --> 00:09:57.129
got our back during emergencies and even before
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emergencies hit. Thank you so much for being
00:09:59.110 --> 00:10:01.600
on the program. Thank you for having me. For
00:10:01.600 --> 00:10:03.519
more information on emergency management, check
00:10:03.519 --> 00:10:08.539
out their webpage at sjcemergencymanagement .com
00:10:08.539 --> 00:10:11.299
and you can get your hurricane guide there on
00:10:11.299 --> 00:10:14.120
their website. You've been listening to County
00:10:14.120 --> 00:10:16.440
Conversations with Director of Public Affairs
00:10:16.440 --> 00:10:19.379
for St. Johns County, Wayne Larson. If you'd
00:10:19.379 --> 00:10:21.639
like to keep the dialogue going, like, share
00:10:21.639 --> 00:10:24.440
and leave a review on our social media. For news,
00:10:24.639 --> 00:10:27.340
events and resources, make sure you visit our
00:10:27.340 --> 00:10:34.539
county website. sjcfl .us that is sjcfl .us
