St. Johns County urges advance planning for hurricanes

Officials streamline evacuation policies

ST. AUGUSTINE, Fla. – St. Johns County is still recovering eight months after from Hurricane Matthew. It caused an estimated $2 billion in damage to private property, and $150 million in infrastructure damage.

Several agencies gathered Thursday at the Emergency Operations Center in St. Augustine to discuss lessons learned and to participate in a hurricane exercise.

Changes to the the evacuation route along I-10 is one of many changes discussed during the St. Johns County hurricane exercise. Evacuation and re-entry were the main focus. After Matthew, the county did away with passes required for residents to get back into their neighborhoods after a hurricane.

"What we discovered was people were stopping what they were doing for the evacuation, going to one of those sites, picking up a tag and then coming back," said Linda Stoughton, director of the St. Johns County EOC. "We felt like they had lost valuable time just preparing their family."

From now on, all St. Johns County residents will need is a valid driver's license, utility bill or lease agreement. Several agencies noted that during the latest evacuation, some residents left their important paperwork behind.

"Marriage certificate, identification cards - many people had to go through the painful process of replacing those important documents after the storm during recovery," Stoughton said.

Agencies said their response was a success. More than 140,000 people were evacuated from two barrier islands and there was no loss of life or major injuries as a result of the storm.

Because Hurricane Hermine hit about a month before Matthew, St. Johns County already had some extra resources on hand like ready-to-eat meals that were distributed to shelters and residents. They said it was a big help in the response after the hurricane hit.

Law enforcement agencies in the county said they will continue to work toward a more efficient response during hurricanes.

"We want to make that mentality that we're one large agency and not really worry about borders when it comes to response or jurisdictions that anybody who's closest will handle that situation," said Chuck Mulligan, a St. Johns County Sheriffs' Office commander. "We were there but we weren't fully there."

The EOC said the new plans discussed during the exercise will be implemented this season.