Lessons learned from Hurricane Matthew

The winds have long since died down, emergency shelters have been closed, and lofty piles of trees and other debris have been hauled away, but memories of Hurricane Matthew and its impact on the local community still linger.

What were the hits and misses of the October 2016 event from a preparedness and response standpoint? What went well – and what could have been handled better? Hoping to glean a few lessons from the experience, Berkeley County Supervisor Bill Peagler and Councilman Josh Whitley are co-chairing a Hurricane Matthew Commission to study actions taken before, during and after the storm. On February 5, the entity met for the first time to debrief in the Berkeley County Council chambers.

Speaking at the gathering were a number of county officials and partner organizations, including the American Red Cross, the Berkeley County School District, Berkeley Electric Cooperative, Santee Cooper, SCE&G, the Berkeley County Sheriff’s Office, and the Department of Transportation.

“Our response to Hurricane Matthew was superb in so many ways,” noted Whitley in his opening remarks. “And that’s due to our dedicated men and women who are involved with us, the dedicated folks at the county level, and our partners...An organization that is not learning from every opportunity will not be of service to this county. The whole point of today is not to blame anyone. It’s more to put information out there so that hopefully we can come up with some lessons learned and ways to improve, not if, but when there is an emergency.”

SHELTERS

The first organization to address the commission was the American Red Cross (ARC), led by ARC South Carolina CEO Louise Welch-Williams. According to Welch-Williams, the ARC opened a total of 46 shelters statewide, eight of them in Berkeley County. They also provided more than 750 clean-up kits and bulk items to over 3,000 people.

“I think we all pulled together and did well,” she said. “...(But) we got off to a rough start. All disasters are different. This one being different in that we evacuated on a Wednesday and the storm followed on Friday.”

The biggest issue facing the ARC, added Welch-Williams, was that they did not initially have enough cots in the emergency shelters. There was also come confusion about shelter opening times, she noted, as well as a need to improve communications and add more trained staff members at shelters.

“We got there, but it took some time,” she said. “We’re working with the state and our partners on how we might rectify that in the future.”

The BCSD also asked for better communications from the ARC moving forward, as they were tasked with opening several of the local shelters at local schools and reported receiving conflicting information at times on when shelters would be opening, the services that would be provided, and other details.

“The communication given to our citizens was definitely conflicting,” stated Tim Knight of the BCSD. “Our principals were getting different information, and trying to piece all of that together during the storm was hard at times.”

The ARC representatives in attendance promised to work with the county and other organizations to be sure all are on the same page moving forward.

“We need to look at that plan as an entire community, as a group of partners, to come up with those solutions,” said Beth Fletcher, who joined Welch-Williams in the ARC presentation. “It’s all the pieces of the spokes to that hub (working together) to make sure that we’re getting everything covered.”

DEBRIS REMOVAL

The topic of debris removal also generated much discussion by the commission. Several reported to the group that there was confusion over whose responsibility it was to clear debris after the storm, based on who had ownership of the roads in question – private owners, municipalities, the county, or the state. Whitley noted it would be best to come up with a list now to avoid confusion later. One suggestion was to develop a color-coded sign or decal system for road signs to make the responsible party easily identifiable.

“Some things are in our control (and some are not),” added Whitley. “And all of that created confusion. Giving out correct information is important to me and I think we can be proactive on that front...I had debris in my district for months and months and months. And you just can’t explain that when a constituent calls. It’s tough.”

According to Deputy Supervisor Tim Callanan, Berkeley County personnel cleared secondary state roads and county roads (on Daniel Island, Berkeley County was contracted by the City of Charleston to pick-up Hurricane Matthew debris). The state handled primary roads and interstates. But the county encountered problems in having to set up “Memorandums of Understanding” for contracted work “on the fly” the day after the storm, said Callanan. He’d like to see those details ironed out in advance.

“We’re working on a template for what we want to handle and what the state wants to handle, based on who we think can perform them better, and what financial liability the county will have if it does take over state roads.”

EVACUATION-RELATED ROAD CLOSURES AND DETOURS

Mike Cochran of the Berkeley County Sheriff’s Office informed the commission of frustrations encountered by his department when officers had to be taken off enforcement duties to staff road closures and detour points related to the Governor’s evacuation order. Sheriff Duane Lewis also noted that many of those closures resulted in residents not being able to get to certain areas of the county.

“We were impeding people’s ability to get where they needed to be and it was causing more problems than necessary,” said Sheriff Lewis. “...I know those plans look good on paper, but sometimes they don’t work. Somebody had to make a decision to deviate from those plans and that’s what we did.”

MOVING FORWARD

Many of those present at the gathering commended the service organizations and personnel who responded to Hurricane Matthew for a job well done. After the session, Supervisor Peagler expressed thanks to county employees for their “hard work” during the storm and for going “above and beyond” in performing their duties.

“A lot was learned during (the session),” said Supervisor Peagler. “Most importantly, we recognized and gave thanks for the fact that no lives were lost during the storm. We will not roll the dice with anyone’s life in Berkeley County. That was evident during the storm and should not go unnoticed.”

Overall, noted Peagler, the Hurricane Matthew Commission took away several things from the meeting, including bettering communication with partner organizations, providing needed resources for the medically-impaired at shelters, ensuring there are enough supplies at shelters, and addressing the implications of multiple road closures.

“Many of the hiccups experienced came from our working partners,” added Peagler. “Working with them, we will get better.”