By Matthew Cimitile, University Communications and Marketing
After more than a week of nearly round-the-clock work coordinating USF St. Petersburg’s response to Hurricane Helene, Kevin Sullivan experienced the same sense of disbelief that hit everyone on the west coast of Florida: another hurricane was on the way, and it was even larger than the last.
“We were still dealing with Hurricane Helene recovery operations when we had to transition to storm preparation for Milton,” said Sullivan, the campus’ emergency manager. “We couldn’t even take a breather.”
The simultaneous efforts to finish cleanup efforts while preparing the campus for the next storm would result in an unprecedented emergency management team response. Several members of the team worked on campus nearly every day for weeks, from early morning into the night, under challenging conditions.
The emergency management team consists of USF personnel from departments across the campus vital to the institution’s continued operations before, during and after an emergency. Since the first mention of Helene to opening campus following Milton, this team met daily. Team members worked tirelessly, following existing plans and procedures, to both prepare for shutdown prior to landfall and to reopen campus shortly thereafter.
“There were two things that drove everything for our emergency response: nobody gets hurt and getting back to classes as soon as possible,” said Sullivan, who previously worked for the U.S. Coast Guard and joined USF St. Petersburg in April.
Extensive cleanup efforts of campus took place after both hurricanes.
A familiar presence on campus during this time was Don Rogers, manager of building and maintenance operations.
In the days leading up to back-to-back landfalls, he went building to building to ensure proper shutdown procedures. When the storm passed, he was one of the first on campus to assess damages – from power outages (and finding generators when those outages happened) to water intrusion and other safety hazards.
“It is a big team, and everyone’s role is to provide leadership with the right information they need from our areas as quickly as possible,” Rogers said. “The constant communication is key to make decisions and address any issues that come up, and issues always come up in these sorts of events.”
Led by Regional Vice Chancellor for Administration & Financial Services Kevin Sheehy, working in close coordination with Regional Chancellor Christian Hardigree, the emergency management team held meetings twice a day to discuss updates, issues and challenges. The teamwork, communication and positive attitude throughout proved vital in reopening campus just three days after Helene struck with six feet of storm surge and five days after Milton brought nearly 20 inches of rain and 100 mph winds to the city of St. Petersburg.
“Everybody was on the same page throughout this experience. Everybody on the team knew what they needed to do, and they did it,” said Rogers.
Sullivan, Rogers and the rest of the team will now look back at the response to see what went well and what can be improved to incorporate lessons learned into future emergency responses.
But first, they both will take a well-deserved break.