Hurricane Ian Response & Recovery
Florida Division of Emergency Management
Florida Division of Emergency Management
ACDC is supporting the Florida Division of Emergency Management in response to the Catastrophic Category 5 Hurricane Ian which made landfall in September 2022. ACDC began with a few positions supporting the State EOC prior to landfall, and as intensity and anticipated impacts grew, pre-positioned staff within the Florida Division of Emergency Management and Clay County EOC’s, and remotely supported Pasco County, Wakulla County, Lee County, and the City of Mexico Beach in anticipation of Hurricane Ian’s landfall to ensure emergency protective measures and response preparedness throughout the event.
Overall, ACDC supported in Logistics, Finance, Operations, Data, Mission Management, Public Information, Governmental Affairs, as well as project management and oversight.
ACDC is also supporting FDEM as the Debris Task Force Lead for all Hurricane Ian-generated debris removal, which includes:
*Stats listed are evolving as it is a current operation.
Post-storm, over 20 additional staff were brought onboard with an additional 50 positions added in the following weeks per FDEM’s request. This mobilization speaks volumes to our ability to serve our clients quickly and effectively during emergency response.
Florida Division of Emergency Management
The State Emergency Response Team (SERT), based at the State Emergency Operations Center (SEOC), needed staff augmentation and emergency management expertise in contingency planning, logistics & resource management, and cost recovery functions in response to the Novel Coronavirus in March of 2020.
City of Mexico Beach, Florida
Hurricane Michael made landfall in 2018 as a Category 5 storm and decimated the City of Mexico Beach. The City suffered extensive damage to 80% of all structures city-wide including the City’s utility systems. Nearly all critical infrastructure throughout the City was destroyed including the City’s elevated water tank, master lift station, two major bridges, 18” transmission water main, electrical grid, 25 of City’s 27 lift stations inoperable, City’s police and fire facilities destroyed, and City’s water plant which was inundated with storm surge.
ACDC’s Team was onsite within 72 hours after the storm and immediately began working with City to begin response and recovery efforts including:
In addition to immediate response efforts, ACDC’s Team continues to support the City’s long-term recovery through ongoing Federal and State grant assistance.
Oregon Department of Emergency Management / Oregon Department of Transportation
ACDC has been actively involved in the last six (6) major declared disasters for the State of Oregon (Winter Storms & Flooding, Wildfires and COVID-19) totaling an expected $1.77B in recovery. Our team has been embedded with the Oregon Department of Emergency Management (OR OEM), the Oregon Department of Transportation (ODOT), and State of Oregon as Program Managers overseeing wildfire debris cleanup, COVID recovery, and other disaster recovery from prior winter storms and flooding in 2019 and 2020.
Following the 2020 historic wildfires event in Oregon, which impacted over one million acres and damaged or destroyed over 4,000 structures, ACDC served in numerous capacities as Oregon’s Owner’s Representative, serving as a liaison for the State by overseeing multiple debris monitoring firms and debris hauling contractors, as well as internal project staff. During this effort the project team brought high level solutions to OR OEM regarding safety, environmental issues, OSHA compliance, FEMA eligibility, etc., coordinated with USACE crews to ensure Federal compliance, performed field reviews to assess private property debris removal and other compliance issues, and created and staffed a call center to assist property owners who sustained damage. Under this work, ACDC facilitated the process of obtaining Right of Entry (ROE) forms from impacted residents. These ROE permits grant access to the EPA to conduct hazardous waste cleanup and is the first phase before the larger debris cleanup began.
The ACDC staff served as liaisons between the nine impacted counties and the State and FEMA to ensure effective and timely communication to residents. Our team developed a data management tracking system to manage the ROE permits received, completing QA/QC on all forms to ensure accuracy in the information provided. This information was then passed to the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) to be used to map out the areas that were ready for the first phase of the cleanup mission. This first phase of the cleanup mission was extremely time sensitive, requiring our team to conduct outreach in nine counties to thousands of residents in a four-week timeframe.
Considering the widespread nature of the fires and close proximity to many rivers, contaminating the rivers with hazardous waste was a concern and the mitigation was top priority. This included staffing a call center in October 2020 that managed nearly 18,000 inbound and outbound calls, giving us a familiarity with the Oregonian communities, and connection to the majority of impacted homeowners. Our debris specialists also performed extensive field outreach, knocking on homeowner doors to address complaints, better understand access issues, and host conversations with homeowners who could not be reached by phone.
City of Portland, OR
This plan includes the roles and responsibilities of: