What Followed Hurricane Dorian: The Many Facets of Crisis Response
On September 1, 2019, an agonizingly slow-moving Category 5 Hurricane Dorian struck many islands in the Bahamas with brutal and devastating force – with sustained winds over 185 mph and gusts up to 200 mph. Dorian was the largest recorded hurricane in modern history to hit some of these islands and the recovery from her destructive power continues to be a painful reminder nearly a year later.
Photo by Jonathan Petramala
As we all know, natural disasters are ever-present possibilities. Many events occur without warning and give us no time to prepare, and sometimes no amount of preparation can stop the destruction of property or save lives. Human-caused disasters can have similar consequences (e.g., fires, major accidents, active violence and even pandemics), but for this article I’ll just be focusing on natural disaster preparedness, response and recovery.
Even when we are fortunate to have warnings that tornadoes, tsunamis, wildfires or hurricanes are imminent, it’s imperative everyone in the affected areas heed these warnings. In most cases, warnings should trigger an individual, family and/or business crisis action plan. Everyone who lives in areas where natural disasters are a real possibility on a recurring basis should have well-thought-out plans before any of these events occur, as advance preparations can often mean the difference between life and death, or serious injury at a minimum.
In September 2019, Dorian was moving slowly across the Atlantic Ocean towards the Caribbean, but seemed to have a highly defined path of travel based on the predictive models. A few days before making landfall in the Bahamas, it was determined that mass evacuations would be the best course of action to save lives. However, not all could be evacuated and, against advice, many chose not to leave. For those who remained to “ride out” the storm, many did not survive and those lucky ones who did will carry the memories of their traumatic experiences with them for the rest of their lives.
As part of my corporate responsibility and obligations to a private community in the Bahamas near Marsh Harbour, I had been tracking this hurricane for days prior to its anticipated landfall. My primary mission immediately following the storm was to assist in evacuating injured, relocate survivors off the affected islands and out of the destruction that was left in Dorian’s path. After that, I needed to assess the damage and prepare a plan with initial recovery requirements.
It is not surprising that many who live in areas that are annually subjected to the possibility of multiple hurricanes during the “season” can become inured to the idea they will suffer a direct hit from these storms. After all, most years can see multiple storms bypass land or be reduced to tropical storms, causing nothing more than a few days of heavy rain and scattered palm leaves on the ground.
However, they are so unpredictable that the entire southeastern part of the U.S. must continually be aware that any of those areas could be subject to nature’s wrath every season. These storms can be somewhat like a boxing match where one contender throws a few soft punches until their opponent lets his guard down slightly and then he is able to land a devastating blow. After many years of soft punches, Dorian was that knockout punch to this part of the Bahamas.
Fortunately, our current weather prediction efforts can see these storms developing long before they hit land. Unfortunately, even days of advance warning are still not enough to convince residents of the ferocity they face if they don’t evacuate.
As soon as we knew the storm had a high degree of probability of a direct hit on our community, we evacuated as many as possible. I knew that boats and seaplanes would not be immediately available or able to navigate the remnants of this very slow-moving storm until several days later, so I worked to immediately secure two helicopters prior to the hurricane making landfall and had them staged in south Florida.
Our plan was to allow a few hours to pass and let the winds drop below 100 mph so we could reduce the risk regarding our own safety and fly in behind the storm to our designated islands to assist. Air assets are always part of my response and recovery plan for such scenarios. However, when I started calling my preferred helicopter providers in the southeast, what I didn’t plan for was that most of them were out west assisting in major firefighting efforts. This required a quick scramble to locate other helicopters that were available and willing to fly into post-hurricane winds ranging between 50-90 mph.
After securing two twin-engine helicopters capable of carrying at least 4-5 passengers with calm, experienced pilots, I needed to decide who to take with me. I knew I had two medics who were part of a storm ride-out team at our community and was communicating with them right up until Dorian cut off all contact.
I selected four individuals who had the right prior experience and expertise that would be needed once we landed and were prepared to remain for weeks to assist. This included former military operators and emergency management-minded individuals who had experience in austere conditions, advanced first aid knowledge, maritime ops, and who I knew would roll up their sleeves and do whatever it took to get the job done. Basically, I needed MacGyvers. I also had to pre-plan providing security and security leadership once on the ground. Needless to say, all of us were faced with grim conditions and little sleep in our near future.
Of the four, I also needed an individual who was experienced in helping to re-establish communications and other important technologies as soon as possible. I also had one medic on standby in the event our two embedded medics on the island were injured.
Because we didn’t know the exact path of the storm after it passed over this part of the Bahamas and if or where it would potentially hit the east coast, we staged our departure at two Florida locations, including the lower Keys. We all waited several very long hours after the storm had mostly passed for a SAT call to provide us with a status update. That call with a report of “all accounted for” with no major injuries was an enormous relief and played an important part in the response plan that followed.
As an aside in this story, before lifting off from our FBO in Palm Beach, I was approached by two nationally-recognized storm chasers. They wanted to hitch a ride with us to the islands as we were possibly the first aircraft and response team to reach the affected islands around Marsh Harbour in the Abaco Islands. My first response was a flat “no” as I needed these seats to be empty for evacuation purposes. They explained their mission was to capture film footage and report to the international television networks. What they said made a great deal of sense as the U.S. and the world needed to see these devastating images so they would know how urgent the response need would be for evacuations and ongoing aid.
After I did agree, I warned them they had to be prepared to be dropped at any time so we could use their seats for evacuations. Of course, we would make every effort to pick them back up later, but there were no guarantees as night flights and fuel shortages would definitely be issues. They were very professional and true to their word as their film footage and interviews were the first images seen on global television – and all the initial film footage seen came from the backs of our two helicopters.
Having our own experienced weather team did come in handy as our pilots navigated the remnants of the storm and timed flying around the bands of high winds. At one point we were forced to return to Nassau after getting halfway to our target location. We refueled but then decided to ground the birds for the evening, acknowledging that the winds were still too strong to fly in until the next morning.
The amazing skill of the pilots we worked with cannot be understated. They dealt with long hours, harrowing conditions and unpredictable high wind gusts as the storm slowly dissipated. They flew in close range of one another (in the event one helicopter experienced a problem while navigating the cloudy, windy, rainy and stormy conditions over open water). The last thing we needed was to force our way in unnecessarily and risk a helicopter crash and require rescuing ourselves.
It was a great relief knowing that we had no critical injuries (some minor) at our target location but we did have many emotionally-rattled individuals. Our pilots were also invaluable in assisting in our route planning and timing in order to get the helicopters safely to the island and back to safety to Nassau or the U.S and return to our target area. Over our initial five days of air transports, we conducted over 50 helicopter flight missions.
At the same time, I had been in contact with a former colleague and former Navy SEAL who lead a non-profit NGO emergency/crisis response team who had prepositioned his cadre of doctors, boats, SMEs and equipment in the same area of operation (AO) where our team was positioned. Throughout the following days and weeks, we would also support this group with transporting equipment and doctors to a nearby hospital still functional and his team supported us with information and other assets, including underwater drones for clearing important boat channels.
In a crisis, you need to know all the players and capabilities in the AO (area of operation) because it is truly “one team, one fight.”
Asset availability and management become even more critical during a crisis like this, where key resources can sometimes be days - or even weeks - out. These necessary assets can range from the basic essentials of food and drinking water, critical equipment such as medical care, medicines, and communications and also include lighting, availability of small generators and fuel. In some cases, weapons may be included on this list, but this needs to be very carefully considered. You must execute proper coordination, transport and use of appropriate weapons with local authorities, including local law enforcement and/or with the state or host nation authorities to ensure you’re not operating illegally. Whenever weapons are a necessary consideration, be sure to take all precautions to ensure you’re physically and legally safe to do so. This list can go on but, as a different kind of weapon in the tropics, you must also remember to include all-important mosquito repellent.
If your responsibilities include disaster preparedness, you should be familiar with the long list of websites (e.g., fema.gov, etc.) who provide detailed lists of recommended items to have on hand for each type of natural disaster. Having these items readily available and in safe places may be essential to surviving and recovering from any natural disaster.
You also should consider the important decisions that will be required to not only survive such events but also surviving in the hours and days to follow. If you have any notice at all, evacuation will normally be your best action. While losing all of a person’s possessions may be devastating (but mostly temporary), losing human life is permanent. Affected individuals can always return to assist in recovery and rebuilding efforts.
Often, the decision to evacuate is the hardest decision to make. Many do not want to believe a condition will be so devastating as to cause loss of life. It is natural that humans want to believe they can protect a home or business. In any disaster, leaving will be the first big decision, but it will be followed by thousands of little and big decisions, sometimes occurring all in the same day.
On the preparation end, many government, military and first responders engage in “Table Top Exercises” (otherwise called TTXs), but small businesses and families can conduct their own TTXs. On a simplified level, you need to gather your key decision-makers (as a family, it’s pretty much the whole family), but you could also extend this exercise to your neighbors, community and even local authorities for better collaboration and resiliency planning.
You will then take one event at a time that you are most likely to encounter. For example, if you live in California, this could be an earthquake or wildfire. These exercises can be very sophisticated or very simple; either way, they are designed to highlight vulnerabilities and gaps in your planning and help provide a checklist of items to have on hand and actions to take prior, during and after any event.
It is important to designate someone to lead the TTX with presenting scenarios and injecting various potential events that could occur during the timeline. This could include hours and days prior and days, weeks and months after any potential disaster. Also having someone to document this process and the details is important as there will be follow up and action items that will be required in your planning, preparation and recovery.
At some point soon after your initial TTX, you should schedule a similar meeting with the same individuals to discuss your newly-drafted plans and any actions items required (supplies, equipment, resources, contact lists, etc.) The next step will be rehearsing portions of your plans to make sure everyone knows their roles.
“If you fail to plan, you are planning to fail.”
— Benjamin Franklin
These disasters will test your preparations and, while they can bring out the best in people, they can also bring the very worst in people. Remember that providing the basics of water, food, medical assistance, shelter and communications should be the first items on your response list.
Sometimes you realize that the simplest thing can help bring life back to a devastated area and dire situation and provide some optimism. I recall on our third day of running evacuations from our islands to Nassau, we had empty seats returning from Nassau and I ordered 40 pizzas that we brought back to those waiting for evacuation. It was just a little taste of normalcy for that moment that lifted many spirits of those remaining to be evacuated.
It is important to keep in mind that, in most disaster situations, only those on the ground and directly affected can make initial response decisions. If you have someone who has been in a similar scenario before, they too can be helpful in the required recovery decisions and you should welcome their rested and clear-headed thinking.
However, sometimes, those sitting in a comfortable chair in an air-conditioned room, eating hot meals and sleeping in a dry bed hundreds of miles away from the devastation may try to influence decisions for those on the ground. While any support is usually appreciated, especially when it comes to acquiring necessary assets and resources, it is important that they do not try to undermine requests on the ground when dealing with the immediate aftermath of a disaster.
Another part of the resiliency planning process is to acknowledge in advance that large disaster responses will never be inexpensive. In areas of frequent threats from hurricanes, tornadoes, fires, flooding, etc., wherever possible, funds should be budgeted for these types of unexpected events and you should ensure your insurance is current and adequate. At a minimum, having the knowledge of sources of disaster relief funding can be crucial in addition to your insurance coverage.
As anyone can tell you who has responded to such events, your plans, checklists, and TTXs will greatly assist you but will never cover all the little things that you might encounter or that will go wrong while responding. Planning will also never help you easily get through the exhaustion and extremely long days that turn into weeks and months, or help you cope with hundreds of new decisions that must be made every single day. In some crises, the local playbook has “literally” been destroyed and lost in the wind. Only experience, tenacity, resourcefulness and perhaps most importantly, teamwork will get you through to the other side of such devastation and on the road to recovery.
The effective response to this huge crisis would not have been possible if not for the following amazing men and women:
our ride-out team who survived the hurricane to provide us with critical information before our arrival (e.g., cleared and marked our LZ) and made the right decisions to best prepare for Dorian’s direct hit;
our expert and professional helicopter pilots (Darren and Seth);
my team of four dedicated men who volunteered on short notice to travel with me (Chris, Ben, Steve, Toby), as well as Rick and Steve who soon followed;
our Bahamian and American security contractors that followed us in the days after we landed;
our NGO friends from GSD led by Grant;
the Yacht Cynthia with Captain Tim and crew who pulled in several days after the storm and stayed for weeks to assist us with meals and hot showers and provided us with her beautiful ship lights (the only lights glowing at night). They were a reminder of what it would look like when everything got back to normal;
also to our support staff in Nassau and in the U.S. who began the long process of gathering urgently needed goods and resources for the long recovery.
Perhaps most of all, I want to express thanks to the encouraging example set by the many local residents of the Abaco Islands who pulled together as a team, who hugged and helped each other wipe away the tears. As a community, they immediately began the slow and agonizing process of cleaning up and restoring their beautiful Bahamian islands. The stunning crystal clear blue waters and white sandy beaches remain as they continue every day to make Dorian a distant (albeit painful) memory of the capriciousness and power of Mother Nature.
As I finish writing this, we are tracking a Category 1 hurricane headed toward the same area. I hope Mother Nature will be kinder this season.
— Mike
