Volusia County, FL - In response to Hurricane Irma, The Volusia County Council declared a local state of emergency for Volusia at its Thursday meeting, and officials discussed how the County is preparing for the storm.
Jim Judge, Volusia County Emergency Management Director, spoke with the Council to provide updates about the storm, saying that Irma is expected to produce 120-125 mile-per-hour winds over Volusia County, possibly for six hours. He calls it one of the top storms of all time. "The good news is that there's a lot of preparedness taking place out there," says Judge.
County Manager Jim Dinneen went on to speak, saying that the County is still in debt after Hurricane Matthew slammed into the coast of Florida last year and that the County is still waiting for that FEMA money to come in. "That needs to be repaid by FEMA, which we haven't seen dollar one," Dinneen explained. He also said he believes that Irma will be every bit as bad, if not worse, than Matthew.
The County Council later took care of two legislative items in preparation for the hurricane. The Council voted to close off public driving access to County beaches and parks by the end of the day Thursday, and members also agreed to close all County facilities, including libraries, Friday through Monday.
Dinneen recommended evacuations for Volusia County beachside residents, and he said that evacuations would be wise for anyone else in the way of the storm.
Other council members were concerned about the beaches during the storm as well. "We were fortunate in Matthew because our dunes held. Those dunes don't exist anymore. They've been flattened," said Council member Deborah Denys. "Depending on where this comes through with erosion and some of our beach areas, expect a completely different outcome because the dunes have all been flattened."
Other topics that council members discussed related to Irma were the need for the public to listen to any evacuation orders that may be issued, the need for people not to go outside during the lull of the storm, and the need for residents to be cautious when using generators.
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