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Resolution 169-1993 C'II E [i i , j I. ~ ..: . RESOLUTION NO. 169 - 1993 '93 APR 26 P 2 :22 1 ~,- A RESOLUTION OF THE BOARD OF COUNTY COMMISSIONERS~f~ L Ii, MONROE COUNTY, FLORIDA, REQUESTING THE GOVERNOR ~~- ::OUN: ( i i r STATE OF FLORIDA, MONROE COUNTY'S LEGISLATIVE DELEGATION, AS WELL AS FLORIDA'S CONGRESSIONAL DELEGATION TO DO EVERYTHING IN THEIR POWER TO EXECUTE AN INTERSTATE COMPACT AND SPONSOR APPROPRIATE LEGISLATION TO GUARANTEE ACCESS TO CRITICAL RESOURCES, SUCH AS AIRCRAFT FOR MEDICAL EVACUATION, IN ORDER TO PLAN FOR EMERGENCY AND DISASTER RESPONSE ASSOCIATED WITH ANY CATASTROPHIC EVENT. WHEREAS, Monroe County is a small, densely populated chain of islands, all of which have a very low elevation above sea level and this low elevation makes our entire population vulnerable to the effect of a storm surge associated with a major hurricane or similar weather phenomena and this vulnerability is extended to all infrastructure and provision of essential services to such extent as to provide no option in protecting Monroe County residents other than an evacuation to the mainland; and WHEREAS, Monroe County is geographically located in an area which historically has been impacted by such major hurricanes one year in every four and this frequency of hurricanes impacting Monroe County has given cause to the National Hurricane Center to declare Monroe County as that area which has the greatest vulnerability to hurricanes in the United States; and WHEREAS, Monroe County has only one two-lane road over which to evacuate its entire population from the danger presented by the storm surge associated with these major hurricanes and the limitations of this road are such that it takes in excess of thirty hours for all persons that wish to evacuate to a safe area to do so and this length of time is expected to increase as a result of increased public awareness resulting from the impact of hurricane Andrew to Monroe and Dade counties; and WHEREAS, the physical constraints of our transportation network forces Monroe County to declare a state of local emergency and order evacuation of all residents at such time that there is equal probability that Norfolk, Virginia will be impacted by a threatening storm as that of Key West, and this probability, which equals 15-20%, has been calculated by the National Hurricane Center using the full resources of the federal government, the latest technology and satellite tracking systems, and the most sophisticated modeling software available; and WHEREAS, the limitations of this technology are understood by this Board and the National Hurricane Center which has stated that historically hurricane forecasting has improved at a rate of one to two percent, per year, and this rate of improvement suggests that Monroe County will contir~e to necessarily order evacuations of our population with as little as a one in seven likelihood of being affected by any given storm, for several decades; and WHEREAS, most hurricanes historically have passed within the area recognized to be that area in which protective actions are initiated and these protective actions involve extreme physical duress and high levels of anxiety and the effects of these actions are felt by a population of whom 22.2% are over the age of sixty; and WHEREAS, researchers in tropical meteorology have achieved consensus in recognizing that after a relative dearth in hurricane development in the last 25 years, we are again entering an active period and during such an active period, between 1940 and 1950, Florida was struck by nine hurr icanes with winds in excess of 110 miles per hour and in this same period numerous other storms would have necessitated the initiation of protective actions in Monroe County and the effect of these actions would have been felt most severely by our eIder population and the effect felt by this population will be seen in numerous life threatening ailments which are corrunon to persons in this age group; and WHEREAS, this elevated risk is shared by persons in hospitals, nursing homes, adul t congregate living f acili ties, group homes, mental heal th faci.lities, persons receiving home health care, and other persons with special medical needs; and WHEREAS, physical stress, anxiety, and other rigors associated with an overland evacuation will place many of these persons at extreme risk of suffering an adverse medical reaction or death and this risk is such that it becomes imperative to not attempt an evacuation until it is known that a threatening hurricane will affect Monroe County with extreme winds and storm surge and this knowledge will not be available until as late as 24 hours prior to landfall of the storm; and WHEREAS, in many circumstances Monroe County will be encountering conditions approaching those of a tropical storm, 24 hours prior to such storm making landfall in or near Monroe County and these conditions are cause for removal of all hi.gh profile vehicles, including buses, from traffic due to the danger presented to occupants of these vehicles from such conditions; and WHEREAS, the only alternative to exposing such medically unstable or vulnerable persons to such conditions lies in evacuation by aircraft and all corrunercial air carriers have indicated that they have no aircraft capable of transporting bedridden or medically unstable persons and have further refused to consider sending equipment and personnel into an area that has been declared to be in a state of emergency; and WHEREAS, there is no source of aircraft equipped to perform such a mission which can be accessed under the authorities of the Governor of the state of Florida and all sources of such aircraft must be requested through the Office of the Governor; and WHEREAS, the Department of Defense, who is the primary source of all such resources, has been prohibited by the United States Congress from preplanning for, or precorrunitrnent of resources in support of civil authorities for any potential emergency or disaster response; now, therefore, BE IT RESOLVED BY THE BOARD OF COUNTY COMMISSIONERS OF MONROE COUNTY, FLORIDA, as follows: 1. That these are matters of the utmost urgency to the residents of Monroe County and the Monroe County Board of County Conunissioners, 2. That said Board hereby formally requests State of Florida, Monroe County's legislative Florida's Congressional delegation do everything resolution of this long standing crisis in Monroe that the Governor of the delegation, as well as in their power to hasten County. 3. That said Board requests above-mentioned powers to expedite development and execute an Interstate Compact which will guarantee access to critical resources, such as aircraft for medical evacuation, 4. That said Board requests above-mentioned powers to sponsor appropriate legislation which will both lift the restrictions under which the Department of Defense must currently operate and provide direction to assist local and state government in planning for the use of Department of Defense resources in the emergency and disaster response associated with any catastrophic event. 5. That said Board requests above-mentioned powers to work toward assisting Monroe County in developing such solutions prior to the beginning of hurricane season, June 1, 1993, 6. That this Resolution shall become effective immediately upon adoption by the Board and execution by the Presiding Officer and Clerk, PASSED AND ADOPTED by the Board of County Conunissioners of Monroe County, Florida, at a regular meeting of said Board held on the ~ day of Apri 1 , A.D. 1993. Mayor London Mayor Pro Tem Cheal Conunissioner Harvey Conunissioner Freeman Conunissioner Reich yes - ~ ~ ~ ~ BOARD OF COUNTY COMMISSIONERS OF MONROE COUNTY, FLORIDA (Seal) Attest: ~ah.d c A~ Clerk / orm and legal Off ice