HomeMy Public PortalAboutSeptember 22, 2004Town of Gulf Stream
Hurricane Frances Newsletter
September 22, 2004
Dear Resident,
As you know, much of Florida, including Gulf Stream, was severely damaged on September
3, 2004 by Hurricane Frances. Our homes and buildings escaped substantial structural and
water damage but many of our beautiful trees and shrubs were either damaged or destroyed by
the intense, continual winds and pounding rain. The debris seemed to be everywhere and no
area in town was exempt. Fortunately, the Town Commission had arranged, through a 1999
existing contract, to have heavy equipment and transporting dump trucks immediately
available after any such event. Because of that planning and foresight, the majority of the
debris was removed from our roadways by Noon September 16, 2004. Residents are
responsible to arrange for the disposal of debris from their private property that may already
be at the curbside. Please contact Waste Management at (561) 278-1717 to arrange for the
pick-up.
During the worst of the storm, and for almost 72 continuous hours, all Police Personnel and
the Town Manager remained in Town. During this time a high police presence was
implemented to make sure that properties were secured and protected. We received over 12
inches of rain in a very short time but there was no evidence of flooding. The storm drains
were kept clear of debris allowing our newly installed submersible pumps to discharge the
huge volumes of water. Our generator performed exactly as designed providing power to the
pumps that prevented the flooding which was inevitable. The electricity was out for an
extended period. Much of this was due to tree limbs falling across wires. FP&L will, in the
future, be more aggressive in trimming trees on their easements. Residents may want to "cut
back" before FP&L comes through in order to avoid a "butchering" effect.
After assessing our performance and the Town's Hurricane Preparedness Procedures, a
recommendation was presented to and approved by the Town Commission to establish our
own automated information and notification system. This system, although somewhat
expensive, would deliver town prepared messages to each resident's home telephone.
Justification for this expenditure became obvious as our messages and status reports, provided
to Palm Beach County Emergency Operation Center (EOC), prior to, during and after the
hurricane, were not being disseminated to the local newscasters.
The Town Commission will continue to review information and recommendations from the
Police Department, the staff and our residents to determine what other changes could be
implemented to provide the highest level of protection. Hopefully, we will not face anything
like this again. However, we can consider ourselves very fortunate that the hurricane was not
as severe as what has devastated many of our Florida neighbors.
Finally, a special note of appreciation is given to all of our employees. Their hard work and
"team effort" was evident throughout the entire process.
On Behalf of the Town Commission and Staff,
L,S _ " `
r6ili. F. och, Jr. ��