Seminole officials talk prep ahead of hurricane season

SANFORD, Fla. — As the 2023 hurricane season begins this week, some in Seminole County are remembering the historic damage they have experienced as they prepare for future storms.

County officials say Hurricane Ian caused catastrophic flooding in various parts of the county, causing estimated damage of more than $340 million.

Joe Dalton, managing partner at Executive Cigar Lounge in Sanford, has lived in the Sanford area since 1979 and owns a business in front of Lake Monroe.

When hurricane Ian caused water levels to rise, he says his business nearly flooded last year.

For two months, he says the loss of parking spots caused him to lose business.

He says the sidewalk flooded and his patio too.

"It was definitely a business impact," said Dalton. "Once the water subsides, the amount of debris that's left and all the organisms that are dead within that debris, so then you have the smell."

Seminole County Emergency Manager Alan Harris said that since Hurricane Ian's historic floods, there have been several enhancements put in place in preparation for future storms.

"First response, specialty teams, oxygen generators all of these things have been done since Hurricane Ian," said Harris.

He said the county is continuing to implement storm water and water mitigation projects, and is working on continuous supply chain issues.

As hurricane season starts, Harris said similar flooding is extremely unlikely, but still remains a possibility. He said county officials are looking at the risk to determine what needs to be done.

"Whether that's sandbags, whether that means we need to open up multiple shelters, whether we need to make sure our special need clients have additional oxygen," said Harris.

This year, Seminole County purchased an oxygen generator so they don't have to rely on a provider in emergency situations.

Harris said Seminole County is one of two counties in the state of Florida that have an oxygen generator.

On Tuesday, the Seminole County Office Of Emergency Management also ran through a shelter exercise at an evacuation shelter trying to get ahead of hurricane season.

Wednesday at 10:30 a.m., Seminole County is having an exercise with county staff to go through a hurricane simulation in the county's Emergency Operations Center.