Looking into the eye of the storm: the town of Port Charlotte, Fla., rallies around parks, and learns some tough lessons after Hurricane Charley strikes.

Picture this scenario: You live in Port Charlotte, Fla. Your home is adjacent to a saltwater canal that flows into Charlotte Harbor and the Gulf of Mexico. Hurricane Charley, a rapidly intensifying storm, is bearing down on you. Your house is seven feet above sea level, but the National Hurricane Center predicts a storm surge of 15-18 feet. What do you do?

I left. At 3:00 a.m. on Aug. 13, I grabbed my wife, pets and family photos, and made a beeline to West Palm Beach on the Atlantic Coast. Then, from the safety of a motel room, we watched the Category 4 hurricane take aim on Charlotte Harbor like an "eight ball heading into the corner pocket." It was a nightmare.

I soon found out that I wasn't dreaming when we made our return to the area. After buying the last generator at West Palm Beach's Home Depot, and stuffing our car with gas cans, bottled water, batteries, and a two-week food supply, we inched our way back to Port Charlotte the following day. It wasn't until we were within five miles of Punta Gorda, across the Peace River from Port Charlotte, that the devastation jumped out at us. It was as if a line had been drawn across the highway.

On the east side was a plush Florida landscape. On the west side was a wasteland of fallen trees, downed power lines and demolished homes. Police cars and fire trucks screamed by us at breakneck speed. Helicopters hovered overhead. We were entering what appeared to be a war zone.

Neither our house nor our neighborhood was the same. Instead of the storm surge, Hurricane Charley's last minute "right turn" sent 140-mile-per-hour winds directly over Charlotte Harbor. The telephone pole in our front yard snapped, and the power line stretched like a clothesline across the lawn and driveway. Two out of three palm trees shading the front of the house toppled over above the roof, and one of them crushed the house's front corner. The peeled back roof allowed water to penetrate the interior. The Florida room overlooking the canal caved in. It was a mess. But at least we were safe, and others had not been so lucky. So instead of counting up the amount repairs would cost, we counted our blessings.

All the While

In the immediate hours after Hurricane Charley, the Charlotte County Emergency Operations Center (EOC) declared a state of disaster, and all public employees' job descriptions were suspended. Everyone had to be ready to do whatever she or he was called upon to help the community.

Laura Kleiss Hoeft, director of Charlotte County Parks, Recreation and Cultural Resources, used what little cell phone capability was left to contact her subordinates. They soon determined the stares of the department's 65 parks and 10 buildings. Half the buildings were destroyed, and the vast majority of parks suffered damage. Nevertheless, within hours, Port Charlotte would be overflowing with thousands of relief workers--police, fire, National Guard, Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA), Red Cross, Salvation Army and more than 8,000 power and light personnel. They all needed to be housed and fed.

FEMA took over the Harold Recreation Center. The National Guard bivouacked at the Charlotte County Sports Complex. Other departmental buildings were converted into shelters and relief centers. County libraries served as communication hubs where displaced residents could communicate via computers with loved ones near and far. Charlotte County's park and recreation professionals quickly assumed the role of "local host committee," facilitating interactions between outsiders and the community's wounded citizenry, especially the elderly and infirm. When bureaucratic red tape proved demoralizing, park and recreation personnel offered advice about how to cut through it. When the magnitude of events overwhelmed people, park and recreation personnel provided solace, encouragement and hugs. When residents could not be found, park and recreation personnel who were closely connected to the community helped locate people, who otherwise might have fallen through the cracks. "Charlotte County's park and recreation professionals wore the hats of community-wide trouble-shooters, problem-solvers, caregivers and crisis counselors," Kleiss Hoeft says.

As days turned into weeks, and power was gradually restored, a sense of normalcy crept back into community life. Attention turned to longer-range problems. Punta Gorda's Charlotte High School was destroyed, and Port Charlotte High School was compromised. Charlotte County Parks and Recreation came to the rescue, and cleared mountains of debris from downed trees and buildings to a holding area, so the athletic teams could practice at the parks, the department also provided day care and after school programs to provide children with safe havens while their parents dealt with the monumental clean up. Kleiss Hoeft says, "Our professional mindset changed from 'this is not what we were hired to do' into 'this is what needs to be done.'"

After the Maelstrom 

When asked about jurisdictional disputes, chain of command issues, or other administrative problems attendant to Hurricane Charley, Kleiss Hoeft is quick to point out that there simply wasn't time for that. The EOC was in charge, and public employees followed orders. Everyone understood the extraordinary circumstances, and serving the public good was the number one priority. Basic human needs trumped everything, and securing food, water, medical care and lodging were paramount.

Exacerbating the stressful situation was the fact that Kleiss Hoeft's own employees, while committed to serving the public good, were also victims of the storm. How best to bolster their morale when they were overworked, exhausted, and worried about their own family's welfare? Kleiss Hoeft managed her employees' time carefully, gave them relief whenever possible, and worked hard to maintain a calm demeanor. Simple pleasures, like coffee and donuts, went a long way.

It was critical for Kleiss Hoeft and her staff to exhibit strong leadership. They had to be a reassuring presence in community life. The Charlotte County Parks, Recreation and Cultural Resources Department took on the function of "rumor control," dispelling wild estimates of lives lost (there were but a handful), and other far-fetched speculations about the storm's disastrous effects.

Hurricane Charley did indeed deliver an awful blow to Charlotte County and its park, recreation and cultural resources department. The damage to the department's infrastructure and natural resources will cost more than $20 million to repair. Hiring freezes are imminent, as Charlotte County struggles to make up for lost revenues, and as the tax base erodes with declining property values. Tough fiscal times are ahead, but Kleiss Hoeft exudes confidence and optimism about her department and community's future. Florida's Gulf Coast is dynamic and growing. When it comes to Hurricane Charley's lasting effects, Kleiss Hoeft concludes, "This, too, will pass."

Lessons Learned

What can we learn from this natural catastrophe that might be of value to other park and recreation professionals? On the top of her list, Kleiss Hoeft emphasizes the importance of mutual aid agreements between park and recreation departments. "One of the remarkable things about the Hurricane Charley recovery effort was how quickly police, fire, and other emergency personnel from across the United States descended upon Charlotte County," she says. "This was possible because of mutual aid agreements between, and among those agencies that existed before the storm. When they were called on, they knew exactly what needed to be done, and they set about doing it immediately." While neighboring counties like Sarasota did indeed direct their park and recreation personnel to assist Charlotte and other nearby counties, communication and coordination was difficult. A statewide pre-existing mutual aid agreement would have benefited the relief effort.

Kleiss Hoeft also underscores the importance of backup communication and power plans. She was lucky to reach her managers and foremen in the first hours after the storm, but she was not as lucky when the power went out and the heat and humidity of a Florida August quickly made their way into Charlotte County's libraries. Within a few days, mold was threatening the libraries' holdings.

Perhaps the greatest lesson learned from Hurricane Charley is how well suited park and recreation professionals are for assisting communities in crisis. For a profession that is so often relegated to the status of a discretionary service provider in every day life, the centrality of Charlotte County Parks, Recreation and Cultural Resources in assisting the EOC, FEMA, National Guard, Red Cross, Salvation Army and legions of other local, regional and national caregivers during this great calamity is powerful testimony to the depth of professional expertise embodied in people like Kleiss Hoeft and her 165 employees. Their extraordinary performance under the most trying of circumstances is something all park and recreation professionals should take pride in.

THE FAST TRACK TO FEMA

If you've never experienced an emergency that would require FEMA assistance, you might be unfamiliar with the process. Here are some things you might need to know:

1. Work that is eligible for federal grant assistance must be classified as either emergency work or permanent work. Emergency work includes reducing or eliminating immediate threats to the general public, such as down power lines, debris, demolition of unsafe collapsed structures, and search and rescue, and must be completed within six months.

Permanent work includes minor repairs and replacement in order to return structures to their original design pre-catastrophe. This work must be completed in 18 months.

2. FEMA will reduce eligible funds if insurance is covering some of the damage. The state will notify insurance companies of entitlements for a facility.

3. Once an agency has submitted an application for funds, they will then meet with a FEMA program representative. Prior to that meeting, agencies should prepare:

* A list of damage sites with a corresponding county map that shows the sites.

* Insurance policies for damaged sites.

* Information about historic sites or those that might have environmental concerns.

4. When hit with a disaster, FEMA will post meetings and briefings on its Web site at www.fema.gov. Agencies can also find application forms and other information about the process.