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FEATURE | ||
Back to Facility Manager
Contents |
when Public Facilities become Safe Havens When throngs of people hunker down for the duration of a deadly hurricane to escape potentially killing winds, storm surges and food and water contamination, public facilities such as stadiums, coliseums and civic centers can be called upon to reinvent themselves as shelters. That was the situation in which several facilities found themselves recently when six hurricanes and numerous tropical depressions and storms pelted the southeastern American coastline over three months’ time. In mid-September, Hurricane Ivan, the fifth hurricane of the 2004 Atlantic hurricane season, howled and growled its way onto land between Mobile, Alabama and Pensacola, Florida. The Category 4 bully — with wind gusts of 100 miles per hour and hurricane force winds affecting an area more than 100 miles wide as it came ashore – followed Hurricanes Alex, Charley, Danielle and Frances, storms that had already brought devastation, death and property damage in the millions of dollars to that part of the country. (Jeanne was still yet to come.)
While tons of sheet metal and pieces of buildings were being hurled through the air, the exterior of the Civic Center was literally sandblasted by flying debris, according to Cyndee Pennington, the facility’s manager. Inside the building — in dressing rooms, bathrooms and conference rooms — 2,000 civilians and 450 military personnel sought safe haven from the storm. Establishing and maintaining security during such events is critical. When the power went out at the Civic Center, “Navy personnel already in the building went into action immediately — securing entrances and exits and helping with crowd control, says Aaron. Bill Holmes, executive director of the Mississippi Coast Coliseum and Convention Center in Biloxi, Mississippi says, “Though the Coliseum was not in the storm’s direct path, it still housed 50-75 people during Ivan. In a situation in which there is a diversity of individuals, personalities, cultures and languages, emotions are high and tempers can be short. So early on, I try to identify the leaders in each group and ask them to help us keep everyone safe. Holmes, like most of his peers, sees it as his civic duty to be at the facility while it is being used as a shelter. “I serve my community. That’s why I stay. On September 17, Ivan stalked the northeast, merging the slow moving remnants of Ivan and a Canadian cold front. Ivan was reborn as a tropical storm. And while few if any public facilities were ever intended to serve as shelters, “It is just natural that during times of strong winds or heavy floods that citizens will seek out the biggest, most structurally sound buildings in the area, says Bob Howard, general manager, Bryce Jordan Center, Penn State University, State College, Pennsylvania. “While our facility is a designated emergency shelter, we didn’t have to use it as such for Ivan. The building did sustain damage though. “There was heavy, heavy rain, widespread flooding, and about $25,000 in damages to the building, says Howard. “Most of our facility is domed but the damaged area had a flat roof. The expansion joints filled with water and, consequently, the ceiling tiles fell off and carpeting, furniture and wallpaper were ruined. In the scheme of things, though, our damages were minimal compared to those that other venues suffered. And we were fortunate that it happened at night — and on a Friday night at that — because we had all weekend to work on repairs.
The Louisiana Superdome in New Orleans, “has served as a ‘refuge of last resort’ when an evacuation has been ordered, a curfew is in effect, a major storm is imminent, and people who have no viable means of transportation to leave the city literally have no place to go, says Doug Thornton, Superdome general manager. During Ivan, it housed around 1,400 people including civilians, medical staff, facility staff, National Guard and 20 special needs patients who were too frail for transport. Hurricane Georges in 1998, however, was another story. At that time the Superdome had 14,000 evacuees including 25 special needs patients. “The Superdome was opened only because of the dire need in the face of an impending major hurricane, says Thornton. “Both storms narrowly missed New Orleans and fortunately, the evacuees were in the building for only a short period of time — two nights for Georges and one for Ivan. Getting enough food to the hundreds of people at a shelter is imperative. The kitchen in the Pensacola Civic Center was contaminated so there could be no food preparation, says Pennington. “The Red Cross and the United Way delivered MREs — Meals Ready to Eat and churches outside the area sent food. At one point we had 400 loaves of bread and hundreds of school-sized cartons of milk. At the Superdome, the Sheriff’s Department provided spaghetti and hot cereal on Wednesday, September 15th, and the following day, Catholic Charities made available oatmeal bars, chips, orange juice, snack-size pudding and 8,000 cheese crackers. In Biloxi, says Holmes, the Red Cross was able to set up food trucks. Planning ahead is probably the single most important thing that facility managers can do, these storm survivors say. “It’s a year-round kind of checklist, says Holmes. “In Biloxi, we monitor the support systems we have in place. Do we have enough emergency radios, water and ice? Are the flashlights ready to go and is the emergency generator topped off with fuel? It’s important to know what insurance policies you need before an emergency strikes too. “We are self supporting, says Holmes. “We do not receive funds from the city, the county, or the state so we need to be on the front end of recovering damages.
Should a major disaster strike your city, says Thornton, “it’s best to be prepared — even if you aren’t a designated shelter. You may be called upon to provide safe harbor for an unknown number of people for an undetermined period of time. The Superdome’s questions-to-answer-list runs something like this:
(At Pensacola’s Saenger Theatre, general manager Doug Lee says long term event planning must be taken into account as well as immediate cancellation or postponement of events. “After storms like we’ve had, people are not going to be spending as much money on top tier entertainment like the symphony, opera or Broadway productions. We are currently looking for other productions that will not be as expensive to the patron for the following year. ) While the destruction of property can’t be stopped, it is impossible to hold back the flow of human compassion and “can-do attitudes, says Aaron. “We still get emotional just thinking about how everyone came together and worked as a team before, during and after Ivan. It is awesome to witness the human spirit at work. Gay Elliott McFarland is a freelance writer in Houston, TX. |
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© 2002-2004 International Association of Assembly Managers 635 Fritz Dr. Coppell, TX 75019 USA Phone: 972/906-7441 Fax: 972/906-7418 |
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At
the Pensacola (Florida) Civic Center, Ivan wrenched roof vents from
their sockets and catapulted them to the ground with such force they
sounded like bombs exploding, says Sandie Aaron, regional general
manager for SMG (a private management company that manages 170 public
facilities across the country including the Civic Center and the
Louisiana Superdome). 
The
facility had a large meeting planned for the following morning and a
football game that evening — which, thanks to the maintenance crew, went
on as scheduled, Howard says. “There’s no way to stop the weather from
coming and certainly we have been on the tail end of storms before. We did
not, however, expect it to be as bad as it was. 
The
Pensacola Civic Center, though damaged, was up and running in four days,
says Pennington, largely because of good planning. “We had all the FEMA
guidelines in place so that, very quickly, we could utilize the resources
we had within the SMG family. We could tell them what the damages were and
they were able to send contractors out almost immediately. 