Severe Weather Highlights Escambia County’s Emergency Response Procedures

The Escambia County area was impacted by severe weather including a possible tornado this week, which highlighted the importance of the county’s emergency response procedures and community partnerships during natural disasters.

Numerous county departments and partner agencies responded before, during and after the storm, working together to keep the community safe and restore any damage as quickly as possible.

Escambia County was fortunate to have no injuries reported during the severe weather, which hit the area on Wednesday, April 10 and included an EF-1 tornado in Bellview with winds up to 110 miles per hour, according to preliminary information from the National Weather Service.

Three mobile homes and one single family home were damaged by falling trees during the storm, with one incident requiring rescue efforts by Escambia County Fire Rescue due to entrapment. The storm also knocked down a traffic signal at the intersection of Longleaf Drive and Community Drive, which crews were able to restore within approximately 24 hours.

“This severe weather event was a great example of Escambia County Public Safety and Emergency Management working together with our partner agencies to operate and respond efficiently during a natural disaster, large or small,” Public Safety Director Eric Gilmore said. “Everything was mitigated in a timely fashion, so the Emergency Operations Center did what it needed to do as far as pre-planning, having the proper resources ready and available, and responding after the event.”

Escambia County Emergency Management continuously monitors for potential severe weather events, and they began discussions with community partners on Monday to ensure a plan was in place for Wednesday’s severe weather. Emergency Management staff also participated in several calls with the National Weather Service of Mobile and relied on in-house Meteorologist Scottlin Williams to ensure the county had the latest forecast to help guide operational decisions. 

As with any severe weather event, county departments increased staffing levels and on-call staff in preparation, including EMS, Fire Rescue, Emergency Management, Public Works, and Engineering. Escambia County Area Transit was also on standby to transport citizens to the Marie K. Young Wedgewood Community Center, which had been identified as an emergency shelter location if needed.

During the planning process, Emergency Management staff coordinated with the Escambia County School District and supported their decision to close schools early, ensuring that buses would not be transporting students during the height of the severe weather.

No widespread damage was reported in Escambia County, with the primary issue being downed trees and limbs that needed to be cleared from roadways. County Public Works crews worked quickly to clear limbs and debris, particularly near the Longleaf and Community Drive intersection and the hardest hit areas. 

Public Works Director James Higdon said his staff cut trees and cleared limbs until about 9 p.m. the night of the storm, returning the next morning at 6 a.m. to finish the job.

“We stayed all through the storm – we never went home," Higdon said. “I think we were spot on in our response. Everyone functioned well together, and we handled everything we needed to handle to get our roadways clear and safe for our citizens.”

Escambia County Emergency Manager Travis Tompkins emphasized that when it comes to emergency operations, one benefit is the ability to scale the response down or up depending on the severity of the event. More isolated severe weather events such as tornadoes provide an opportunity for Emergency Management to work with community partners to ensure they are as prepared as possible for larger disasters such as hurricanes.

“What it does is it puts everybody on notice that severe weather can happen at any time,” Tompkins said. “We treat a hurricane as just a more extended event. But it’s the same response – it’s just a scalable response.”

Escambia County’s Engineering Department used this storm as an opportunity to ensure that damage assessment protocols and software are working well ahead of hurricane season.

“We treated this like a drill for hurricanes,” said Chris Phillips, Deputy Director of Engineering. “We went out and did some damage assessments and didn’t really find anything that needed immediate attention beyond just a regular rainstorm, but it was a good opportunity for us to prepare for hurricane season.”

The Engineering team also responded quickly to the Longleaf and Community Drive intersection, working with an emergency contractor to install temporary stop signs and restore the traffic signal while Public Works cleared debris from the intersection. The Escambia County Sheriff's Office and Florida Power and Light also responded to the traffic signal outage to provide assistance. 

Throughout the storm, Engineering was able to use software to remotely monitor traffic signals, which Phillips said was instrumental in helping them immediately address any issues.

“From everything I was involved in, we were on top of it almost as it was happening,” Phillips said. “That goes into the remote capabilities and the boots on the ground that Public Safety and the Road Department had out during the event. It was an incredible team effort.” 

For more information about Escambia County Emergency Management, along with important disaster preparedness tips, visit MyEscambia.com/beready.