I have been through a lot of this training as a member of our local medical reserve corp. When we are needed we are deployed. We don’t get into our cars and drive somewhere willy nilly.
So when I saw all this I wanted to make sure I knew exactly what was going on and I asked a friend from FLSARC what the story was.
I was told this:
“Trained responders NEVER self deploy. And Tri-county was trained by AHA in 2013 so they “should” be complying.”
I was also told.
“They are responding to an HSUS request. It is part of the “placement partnership”. The NARSC national coalition is on the ground and assisting at the request of the local agencies. These dogs were already in the shelter system and up for adoption. These are not displaced disaster victims that have not had a chance to reunite yet. The protocol is to clear the shelter of their existing “adoptables” to free up the resources for local flood victims. The placement partner signs paperwork and agrees that they can “handle” the influx without euthanizing any of their current population to make space.”
But the title of the news cast was “Boca Raton Animal Shelter helping rescue dogs from Floods.” Which is really not true.
“Tri-County workers couldn’t make their way into South Carolina because of all the flooding, so they met with other rescue teams halfway, in Georgia. They picked up 26 large-breed dogs that had been in shelters in the Charleston and Columbia areas.
“They went through a lot,” said Kim Spencer, who led the humane society’s rescue. “I can’t even tell you what they were really through. I can’t even imagine. I don’t even want to know, to be honest, because it’s very upsetting.”
Some of the dogs were brought back with red paws and missing fur due to rash from the standing water.
“with all the flooding and getting shifted from here to there and being misplaced in the first place, they’re very, very sad,” Spencer said.
The dogs are currently being treated for their wounds and will be ready for adoption by Tuesday.
Meanwhile, with so many new dogs brought in, there’s hardly any room in the shelter. Dogs that were already there are now in pins in the lobby and cages out back, just to make space.
“We need to clear out our shelter,” Spencer said. “We need get our new arrivals out and into new homes as quickly as possible.”
Which is fine sort of. I understand that. These are dogs that suppose to be in the system. There is no hope of returning them home.
Then someone else told me this:
“They’re picking up animals that have been in the shelters BEFORE the flood. Animals who will be euthanized due to space because of the increase in numbers due the flood. Pawmetto Lifeline in Columbia arranged this and went through the shelters tagging the animals to be pulled. “
This shelter was never flooded.
Then I find this out from a friend and person who has been rescuing goldens since 1984.
“Here are the facts since that you stated Pawmetto Lifelone. 1) Colmbia Shelter Is NOT a high kill shelter. It is state of the art. Adoption Center. Spay Neuter Center. Richland County uses that shelter as we don’t have enough strays to justify another shelter in the area.
Pawmetto Lifeline is an animal rights group. It is a millionaires wife’s pet hobby. It raises millions each year. It talked Richland, Lexington counties with the city of Columbia to donate 1.2 million each to build a no kill shelter. It built fancy building, spay neuter clinic.“
So I’m very confused at this point. If these are dogs as reported by the news that were displaced by the storm why are they not following NIMS protocol? WHy are people saying the shelters were flooded out when they were not? Where did these dogs come from? Why are we importing dogs into an area with a very high euthanasia rate?
Why in the world are they sending dogs to South Florida where we have so many needy dogs and cats that need home? The last time this happened Palm Beach County promised it would never happen again.
I can’t find any recent statistics but in 2011 this is the amount of animals that were euthanized and this was a 19 percent drop.
In the 14 months since Broward County embraced a “no-kill” goal for its animal shelter, 11,900 dogs and cats have been euthanized there. That’s 28 animals a day.
I’m not criticizing you Broward. At least you are cognizant and working on the issues.
I can’t even find the numbers for Miami. I will go back later and see if I can find them.
Who is allowing this? I have no earthy idea.
stay tuned!
I feel terrible for the dogs at the shelter. I feel really terrible if these are dogs that were in a shelter waiting to be euthanized with all the injuries they seem to have. Why if they were in a shelter are they so injured? Why were sent here with these horrible injuries? and how in the world are they going to get better by Tuesday so they can empty the shelter and go get more? These dogs have wounds.
Something doesn’t smell right and remember what John Stewart said.
If you smell something
say something
So I’m just sayin!
Today is Oct 22 and someone sent me this message on facebook.
Almost three weeks post flood, and almost two weeks post the second coming of rain which reflooded areas of SC already devastated. We are officially in recovery. Roads and bridges are being repaired/restored, but getting around in Columbia still presents a challenge… Don’t believe the HSUS propaganda about their help in moving flood displaced pets. The counties they’re patting their backs about were not FEMA designated disaster counties, and the pets they are selling to shelters further north are not flood victims. All of our emergency shelters accepted pets. Displaced pets are being reunited daily with their families thanks to the efforts of rescue groups like Chasing Tails Pet Patrol…
Sea Level Rise in Miami and Politics. Let’s just say no to the “deniers.”
The last election was the first election I participated in a long time. I felt very disenfranchised and I realized how important it was to get people out to vote. I put together a list of clean water candidates because I thought it would bring us together and it did. It did in a way. In a way it didn’t. We really really need to do this all together.
Now we need this more than ever. Miami is floating away.
When Michael Grunwald was here he talked about the tides comes up to his house.
What’s going to happen? What’s going to happen is what has happened. People are going to stick their necks in the sand and its going to get worse and our fellow citizens are in danger. Please go talk to your party and tell them they need to start paying attention to the infrastructure. Even Libertarians believe in infrastructure. What is up with the denying this? What is the end game of that. Are we selling Miami at a good price? Will Miami be on sale if it gets destroyed? Why is no one helping? There has got to be money involved. Why else would all these people deny that the water is rising in Miami?
Texas Republicans have a new policy on climate change: There is no climate change.
While traditionally the state’s GOP has focused on abolishing the Environmental Protection Agency while ignoring climate change, this year’s temporary policy platform is taking it one step further, calling for party members to explicitly dismiss it, too.
“While we all strive to be good stewards of the earth, ‘climate change’ is a political agenda which attempts to control every aspect of our lives. We urge government at all levels to ignore any plea for money to fund global climate change or ‘climate justice’ initiatives,” the platform writes.
So funny I just wrote the above and then I found this. This article is from 2010. Like most things American until we actually feel the pain we’re not interested.
“However! It does seem to me that the right’s climate denialism hasn’t been properly linked to the larger phenomenon of epistemic closure on the right. When Jim Manzi, everyone’s favorite sensible conservative, criticized fellow conservative Mark Levin for peddling intellectually shoddy skeptic arguments in his bestselling book Liberty and Tyranny, Levin went nuts, joined by a half-dozen other NRO writers. How could they not? The very same skeptic talking points in Levin’s book appear in thousands of blogs and comment sections across the interwebs. If they are intellectually bankrupt, a whole lot of people are going to look stupid.”
We are sick of talking points. You put them out. The news picks them up and repeats them over and over until you believe it.
This has got to stop.
“The right’s project over the last 30 years has been to dismantle the post-war liberal consensus by undermining trust in society’s leading institutions. Experts are made elites; their presumption of expertise becomes self-damning. They think they’re better than you. They talk down to you. They don’t respect people like us, real Americans.”
And you thought these people just wanted to keep your taxes lower. I don’t think so
“The decline in trust in institutions has generated fear and uncertainty; where there are fear and uncertainty, there are reactionaries to exploit them. Stress reinforces in-group bias — tribalism, nationalism, and xenophobia. Today’s conservative movement has created a self-contained, hermetically sealed epistemological reality, a closed loop of cable news, talk radio, and email forwards, meant to stoke in-group anxiety and reinforce group identity.
Consider what the Limbaugh/Morano crowd is saying about climate: not only that the world’s scientists and scientific institutions are systematically wrong, but that they are purposefully perpetrating a deception. Virtually all the world’s governments, scientific academies, and media are either in on it or duped by it. The only ones who have pierced the veil and seen the truth are American movement conservatives.”
They don’t care about us. That’s for sure.
I was told recently that one of our State Rep Marylynn Magar said at a forum that with the ten bucks we’re saving on our cell phone tax a small family could treat themselves to a Pizza. Where Marylynn is this ten dollar pizza? What does each child get? Here’s a half a slice honey. Eat it and praise RIck Scott!
Or Gayle Harrell saying that people who are sick can go to free clinics and then those free clinic’s funding was taken away.
Sorry rant.
You get the picture. OUT OF TOUCH WITH REALITY.
So what do we do when the people running are OUT OF TOUCH WITH REALITY? Do we vote for these people even though they are in your party? Don’t we help our own friends that are out of touch with reality?
How about this? How about YOU take control and not let people run who are OUT OF TOUCH WITH REALITY.
So here’s REALITY so you can be IN TOUCH WITH REALITY.
Climate change is here and residing in Miami.
I’m going to post some articles and you can read them. Reading them will put you back in touch with the present and with reality.
Maybe you could send to the people who are running for things like President who live in Miami but have no clue the people will drowning soon and clue them in so they can be IN TOUCH WITH REALITY!
“Climate change is no longer viewed as a future threat round here,” says atmosphere expert Professor Ben Kirtman, of the University of Miami. “It is something that we are having to deal with today.”
Every year, with the coming of high spring and autumn tides, the sea surges up the Florida coast and hits the west side of Miami Beach, which lies on a long, thin island that runs north and south across the water from the city of Miami. The problem is particularly severe in autumn when winds often reach hurricane levels. Tidal surges are turned into walls of seawater that batter Miami Beach’s west coast and sweep into the resort’s storm drains, reversing the flow of water that normally comes down from the streets above. Instead seawater floods up into the gutters of Alton Road, the first main thoroughfare on the western side of Miami Beach, and pours into the street. Then the water surges across the rest of the island.
The effect is calamitous. Shops and houses are inundated; city life is paralyzed; cars are ruined by the corrosive seawater that immerses them. During one recent high spring tide, laundromat owner Eliseo Toussaint watched as slimy green saltwater bubbled up from the gutters. It rapidly filled the street and then blocked his front door. “This never used to happen,” Toussaint told the New York Times. “I’ve owned this place eight years and now it’s all the time.
Today, shop owners keep plastic bags and rubber bands handy to wrap around their feet when they have to get to their cars through rising waters, while householders have found that ground-floor spaces in garages are no longer safe to keep their cars. Only those on higher floors can hope to protect their cars from surging sea waters that corrode and rot the innards of their vehicles.”
Hence the construction work at Alton Road, where $400m is now being spent in an attempt to halt these devastating floods – by improving Miami Beach’s stricken system of drains and sewers. In total, around $1.5bn is to be invested in projects aimed at holding back the rising waters. Few scientists believe the works will have a long-term effect.”
This is from the Rosenstiel School of Marine and Atmospheric Science.
I mean really what do you know? Maybe you should call Rush Limbaugh on the phone.
Call the Rush Limbaugh Show Program Line
Between 12 noon and 3pm Eastern Time: 1-800-282-2882
This is from the Rosenstiel School of Marine and Atmospheric Science.
“The mean sea level has risen noticeably in the Miami and Miami Beach areas just in the past decade. Flooding events are getting more frequent, and some areas flood during particularly high tides now: no rain or storm surge necessary. Perhaps most alarming is that the rate of sea level rise is accelerating.
Diving Into Data
Certified measurements of sea level have been taken at the University of Miami’s Rosenstiel School on Virginia Key since 1996 (Virginia Key is a small island just south of Miami Beach and east of downtown Miami)[1]. Simple linear trends drawn through annual averages of all high tides, low tides, and the mean sea level are shown below, and all three lines are about 3.7″ higher in 2014 than they were in 1996.”
We have a senator in who lives in Miami who apparently can’t even find the time to go to leading academic oceanographic and atmospheric research institutions in the world?
Just say no.
This is the “World Resources Institute.”
Miami-Dade County, Florida has more people living less than 4 feet above sea level than any U.S. state, except Louisiana.
This fact sheet provides information specific to Miami-Dade County, Florida including the local impacts of—and near future vulnerabilities to—sea-level rise and extreme weather events.
Here is Eye on Miami. You have to go and listen to the audio.
Sea level rise in Miami: Dr. Harold Wanless on podcast, “This Can’t Be Happening” … by gimleteye
Harold Wanless, a leading climatologist and geologist based at the University of Miami, returns to the “This Can’t Be Happening!” program after a year to revisit his claim that global warming and sea level rise are going to be much more dramatic than the consensus predictions of the UN Climate Committee, NASA, the National Oceanographic and Atmospheric Administration and other groups. With recent reports of faster melting on Greenland and in both the Eastern and Western Antarctic, Wanless tells host Dave Lindorff we are now facing a catastrophe that could see sea levels rising by more than 20 feet by the end of the century, and perhaps, if methane begins seriously erupting from the Arctic seafloor, even reduced oxygen levels that could threaten mammals, including humans.
Are you sick of me yet?
Here is some video. Excellent and well done and also talks about the Biscayne Aquifer and salt water intrusion. Richard Grosso also in this.
This is here. We cannot have anyone running for President who ignores this. Either address it or we will just say no.
So after I wrote my blog I was wondering if we get sinkholes here in Martin County. Will my house get get sucked up in a hole. Will I be calling 911 saying “I’m in the ground!” Yikes.
I live on a ancient sand dune by the Indian RIver Lagoon. I live on a hill. I expect my house will be water view in about 50 years if we don’t do anything about sea level rise. I picked this area besides being so close to the lagoon, it was on a hill and out of the flood zone.
The largest deposits of rock phosphate in the country are found in Florida. Most of this is in Bone Valley.
Extended systems of underwater caves, sinkholes and springs are found throughout the state and supply most of the water used by residents. The limestone is topped with sandy soils deposited as ancient beaches over millions of years as global sea levels rose and fell. During the last glacial period, lower sea levels and a drier climate revealed a much wider peninsula, largely savanna.
Science
Really incredible explanation on connection between farming and sinkholes and how the aquifers are pumped out and how cavities are left over and then they collapse.
“Sinkholes become more of a problem in areas where sediments that lie above the limestone are mainly clays mixed with sand. Clay causes these sediments, which also range in thickness from 30 to 200 feet, to be cohesive. They are not very permeable to water. In these areas sinkholes are most numerous. They vary in size and may form suddenly. In a few areas of Florida over 200 feet of sediments cover the underlying limestone. These sediments are cohesive because of the clay and layers of limestone they contain. Although there are not many sinkholes in these areas, the ones that occur are deep and wide. These types of sinkholes are referred to as “cover-collapse sinkholes” because cohesive layers of sediment collapse into underground cavities when they form.”
Do we really need to be messing around in the land underneath us?
Do we need to look for oil? DO we need to suck the water out of the earth? Why are we messing with Mother Nature? Do we need to frack?
no. no. no.
We need to find betters ways to preserve or we’ll be the ones sucked down and yelling “I’m the ground!”
Here is a lesson. I’m not sure what grade it’s for but if your 6th graders can understand this stuff perhaps our legislators can.
Coral reefs only grow in shallow, clearsea water (in the photic zone).
Reefs and Sea Level
When sea level is stationary, reefs will grow laterally in a seaward direction as reef sediments accumulate. Over long periods of time reef sediments will accumulate, and the growing pile will buid up in a seaward direction. Over time, this reef material will build broad shoals and platforms just below and near the ocean’s surface. However, if sea level rises and reefs are submerged by deep water, tehy will die. The deep water isolates them form the necessary solar light and warm water conditions they require. Similarly, a drop in sea level could leve them exposed on land.
“The letter was printed on plain white paper in plain black type, and but for its unfamiliar globe logo “Total Safety” and its unsettling message, it was no different from most of the junk mail filling the mailboxes of 30 homes in a rural south Florida area called Golden Gate Estates, east of Naples.
“Dear Sir or Madam,” it read, “Total Safety US, Inc. is currently going around your area gathering information on households for Dan A. Hughes, so we can develop a contingency plan. We need the name of the main contact of the household, the number of people in your household, address and a number where you could be contacted in case of emergency, if you have transportation to evacuate and if you have any special needs in transportation.
With a little research, one of the many perplexed recipients, a retired artist by the name of Jaime Duran, learned that Dan A. Hughes was a Beeville, Texas-based oil outfit and that the company planned on drilling a test well on the pasture alongside his log cabin, less than 1,000 feet from his front porch.
The geological traits that make Florida good for oil exploration might also make it particularly environmentally risky. Andrew Zimmerman, an associate professor in the University of Florida’s geology department, tells Newsweek that the state’s oil is found in cracked, porous limestone formations. This is also the same rock sourcing drinking water. Plus, south Florida already has its share of water problems. In addition to water managers constantly balancing over-wet or over-dry conditions, they are often being caught between the two bad choices of over-drawing from aquifers or dumping fresh water into the ocean. Lake Okeechobee, which is also a major player in the region’s water sources, is another ongoing problem, as the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers has recently diverted polluted water into the St. Lucie and Caloosahatchee Rivers from the lake to prevent its 80-year-old dike from bursting. That has dealt a near deathblow to these rivers’ estuaries, with locals complaining that the lake’s waters containing agricultural chemicals from nearby farms have killed numerous manatees, dolphins, fish and oysters.”
In a worst-case scenario, drilling could have deadly consequences.
Hydrogen sulfide is a gas that smells of eggs but rivals hydrogen cyanide in its potential to kill and is often present in fields with sour crude oil, the kind found in south Florida.
You have to watch and listen to this video! Lets not be the one’s who get sucked into the ground.
ACOE and the Herbert Hoover Dike: We should be up in arms together!
Let’s take a moment to remember when the discharges came back in 2013 and we all went to Phipp’s Park. 7000 of us together in true Solidarity. The day most of us met each other.
That day we all heard this speech from the Indian RiverKeeper Marty Baum.
For many of us this was a call to action. For the people of Clewiston it was a call to flood them and make them float away. Of course, that’s not what Marty said. He didn’t say flood the houses. He said flood the fields and he was referring big sugars ability to keep their water at the exact height needed.
I posted that video of Marty on my old video blog on UVU which was part of WPBT2. I’m not sure what happened to UVU but I posted a lot of content there.
I posted Mark Perry, the video of the march to the locks, and others that got a decent amount of views. Marty’s video got 2400 views which is huge.
After the Sugarland Rally, when the people of Clewiston were accusing us of wanting to flood them I realized that probably every person in Clewiston probably saw that video. There was no explaining to them what the intention was. Their minds were set.
We heard that we HAD to have to discharges to protect the people that live south of the lake. Most of us understand that. That was 2 years ago and many millions of dollars.
Are the people south of lake any safer today than they were then?
. The levee is expected to fail. I know that sounds bad, and it is. FEMA is apparently planning to update flood assessments this summer and redraw flood maps for Palm Beach and Martin counties. These flood maps are expected to be drawn as if the levee around Lake Okeechobee didn’t exist. In other words, they are not counting on the levees to protect against flooding.
2. The Herbert Hoover Dike is in the highest failure category of the Army Corps risk scale. Current efforts are being directed at reducing the risk category, but as it stands (and even after millions of dollars worth of improvements) the levee protecting the area still carries the highest risk classification (DSAC 1) of any dam in the United States.
3. There is no emergency spillway, nor is one planned to be built. There is no good, controlled way to drain off excess water from the lake should a large amount of rain fall in a short amount of time. Lake Okeechobee fills six times faster than it can be drained, and a foot of rainfall would result in 3 to 4 feet of water rise in the lake. Current levees will start to fail when the lake rises above 18.5 feet above mean sea level (it’s at roughly 14 feet currently), and significant levee problems are almost certain to occur when the lake reaches 20 feet over MSL.
“In what appears to be a never-ending task, U.S. Army Corps of Engineers crews in Florida continue working on the outdated Herbert Hoover Dike surrounding Lake Okeechobee — the state’s largest freshwater lake. Since 2007, teams have performed various tasks to reduce the risk of dike failure due to flooding from high water levels.”
Because of the construction methods used in the 1930s, the dike is susceptible to erosion of the earthen embankment,” said John Campbell, public affairs specialist of the Jacksonville District, U.S. Army Corps of Engineers (USACE). “Over the past six years, we have installed a 21.4 mile concrete barrier known as a cutoff wall into the southeast quadrant of the dike. The cutoff wall is designed to reduce seepage and prevent erosion.”
The cutoff wall extends from roughly 6 ft. (1.8 m) from the top of the dike through the foundation to several feet beyond the limestone bedrock, averaging between 60 to 80 ft. (18.3 to 24.4 m) below the crest of the dike. It’s considered crucial to the rehabilitation effort, although is by no means a solution to a complex problem. Despite a multi-million dollar effort by USACE, the dike remains on a national shortlist of unsafe class 1 dams, with a category defined as either “almost certain to fail under normal operations” or at “extreme risk of failure with high fatalities and economic losses.” Campbell said progress has been made, but there is a long way to go.
“The $200 million invested so far made it possible to install the cutoff wall in the southeast quadrant of the dike between Port Mayaca and Belle Glade,” said Campbell.
TWO HUNDRED MILLION DOLLARS and the people are no safer than they were two years ago.
We should be up in arms because as long as this is the case our discharges will never stop.
We should be up in arms together.
I feel like Danny Kaye in this clip.
Here are some photo’s I took from the car as Julie and I whizzed by last weekend.
There was one spot that looked like a giant sand bag. Not a lot of confidence going into hurricane season.
The reason I bring this up is because our campaign to build a reservoir ended with discharges and toxic green algae sightings and it felt like what went around came around and we were back to square one with the ACOE. The people south of the lake are still in grave danger.
Don’t you think that having a reservoir south of the lake would take some pressure off those dikes and help to keep those people safer?
So just a note to the folks out in Clewiston. If you want to be upset with someone be upset with the ACOE and be upset with your bosses at big us sugar corp who are against anything that will keep you safe.
To Our Commissioners in Martin and St Lucie County.
This past Saturday I attended our annual disaster conference. Our area includes Martin County, Port St Lucie County, Okeechobee County and Indian River County. The MRC (Medical Reserve Corp) are volunteers who assist in disasters.
The only county that seemed to have it act together was Indian River County. They have this:
It was suggested you take a photo of yourself with you and your pet so no one can show up and say that your pet is their pet.
meme selfie (you should have your face in the photo)
Do not leave your pets if you have to evacuate. If you go they go!
don’t leave us food source your our only hope!
The number for the Humane Society of Vero Beach and Indian River County is 772-388-5492. Our commissioners can call them and get info on how to set up programs in our county. I bet they would be deee-lighted to come down and show you guys how to do this.
In a storm everything east of Federal Hwy is considered an evacuation zone. That means your veterinarians in that area are in a potential evacuation zone.
We still do not have pet friendly shelters in Martin or St Lucie County.
The Humane Society of the Treasure Coast in Palm City, the county’s first pet shelter, can withstand winds of 140 mph or more and accommodate as many as 200 cats and dogs.
The offering, free for up to five days, is a temporary solution that allows Martin County to comply with a new Federal Emergency Management Agency pet shelter strategy requirement, Holman said.
The county in the meantime is working to provide a similarly secure shelter for pets as well as their owners, Holman said.
It’s 2015- what’s the plan?
We really need a plan especially for our seniors who have pets. We have a lot of people who live by themselves with their dog or cat in substandard housing. What are we going to do to help them?
In Indian River County the first pets they take are the volunteers that work the shelter. HINTHINTHINT
Here is a list of pet friendly shelters for Florida. Plan now. Many of these place require that you pre register. Your pets must be up to date on their vaccinations and you need to bring a crate, food, basically everything your pet will need.
We also need an update list of hotels/motels that accept pets and I am told that some that usually don’t take pets will change their policy during a storm.
After Hurricane Katrina hundreds of pets were displaced. Please make sure your pet has at least a tag with a phone number.
Stormwater management is a big deal and according to the employees of SFWMD they couldn’t even deal with another Issac situation never mind a Katrina Situation. But I’m sure if something bad happens they will do what they always do they will blame it on the ACOE.
It’s time to stop the circle jerk and have assurances that if something bad happens we are not going to float away.
or we could just blame it on Obama like Rick Scott (Who blames the federal government and then when they try to do something good and right for our citizens refuses it.)
Blaming “inaction” by the Army Corps of Engineers for the lake flooding threats and the polluting discharges, Scott called for an immediate influx of federal spending on strengthening the lake’s dike and in backlogged Everglades restoration projects that are supposed to create alternatives for dumping lake water to the east and west
Let’s bring it on home to its deja vu all over again.
Remember this day. The day of Issac. I’ll never forget. I thought I was going to marooned on Floresta. I thought the river was overflowed.. The water was half way up the mailboxes , the ground was caving in on Primavista, Federal was totally flooded. All the news channels were focused on down south and boy did those folks have it bad.
shot the day of issac going north on the Roosevelt bridge
But the SFWMD is pointing their long fingers at everyone else. First, they blame Acreage residents for “building in a swamp, and they deserve what they get.” Well, for the record, The Acreage is not and never was a swamp — at least not before the SFWMD came onto the scene. The vast majority of land in The Acreage is scrub land, not swamp land. Pine trees don’t grow in swamps.
Now, more recently, the SFWMD is blaming Gov. Rick Scott for the flooding. They claim that he cut their funding, which somehow caused the canals not to work right. But Rick Scott has been governor for only a few years. Why hasn’t the SFWMD fixed the canals previously? So basically, the SFWMD can try blaming others for their negligence, but ultimately, the flooding was all their fault — not the Indian Trail Improvement District, not the Acme Improvement District, not Rick Scott, not Isaac, not Santa Claus and not anyone but the management of SFWMD.
OK place to work, but VERY political environment. ”
Current Employee – Senior Real Estate Professional in West Palm Beach, FL
I have been working at South Florida Water Management District full-time (More than 10 years)
Recommends
Positive Outlook
Pros
Benefits such as health insurance, vacation leave, sick leave and holidays are all very good. The work itself is fulfilling. Central Palm Beach County, Florida location is good.
Cons
Three words – Political, Political, Political. The SFWMD is dictated by the Governor, and it was never so bad as now. Since the new governor came into office four years ago, the organization has become mediocre (versus the envy of the world) and the employees have lost numerous benefits including paid vacation accrual, holidays, educational reimbursements, leave buyout at termination and a much weakened defined benefit program.
Advice to Management
Do the right thing regardless of what the state politicos want you to do. Make efforts to regain trust and loyalty of your employees.
I worked at South Florida Water Management District full-time (More than 10 years)
Recommends
Neutral Outlook
Pros
Great benefits, however getting worse with the current political agendas. Great work life balance and investing opportunities. For an agency of the State, they provide a semi-competitive salary. Excellent computer technology and top of the line systems. Better than even some large private companies, this organization attempts to provide the best tools to it’s employees in order to be more efficient.
Cons
After the reorganization, moral has dwindled. Benefits continue to be cut, and the agency is headed toward being run like a state agency. Highly political. Decisions often made contradict laws and rules of Florida.
Advice to Management
Don’t lose the “family” feeling by beating up employees just to satisfy the Governor.
I have been working at South Florida Water Management District full-time (More than 10 years)
Doesn’t Recommend
Negative Outlook
Pros
The work has the potential to be very fulfilling and meaningful. Above average benefits.
Cons
Working for a governor and state legislator who think government employees are akin to welfare cheats. Pay is below the market rate (and that’s OK) – but now no raises for 7 years, people who are working at higher levels still aren’t getting promoted, and work that is supposed to be getting done, isn’t because the staffing has been cut back too far.
Advice to Management
Pray for no catastrophe because you won’t be able to deal with one. No enough of the right (trained) staff and funds.
Yikes. Not what you want to be reading right before Hurricane Season.
“OKEECHOBEE—During eminent domain trial proceedings Wednesday, surveyors from the South Florida Water Management District (SFWMD) admitted that property the district is trying to take was never surveyed.
The district is trying to acquire over 300 acres along the Kissimmee River in northern Okeechobee County that belongs to members of the Luna family. The district now says the property is needed for the Kissimmee River Restoration Project.
“The family is willing to grant them easements, that’s all they (SFWMD) need,” said Mr. Wright.
But instead of taking easements, the district is also wanting to take approximately 263 acres in fee simple. This means the SFWMD would then own that property outright and could do whatever it wants with the land.”
As we can see SFWMD is not the happiest place on earth. Not only have they screwed up but somehow they have made what was a non partisan issue partisan. All this time we have been going there they just told us they couldn’t do what we asked but they never said “We think we have a better idea.” Why? Because they don’t. They apparently don’t believe in sea level rise, or salt water intrusion, or in CERP that was suppose to be a water storage project south of the lake, or the fact that Everglades are dying, and wells in south florida are filling up with salt water. They are full speed ahead to privatize our water. Stay tuned to a water bill near you.
Hurricane season is around the corner for us folks here in Florida. There are plenty of other disasters to go around. Floods, earthquakes, tornadoes. Hopefully you’ll never need but like our Medical Reserve, its there if you need it.
You may need to survive on your own after an emergency. This means having your own food, water and other supplies in sufficient quantity to last for at least 72 hours. Local officials and relief workers will be on the scene after a disaster but they cannot reach everyone immediately. You could get help in hours or it might take days. Yes, it can take days. After one of the hurricanes it took two weeks for our electricity to go back on in our neighborhood.
Copies of your important documents in a waterproof and portable container (insurance cards, birth certificates, deeds, photo IDs, proof of address, etc.)
Extra set of car and house keys
Credit and ATM cards and cash, especially in small denominations. We recommend you keep at least $50-$100 on hand.
Bottled water and nonperishable food, such as energy or granola bars
Flashlight Note: Traditional flashlight bulbs have limited lifespans. Light Emitting Diode (LED) flashlights, however, are more durable and last up to 10 times longer than traditional bulbs.
Contact and meeting place information for your household, and a small regional map
Child care supplies or other special care items
Lightweight raingear and Mylar blanket
One more tip. Before the storm or even right now make a video of your house so just in case it gets blown away you have something to show the insurance guy. One year I did this for my friends. Now we all have phone and clouds and ways to store video and it’s very easy to do.
Now if your a true survivalist our list is the basic list but they get a little more detailed.
You should always keep an emergency water supply in your home. FEMA recommends keeping enough water for every person for three days. If you have the room to store it, and you are going to go through the exercise of preparing an emergency water supply, why not make it 6 days ? 1 gallon of fresh water per person per day. The easiest way to do it: Go to the store and buy 6 sealed gallons of drinking water for every person in your home.
The only problem with gallon containers is possible contamination of the entire gallon after it is opened. For this reason a better option is to buy 2 cases of 24 16oz bottles of drinking water for each person.
1 gallon = 128 oz. That equates to 8 16oz bottles. So to have an adequate emergency water supply for 6 days will require 2 cases of bottled water for each person. Keeping the water in individual 16oz bottles greatly reduces the risk of contamination.
Hope you found this helpful. At the end of hurricane season is when we start collecting food for the food bank. So buy something good and hopefully you can donate it after Hurricane Season is over.
What’s your suggestion. What would you put in your go bag. With so many lists lets make one for ourselves. What’s the most important item that you think should go in the bag?
cyndi lenz 