- May 7, 2024
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Emergency crews are blocked by fallen trees. Photo by Wayne Grant
As Hurricane Matthew approached, there was talk of a Category 3 hurricane hugging the coast, but the storm veered east, lessening the wind speed in Ormond Beach.
The city has a wind gauge at the police department and another at the airport. The police department gauge showed a sustained wind of 55 mph with gusts of 70 mph. The gauge on the airport tower, which is not blocked by buildings, showed a sustained wind of 60 mph with 80 mph gusts.
Since the storm, the number of medical calls has doubled, as it normally does after a disastrous event.
“It may be the stress getting to people,” Mandarino said.
He said staff was doubled during the storm period. In additional to the regular calls, they responded to many calls of downed power lines and trees, where they would check for any medical emergency and report the problem to the city. There were no calls concerning injuries during the storm.
Crews began clearing the streets so that emergency vehicles can travel through. However, because of the large number of fallen trees, they were still working as of Oct. 11.
Officer Keith Walker, police department spokesman, said the regular calls did not slow down as the storm approached.
“The fighting, stealing and intoxication … that doesn’t stop for a hurricane,” he said.
Before the storm arrived, the police staff was told to take care of their families, because nobody got time off during the storm time period. Emergency staffing started at 6 p.m. Thursday before the hurricane.
There were two reported hurricane-related thefts. Shortly after the storm passed, someone broke into a gas station and stole some merchandise. Also, someone entered a storage facility and broke off all the locks. They won’t know what is missing from the storage lockers until the owners take inventory.
The entire patrol unit was on duty and watched for curfew violators. Traffic also became a problem because of the non-working traffic lights. The rule is that non-working lights must be treated as a four-way stop, but there’s often confusion.
“People need to be very careful about drivers texting and running through these lights,” Walker said.
