Hi Mr. harris,
May I quote your remarks (and maybe interview you for more? I am a grad student
and I am collecting info for my project on disaster planning and recovery
(especially pertaining to electronic and digital records)?
I sent out an earlier introduction - I am a USC student.
Thanks,
Peg
803-361-4102
Quoting Gus Harris <[log in to unmask]>:
> Several folks have asked about how we weathered the hurricane...and prepared
> for it...and what recovery efforts we had to make. So I'm posting this
> account to the list for those interested.
>
> First for those who don't know, I'm with The University of West Florida,
> Pensacola, FL. I am the records manager. And Records Management here is
> located in a steel frame, steel roof/exterior warehouse type building. We
> have an "inner office" constructed within this building. The building has
> several doors and a loading dock. It is a very old building...but as well a
> very strong building. We have a micrographics operation within our office
> area (very large office area), and the remainder of the building is an
> inactive records storage facility for hardcopy records. We store
> approximately 4000 cubic feet of records (you can see the inside of our
> building on our website www.uwf.edu/records.
>
> We are located on the perimeter of our campus...actually very near the
> water. But our entire campus is very near the water. The northernmost end
> of Pensacola/Escambia Bay is probably about a mile from where we are
> located. The Escambia River enters the bay very near our campus as well.
> However, our campus (some 1600 acres) sits on land much higher than the
> river, bay area. Adjacent to our RM building is a street which actually
> goes down to a marina/fishing landing at the river. I'd say the marina is
> probably 200 yards down past our building...so we're that close to the river
> area. But again, we're on land that is much higher than the immediate river
> banks, etc. As well, our building is several feet above the existing ground
> level...about 4 feet higher. We've never worried much about flooding...and
> no area on our campus has ever flooded. But to be honest, with the expected
> height of the storm surge from IVAN...I wasn't sure what was going to
> happen. And of course it was even higher than predicted. However, we did
> not get any flooding anywhere on our campus as far as I know...except in our
> fieldhouse which lost most of it's roof.
>
> As far as our prepartion...
> We have a list of hurricane preparation procedures...which we followed. We
> covered all equipment and all of the records stacks with plastic sheeting.
> We removed everything at floor level and placed it higher in case of
> flooding. We unplugged everything. We secured all doors. We backed up
> office computer data and stored the backups in a secure location. We gased
> up our university van and parked it in a secure area next to the
> building...opposite from the direction where the predominant wind would be
> coming from. We printed our list of personnel contact info and took it with
> us. I took all keys to the building with me since I planned on being on
> campus during and immediately after the storm.
>
> And, I was on campus during the storm...all night. I could say I was here
> to protect our records...but that would not necessarily be the truth!
> Actually, a couple of buildings on our campus are used as storm shelters for
> students, faculty and staff...so my family and I rode out the storm in one
> of those buildings. We live very near the campus and it is the best place
> for us to seek shelter. However, because I was on campus the morning
> following the storm...I was immediately able to check on our building, etc.
> And again to be honest I was trying to get out to check on our home
> first...but because roads were blocked by trees and debris...I had to take a
> route that brought me near our building...so I checked it first. Of course
> it took some time to get to our building since trees, debris, etc...was
> everywhere. But when I got there...I saw the building was fine except two
> of our "roll up garage type" doors where blown out of their tracks and
> swaying in the wind. This worried me since I feared water might have blown
> in. It didn't thank goodness...and that was probably because while IVAN
> brought a heck of a storm surge...it didn't drop as much rain as previous
> hurricanes...at least here near landfall. By the way, our campus is
> approximately 30 miles from Gulf Shores, AL where IVAN made landfall...and
> we are to the northeast...so we were in the immediate, northeast quadrant of
> the storm. And for those who saw the footage of the I-10 interstate bridge
> that had sections washed out....that is just minutes from our campus...about
> 6 miles south. But anyway, besides the blown out doors...and some leaves
> and trash being blown inside the building...and of course no power or
> water...well, everything else in the building was fine.
>
> Words can't really describe how the scene looked that morning when I left
> the shelter building and worked my way down to our building. There were
> trees down everywhere...twisted, broken, uprooted...across roads, on
> buildings, etc., etc. And the "view" was strange. Our campus is very
> wooded...and suddenly I could see areas adjacent to the road that I could
> never see before...so many trees down, and the underbrush just blown away.
> It was incredible. And of course that is the way it was, and is now, all
> over the Pensacola area..."new views" due to trees down and underbrush blown
> away. And you've just never seen so many power, phone, cable lines/poles
> and power transformers down and strewn everywhere!
>
> And, as a more personal note... folks I did not expect our home to be
> standing. If you had seen the winds and heard the noises this storm made,
> and saw all the devastation I saw getting out of the campus that
> morning...you would have not thought any home would have been left standing.
> Once I checked on our building and left the campus I proceeded to drive
> toward our home. I couldn't get to it on our street because of downed trees
> and debris. So, I went one block up and came back down to our block. And,
> as I rounded the corner near our home I still couldn't see our house because
> a huge oak tree on the corner was toppled into the street...roots and all.
> And as I got around that oak tree...low and behold our house sat there
> totally untouched...trees down all around...but none on the house and not
> even a shingle missing from the roof. I must admit it was such an emotional
> moment for me that I simply sat there for a few minutes and cried....relief,
> thankfulness, etc...that we still had a home to come back to!
>
> As I mentioned in my initial post about this...our backyard was a disaster
> area...trees down everywhere...and the damage I already described. And of
> course others were not so fortunate. Some homes had trees on them...through
> them...roofs gone...flooded...etc. But in most neighborhoods the fallen
> trees seemed to somehow miss landing on top of the houses. That still seems
> so odd to me...considering how many trees were down from this storm. But,
> any home or stucture along the bay or the beaches was severely damaged or
> totally destroyed.
>
> Just one last note...
> When I got to our RM building that morning and once I checked it out...I
> climbed up on the chain link fence adjacent to our building so I could get a
> look down the road to the fishcamp and marina I mentioned earlier. I could
> see that the water was probably 20 feet higher than normal...and yet still
> not even close to coming up toward our building. But there were boats
> strewn everywhere...big ones, small ones...some in trees...partially
> submerged ones...etc., etc.
>
> Well that's my story... and since we had no major damage to our building the
> recovery process for RM has not been to difficult. However, overall, the
> university had damage to 95% of the buildings...and a few of those were
> heavily damaged. Our fieldhouse lost 70% of it's roof...so offices,
> facilities there have had to be relocated until repairs are done. Despite
> that, I have not found any offices where there was water damage to
> records...so we haven't had that issue to deal with either.
>
> Despite it all...I think most of us have alot to be thankful for...
>
> Gus
> Records Manager
> University of West FL
> Pensacola, FL
> [log in to unmask]
>
> List archives at http://lists.ufl.edu/archives/recmgmt-l.html
> Contact [log in to unmask] for assistance
>
Peggy Cwiakala
University of South Carolina
School of Library & Information Science
List archives at http://lists.ufl.edu/archives/recmgmt-l.html
Contact [log in to unmask] for assistance
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