Treasure Islands officials meet to talk about lessons learned after back-to-back hurricanes
TREASURE ISLAND, Fla. (WFLA) — The city of Treasure Island has prepared an after-action report, showing what might have been done better before devastating back-to-back hurricanes.
City Fire Chief Trip Barrs said during the first storm, only about an estimated 30% of city residents evacuated, despite repeated warnings.
'We actually went through neighborhoods on PA systems, we had our public information officer giving out warnings,' said Barrs.
Sadly, some people died in Treasure Island during Hurricane Helene as a result of the storm surge.
'We had four fatalities during Hurricane Helene, they were all water-related. There comes a point where we can not come and get you, once you realize you made a bad decision,' said Barrs.The city also learned that its own aging buildings were not constructed to survive major hurricanes.
Fire stations, built in the 60s, will have to be replaced.
'We lost everything. We got inundated with three and a half feet of water in our police and fire stations. So, we are going to rebuild. We are in the process of selecting an architect now and of course it will be outside the flood plane,' said Barrs.
The Treasure Island City Council will meet Tuesday night to discuss the after-action reports and to talk about what can be done better during the next hurricane season.
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