Panama City Regulatory Office Ready and Resilient

One year after Hurricane Michael Amanda Parker

Hurricane Michael made landfall in Florida’s Panhandle October 2018, decimating and leveling the region with its hurricane-force winds and rain. It would be the first Category 5 storm to hit the United States since Hurricane Andrew in 1992. Over one year later, Jacksonville District Panama City Permits Section employees are still picking up the pieces after the storm – both at work and at home.

Most of the staff experienced high levels of personal damage and loss. One employee had to relocate twice due to the impacts. There was severe damage to homes, and team members are still working with contractors to repair and replace what was lost. Amid the chaos, the number one priority was employee safety and accountability. Within 24 hours, the office had 100 percent accountability – even

with no cell phones or email communications. “We went to find employees in person and account for their safety,” said Chief, Panama City Permits Section, Andy Kizlauskas. “The good news story is that everyone was safe and accounted for.” The Panama City Office building did not survive the storm. “It looked like a bomb went off,” said biologist Lisa Lovvorn. Over 85 percent of the office building was damaged and uninhabitable. “We did not have a physical location to work out of after the storm,” said Kizlauskas. “We had challenges with getting everything set up, and IT was a large challenge. Our network finally came online in August 2019. We didn’t know when we would get a network back.” Employees used Corps-issued cell phones with hotspot capability until the network functioned again. However, the loss of a building does not mean work stopped for the office. Eight days after the storm, the staff was working within the U.S. Army Corps of Engineer’s Mobile District operations office. Mobile District’s office fared better than the Jacksonville District’s building – although it sustained damage. “It was a huge cooperative effort to get us up and running,” said Kizlauskas. “We had no communication, and cell service was out. We would not have had the ability to work or perform the mission if it had not been for the Mobile District, allowing us to share space.” And carry on the mission is precisely what this brave group of employees did in the face of their own personal adversity. Emergency procedures were in place, and employees were able to issue emergency authorizations for storm recovery work quickly. Twenty-five emergency permit actions were issued. These actions authorized an entire power line rebuild spanning a total of 36 miles, the removal of two very large vessels impeding navigation, debris removal, road rebuilds, emergency actions for Mexico Beach and Tyndall Air Force Base, and several other projects. Also, the office continued to issue its regular permits. Even though employees were pushing out emergency permits, most were dealing with their own aftermath from the storm. “Personal life in town became, and still is, a daily challenge. Over 90 percent of the area was down. There were no gas stations, and there are few open to this day,” said Lovvorn. “Everyone is still trying to rebuild. The daily commute changes depending on road work. Locally it’s still fresh. “Overall, I think that we have all done exceptionally well adapting our daily changes of working, commuting, and rebuilding our lives. Everyone has done a good job of keeping their chin up,” she said. The one emerging theme that resulted from Hurricane Michael is a message of resilience. “The main take-home message is our team’s resiliency and their ability to quickly partner with other districts to demonstrate one Corps moving forward to accomplish the mission,” said Kizlauskas. “We worked with amazing speed to execute permits in light of the personal adversity we all faced because of the storm. “I think folks did a really good job staying positive given the circumstances. Everyone came together as a team. That was huge,” he said. U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, Jacksonville District’s, Panama City office building suffered 85 percent damage due to Hurricane Michael. Photo: Andrew Kizlauskas