Fay a good test of Charlotte's new EOC

CHARLOTTE COUNTY - Strong rain and winds blanketed much of Charlotte County Tuesday morning but the conditions were mild enough that emergency officials were preparing to end operations.

Hurricane shelters were scheduled to close by noon, special needs

people were being bused home and Charlotte County Emergency Management

Director Wayne Sallade said he was preparing to deactivate the

county's emergency operations center.

"Everyone should feel a great sense of relief today," Sallade said.

Reports of minor street flooding were begingint to come in Tuesday

morning and Sallade recommended residents stay indoors if possible.

"It's going to be a very blustery, rainy day," he said. "I'm glad we

didn't have 6 year olds at bus stops."

While some may be wondering why there was so much excitement over a

tropical storm that fizzled and limped ashore south of Naples today,

Sallade said the region dodged a bullet.

Had Tropical Storm Fay not stalled over land masses in Cuba, Puerto

Rico and the Florida Keys, it likely would have gained hurricane

strength before slamming into Southwest Florida, he said.

"The number one reason Fay never got her act together was land

interaction," Sallade said. "Another two hours in the Gulf and you

would have had a hurricane."

And with Fay making landfall just 60 miles south of Punta Gorda, it

was prudent to have the entire southern Gulf Coast of Florida on

alert, Sallade said.

"Sixty miles is a near miss in this big world of ours," he said.

In the end, Fay was a good test run for emergency officials and a wake

up call for a region that has not seen a major hurricane in nearly

three years, Sallade said.

"This is a reminder that we're in the tropics and these things happen

as a matter of course," Sallade said. "Be prepared."

In Charlotte County, Fay helped test a new Emergency Management Center

that replaces a building that was damaged by Hurricane Charley in

2004, forcing emergency officials to flee during the height of the

storm.

Sallade said the county's new facilities worked well. Among the useful

new tools, the storm team used a web camera to hold meetings with

officials scattered throughout the county who were making

preparations.

"We waited 14 months, seemingly an eternity, to activate the

building," Sallade said. "Not that we want disastrous events but you

want to find out if it's all going to work when the time comes. First

indications are that everything has performed very well."

While the test run was useful, Sallade said Fay's fizzle out was a

welcome relief for a region still recovering from Charley.

"Last week was four years and we've come so far," Sallade said.

"There's no more of the open wounds and we'd like to keep it that

way."

Fay was expected to drop between two and three inches of rain in

Charlotte County Tuesday, down from a high of eight inches forecast

Monday, but still enough for residents to take precautions, Sallade

said.