Sunny Isles Beach Building Inspectors help their Gulf Region Counterparts
By Jeff Maxim, Assistant to City Manager

In light of the recent Hurricane damage south Florida has suffered, it may be easy to forget that roughly two months ago it was not Wilma, but Hurricane Katrina that was foremost in our minds. For many years to come, however, Katrina’s aftermath will continue to affect millions of people who lived in the Gulf region when that storm came through.

Recovering from a storm the likes of Katrina is a massive undertaking, and one of the first steps that needs to be taken is to make an accurate assessment of the damage. Local government officials in the Gulf region found themselves overwhelmed by the enormity of the task, and requested help from outside agencies through a number of professional associations, including the Building Officials Association of Florida.

In response to this request for help, the Sunny Isles Beach Building Department sent two staff members, Ismael Naranjo, Building Inspector, and Clay Parker, Building Official, to assist their counterparts in the Gulf region with structural damage assessment. Both Ismael and Clay have had previous experience in this area, having worked through Hurricane Andrew in 1992. Since most Building Departments in Florida were stretched thin for personnel, the number of inspectors who participated in post-Katrina assessment from this state totaled six, meaning that one out of every three inspectors from Florida who helped in the damage assessment were from Sunny Isles Beach.

Ismael and Clay, as well as another building inspector from North Miami Beach named Steve Pizzillo, were directed to Ocean Springs, Mississippi. This city of approximately 18,000 people lies across the bay from Biloxi, and was one of the areas hardest hit by Katrina. During their week-long stay in the area, the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) housed all three of them in a high school gymnasium with approximately five hundred other emergency workers. The operation was very well organized, but living conditions were spartan; each worker had their own cot to sleep on, as well as access to portable trailers housing shower, kitchen, and laundry facilities.

Upon beginning their work, both Clay and Ismael witnessed scenes of almost total destruction. They estimated that 30-40% of the housing in the area was destroyed, with damage to many houses so severe that the only part of the structure left standing was the concrete slab on which the house was built. Close to the ocean, where a 30-foot storm surge washed overland, there was additional damage to trees and plants, as salt permeated the soil and began to wither and kill the vegetation.

During their time in Ocean Springs, Ismael and Clay were responsible for performing damage assessment on about 2,000 structures. This may seem like a large number for a week-long stay, but because the storm was so powerful and the damage so severe, it was evident without close inspection that many buildings were structurally unsafe and needed to be condemned. In several cases, Clay and Ismael met homeowners who were staying on what was left of their property. Despite the fact that their houses often needed to be condemned and they had lost almost everything they had, these people were generally cooperative and friendly to the building inspectors, and were often willing to tell their stories about the hurricane. One couple, who had decided to remain in their home rather than evacuating, told the inspectors that as the flood waters rose, they retreated to their attic of their two-story home; and when that became flooded, they survived by getting out on their roof and clinging to the branches of an oak tree for the duration of the storm. By the time it was over, their house had been washed 200 feet away from its foundation and their car had been crushed against a tree.

Their story was only one amongst many thousands, and the scope of the human suffering following Katrina is enormous. Both Ismael and Clay volunteered to assist with the recovery process out of a sense of compassion for the residents of the area. They wanted to lend a helping hand, knowing that it will eventually be our turn, and that it may be only a matter of time before we may need to have assistance from the outside. Most of the other members of the Building Department also volunteered to go, and there was a plan to have other inspectors help out with the Katrina recovery, but then Hurricane Wilma hit south Florida and made it imperative that our entire Building Department staff remain on duty here. Clay and Ismael, as well as the entire Building Department, should be commended for their willingness to do their part in lending aid to those in need, and for putting forth their energy and talent to help a devastated region get back on its feet.

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