AccuWeather speaks with Tampa, Florida, Mayor Jane Castor as she shares the plan to prepare for the 2025 hurricane season.
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00:00Now Tampa is still recovering from back-to-back storms Helene and Milton from 2024. Joining us
00:06now with the latest is Tampa Mayor Jane Castor. Mayor Castor, Tampa was hit hard last year. How's
00:13that recovery going right now? Yes we were. Well we get our debris picked up ahead of schedule
00:20so great coordination here in our community but we do have certain areas you know we got that one
00:27two punch with Helene and Milton and so with Helene we had a number of homes that were flooded and then
00:35with Milton areas that we didn't expect with the stormwater that houses were also flooded. So
00:42long recovery for some of our residents and some of our businesses but the city is up and moving
00:49again. Mayor Castor, what infrastructure upgrades will help protect homes this year? Well some of
00:57the things I'm sure you guys played that video of the aqua fence that was around Tampa General
01:03Hospital that stopped the storm surge from Helene and that's a popular product around the Tampa Bay
01:11region right now so we have a lot of homeowners that are looking at some some protective innovative ideas
01:21that they can they can put into place for this storm season. For us a lot of the focus now is on
01:29addressing our stormwater. With Milton we got the largest amount of rain in a very short period that we've seen in
01:38literally decades in our city so we had a number of homes flooded so we are upgrading our stormwater generators,
01:47pumps, a lot of those efforts that have been in place really since last November.
01:54All right so how is Tampa getting ready for the 2025 hurricane season?
01:59Well we are always ready you know we we implement those best practices that we usually get from going to assist other areas that have been hit by storms.
02:11Unfortunately for us you know we we were hit twice within a little less than two weeks so we had our own lessons learned and our own best practices to be able to implement and so we've made some adjustments with our debris contractors.
02:28We've made some adjustment adjustments with our rapid response centers some things that we just really had to fine-tune although you know if you get hit by one of these hurricanes it as I told previous mayors when I was a fire chief I said nobody we're prepared as we can be but nobody's gonna back up and high-five each other after one of these major events so it's going to be devastation.
02:57And that's what we saw here in our community and we didn't take a direct hit from either storm but man I tell you it knocked us on our knees for a few minutes but we are prepared for this season as always hoping for the best and preparing for the worst.
03:15I believe that well you have been appointed the bipartisan FEMA review council so you're on that team what changes do you want to see in natural disaster response.
03:27Well we you know everybody brings their their resources their skill their abilities to any of these natural or man-made disasters and so at the local level you have to be you're the boots on the ground you have to be prepared to respond and we are in this particular area our state is very well prepared because of the number of hurricanes that that we have we have had come through.
03:55Great relationship with Kevin Guthrie who's the emergency manager at the state level but we also have to count on the federal government.
04:02As I said the state of Florida Tampa Tampa Bay region we're well prepared but there are a lot of states that you know they have no idea what to I won't say no idea what to do but they're ill prepared for an unexpected event.
04:21And so we have to have those federal resources that can come in now everyone will agree that there are efficiencies to be found.
04:31And while FEMA has been incredibly responsive and informative there's always someone to talk to and they always have the answers you know the paperwork the bureaucracy there's so many things that can be streamlined and that's what I'm hoping to see as a result of this this commission that we've put together.
04:53Alright so our last question for you is what is your message to residents and visitors to Tampa for this hurricane season?
05:00My message is what it always is and that is be prepared.
05:05Something that really hit home this past hurricane season was that if you have a Florida driver's license you should have flood insurance.
05:15Alright well that is excellent advice there.
05:19Tampa Mayor Jane Castor thanks so much for joining us again as we get ready for another hurricane season.
05:24We wish you the best everybody there in Tampa.