Recap: Enhancing Disaster Preparedness and Response in Florida’s Water Sector

In this session, Kevin Carter, former Assistant Director of Broward County Water and Wastewater Services and past Chair of Florida Water/Wastewater Agency Response Network (FlaWARN), shared how Florida’s water utilities coordinate emergency response through mutual aid groups, such as FlaWARN.

Created after the 2004 hurricane season, FlaWARN enables utilities to share personnel, equipment, and expertise to restore critical services. While built on a formal Mutual Aid Agreement, Kevin shared that its effectiveness is ultimately determined by the teams willingness to deploy quickly and work under difficult conditions to support impacted communities.

Kevin outlined how response efforts begin before landfall, and highlighted the importance of early coordination across local, state, and federal partners. He explained how a centralized response effort provides real-time visibility into resource needs to ensure support is deployed efficiently. Recent storms like Hurricanes Ian and Milton highlight the scale of these efforts and the central challenge of flooding, which often leaves water and wastewater systems inoperable. Kevin explained that in most cases, FlaWARN focuses on quickly stabilizing systems and restoring service.

As disasters grow more frequent, Kevin emphasized the need for continued investment in training, technology, and cross-sector coordination. FlaWARN demonstrates how a well-prepared network can help communities recover faster by delivering the right resources where they are needed most.

The webinar recording can be viewed below, and the slides can be viewed here.

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