Even before Hurricane Ian was anywhere near the Florida Keys, the US Coast Guard Sector Key West was on alert.
Captain Jason Ingram, Commander of the US Coast Guard Sector Key West, joined Good Morning Keys on KeysTalk 96.9/102.5Fm this morning to talk about Coast Guard efforts during the hurricane.
Prior to the storm even getting close to the area, preparations were taking place.
Captain Ingram said, “The first thing we do is work with our weather field office in tracking the storm.”
The team then secured the base by picking up or tying down any loose objects.
Captain Ingram continued, “Our cutters, a larger ship if it sits on the pier, it just gets beat up. The best place for a ship is out to sea where she can ride a whole lot better. So we took our ships and we put them to sea. They sailed down towards the old Bahama Channel to get well out of the way of the storm’s path and then as soon as the storm passes, they come right back up, addressing our search and rescue concerns.”
All small trailer-able boats were taken to buildings where they will be safe through the storm. If they couldn’t be housed, they were taken away from the storm as well.
Captain Ingram said, “That leaves only our 45-foot response boats down here. These are our jet drive boats that are really fast. We kept the ones in Marathon and the ones in Islamorada in the water due to the storm track that we had. When Ian got closer, we were concerned with flooding down here in the Keys which we did see a lot of ocean-side flooding and then some bay-side flooding. We went ahead and ran the 45’s from Key West up to Marathon and let them weather the storm up that way.”
As soon as the storm had passed, they were brought right back to Key West.
The radios were shifted up to Miami on the off chance that power might have been lost, so communications wouldn’t be gone.
Everything is back to normal now.
The Coasts Guard advised people in live-aboards to come inland during storms and secure the boats as best as possible.
Captain Ingram said, “We had several of the sail boats and live-aboards that unfortunately broke free from their moorings and ended up on some of the islands down here, throughout the Keys. It’s not a good place to be for the storm when it passes to be out there, especially on a boat.”
A couple on a 32-foot carver stayed during Ian and the Coast Guard had contact with them at the heart of the storm, but haven’t heard from them since. They are still missing.
Also, a group of 27 migrants left Cuba before the storm and by Tuesday, the boat had capsized and all the people in went into the water. The following morning, four of the migrants swam to shore in Monroe County.
The survivors believed they were 20 miles off shore.
Captain Ingram said, “That is a very long distance to swim in some really nasty conditions during Hurricane Ian. They also said that they could see lights so it leads me to believe they were a little closer than they thought of the 20 miles.”
Nine people have been recovered alive. Five have been recovered deceased. Thirteen remain missing and are presumed lost at sea.
Captain Ingram said, “This is truly the worst case scenario for us. This is a migrant voyage right into the path of the storm. We just can’t insure the safety of those individuals coming, especially when they’re coming across into a hurricane.”
The Coast Guard is hard at work in Fort Myers, too.
Captain Ingram said, “We looked at it initially and because we had storm impacts down here in the Keys, we did not send members up that way. They had additional Coasties and other services supporting that forwarded members from the north that were not impacted from the storm to help out.”
This will not be the last hurricane the Keys will see.
Captain Ingram said, “We are in the heart of the hurricane season. We still have some storms that are rolling off of Africa that potentially could impact the Keys and/or south Florida. So first and foremost, don’t let your guard down. When you’ve seen one hurricane, you’ve only seen one hurricane. The next one is definitely going to be different and you have to be ready for that.”
For people who live on the water, getting your boat out of the water is the best option.
If you can’t get it out of the water, then ideally it’s better to move it out of harm’s way.
If you can’t move it, make sure you’ve set more than one anchor. Make sure the lines are tight.
Captain Ingram said, “Don’t forget everybody up in the Fort Myers, St Pete area. They really took a hit. If you’ve got people, family that you know up there, reach out and try to help out where you can.”