Technology Meets Preparedness

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GRAND BAHAMA, BAHAMAS – Learning from Hurricane Dorian, Grand Bahama Port Authority officials say that for this hurricane season the focus is on speed, efficiency, and digital readiness.

Troy Mcintosh – Deputy Director of Building & Development Services, GBPA

Mcintosh is the man at the center of Freeport’s storm readiness plan, and he expresses that:

“The first thing is to make sure we have a list of providers that are current…their numbers, and their business dealings and what they do….Whether we need truckers … Whatever it is …We want to make sure they are still in operation,” Mcintosh says.

To stay prepared, Mcintosh is making moves before the first warning appears.

He says the biggest lesson from past storms, especially Dorian, is the value of acting fast.

In addition, “the second thing is to make sure that tools that we use are working,” he says.

Among those tools? A major upgrade from pen and paper to digital tracking, using geographic information system technology.

“…We go and we collect the data, come back, upload the data, and then we can correlate with all of our service providers very quickly and efficiently…which then lends to, for what they do, a turnaround in terms of restoration of power,” Mcintosh says.

Furthermore, even the city signage is mapped out in advance.

“If we were to lose all the signs in our city, we know how many signs were in those subdivisions…we do the assessment and then we could say, hey, for subdivision a, we need 300 signs.”

“If we don’t have it in stock, we know what we need to order…it took a lot of guessing out of the equation,” he said.

When it comes to storm surge, technology is helping to get ahead of the worst-case scenarios.

“We have tools to be able to project impact, we had it then, and we still have it now,” Mcintosh says.

In partnership with the Meteorology department, Mcintosh says they can project which neighborhoods would be hardest hit by flooding, even before the first drop of rain.

“…So now what that does in advance is…[to advise] persons, perhaps put the information out and say hey, you are in a low-lying area, you’re going to be impacted severely,” he says.

While the skies over Grand Bahama remain clear for now, the port authority’s message is simple, don’t wait to prepare.