North Florida, and Clay County in particular, was very fortunate when we avoided any major impact from Hurricane Idalia as she passed through our state in late August. While we experienced brief power outages and a small number of downed trees, you need drive only 90 minutes west on I-10 to understand just how fortunate we were. When Idalia struck the Big Bend area as a strong Category 3 hurricane, it left destroyed or flooded homes and businesses in its wake. Decades-old oak trees were twisted and snapped, and downed power lines left entire counties without basic utilities. In the weeks following the storm, large tree trunks still jutted perilously close to the traffic lanes of I-10, and a roadside weigh station became a staging point for fuel trucks and relief stations.

Because the people of Clay County understand how overwhelming it can be to recover from a major storm, seventeen deputies from the Clay County Sheriff’s Office deployed immediately to Taylor County to assist their local agencies with law enforcement duties. In addition to this group, CCSO deployed two dispatchers to the Taylor County 911 Call Center, one deputy to Crystal River as part of the Region 3 All Hazards Incident Management Team (to assist the city government with getting back on its feet rapidly), and Sheriff Michelle Cook deployed to Dixie, Taylor, and Hamilton Counties as a member of the Sheriff’s Association Task Force.

We recently caught up with one of the deputies who deployed to Taylor County to ask him about the experience. Sergeant Mike Punsky, a 36-year veteran of the agency has experienced his fair share of disaster recovery deployments, but, on this day, he shares that the Hurricane Idalia deployment was unique. “We’re always often resources available within a reasonable distance from the storm’s impact. However, because of the vast size and rural makeup of Taylor County, the deputies truly depended on what they brought with them.

When asked about specifics regarding the deployment, Sgt. Punsky explains, “We often start out doing traffic control—obviously traffic lights aren’t working, signs are down, and people are distracted. We take the pressure off of the local law enforcement so that they can respond to more pressing  emergencies. Typically, our roles evolve into more than just traffic control. In this case, we also had to limit access to the damaged homes and businesses in order to prevent looting. A few days into the deployment, we had to prepare a detail for Governor Desantis as he arrived to tour the devastation. No two days were the same.” Sgt. Punsky added, “We also had to get creative with our camping. We have a pretty good setup with our tents, but there were no shower facilities available. One of our guys, Sgt. Maertz, was able to use a fire hose at an abandoned gas station to create a decent shower. It wasn’t fancy, but it did the trick and our team was happy to freshen up after some pretty hot and rough days on the job.  instructed to take enough equipment and supplies to be self-sufficient for at least ten days, but this was the first time that we actually came close to requiring that level of self-sufficiency. The devastation in Taylor County is significant, and the resources—including the Taylor County Sheriff’s Department—are stretched very thin.” Punsky went on to explain that even when counties experience a devastating storm, there are