Space Coast Hurricane Preparedness: Essential Steps for Brevard County HOA and COA Boards

Imagine it’s the middle of August and a tropical system has just passed into the Gulf. The National Hurricane Center has put Brevard County under a hurricane watch. Your association’s board president is fielding panicked calls from residents. Maintenance hasn’t secured the pool furniture yet, and no one can locate the emergency contact number for the access gate vendor.

If this sounds familiar, remember that the most important thing about hurricane preparedness for HOA and COA communities along Florida’s Space Coast is that it can’t be done at the last minute. With barrier islands stretching from Canaveral National Seashore all the way down through Melbourne Beach and an expanse of Indian River Lagoon in the western waters outside those islands, Brevard communities have a hefty storm risk profile.

The good news? Boards can reduce the amount of chaos that they face throughout storm season by planning ahead. They can dramatically reduce their emergency spending, as well as foster greater confidence among homeowners in their association. Let’s discuss what that preparation might look like.

What’s Your Community’s Biggest Threats?

Seasoned community association managers know that storm risks vary depending on a community’s specific location within Brevard County. A high-rise COA along Cocoa Beach has entirely different exposures than a townhome HOA in Viera or villa community in Palm Bay.

For shorefront and barrier island communities such as Satellite Beach, Indian Harbour Beach, and Merritt Island, storm surge is likely the main threat. Every board should be aware of their community’s flood zone, and how that pertains to mandatory evacuation orders. FEMA’s Flood Map Service Center is a helpful tool. The Brevard County Emergency Management office provides flood zone maps to the public, which make it easy for the board to print out copies. These are more accessible than digital links which may not load on mobile devices during emergencies when cell towers are overloaded.

Mainland communities such as West Melbourne or Rockledge should be more concerned about wind and inland flooding than surge. Wind-driven rain breaching aging buildings, stormwater pond spillover, and landscape debris present other threats. Each of these require their own preparations.

Don’t Wait Until June! Pre-Season Checklist

Many board members underestimate the amount of time that proper hurricane preparation requires. The most important of these steps will need to be taken months earlier than when the first named storm appears on the weather report; an insurance review.

Perhaps the most important planning task an association will ever tackle in any given year, an insurance review should be done between March and May. Florida’s property insurance market is notoriously wobbly, and neighborhoods in Brevard County — beachside communities with COAs especially so — feel that volatility more than others. Boards should meet with their insurance agent long before hurricane season to make sure coverage limits are sufficient. They need to know the wind deductible, as it is almost certainly a percentage-based deductible, and not a flat dollar amount for Brevard. They should also check that their current carrier is still financially healthy by checking insurer ratings and insurer market conduct information from the Florida Office of Insurance Regulation.

All the roofers, tree services, and restoration companies within 200 miles are going to sell out after a major storm. That’s why it’s important for boards to establish relationships with licensed, vetted companies in advance through vendor pre-authorization. This will ensure faster response and prevent members from waiting weeks to make crucial repairs as water intrusion exacerbates damage. This is where veteran community management firms add tremendous value; they establish pre-vetted vendor networks and deploy them instantly after a storm.

Florida’s relatively new requirements for Structural Integrity Reserve Studies (especially for COAs) have caused many communities to wrestle with underfunded reserves. An underfunded reserve before hurricane season is a significant governance liability. That’s why a reserve fund assessment is vital. What is the association’s liquidity reserve? Is there an emergency line of credit to dip into? This needs to be a conversation boards engage in with their property management company and association attorney before storm season, not once it has already begun.

Important association documents such as governing documents, insurance policies, vendor contracts, emergency contact lists, and owner information should be kept in a secure cloud-based system that is accessible from anywhere. If the management office is damaged, paper files can be destroyed. Document digitization and storage has become a basic feature of many community management platforms, so if your association’s management company isn’t offering this service, it might be time for a conversation.

Stormwater Ponds: Brevard’s Hidden Hurricane Hazard

The management of stormwater ponds is an essential part of pre-hurricane preparation. Many Brevard HOA boards are caught off-guard by this task. Many of the communities in Brevard — particularly those that were developed from the 1980s onward — have retention ponds that are governed by the St. Johns River Water Management District (SJRWMD). Before a storm, boards should make sure inflow and overflow structures are free of debris, aerators and fountains are secured and functioning properly, and water levels are reduced so heavy rain will not cause overflow.

Invasive plants and algae are prevalent in aquatic systems located in warm, brackish water such as found in Brevard. They can clog up drainage structures and worsen flooding. Active lake management is directly tied to a community’s hurricane resilience.

Board Duties and Discussions

After a storm warning is announced for Brevard County, the board needs to shift its focus to communication and safety. The communication with residents should be transparent, candid, and prompt. Boards should already have communication protocol in place — whether it be a community portal, an email blast system, or text notification service — so that evacuation orders, pool closure notices, and common area lockdown procedures can be announced quickly and uniformly. Residents should be notified about mandatory evacuations by their association.

Pool closings and common area shutdowns should happen before there is a storm, not on the morning that it hits. The management company for the association should have an extremely clear protocol about who authorizes and initiates these shutdowns, and boards should know that protocol well. Pool furniture, grills, signage, and other unsecured common area items become missiles in hurricane-force winds. Announcements should be shared to remind residents to secure such items.

Boards must never, ever direct residents to shelter in place after their zone has been ordered to evacuate. That’s not a decision for the board to make, and the exposure to liability from giving that type of guidance is very real. Instead, they should clearly relay the official Brevard County Emergency Management directives and let residents decide for themselves how best to keep themselves safe.

After the Storm: A Vital 72-Hour Window

The most critical time period that determines an association’s recovery trajectory is arguably within the first 72 hours after a hurricane passes over Brevard County. What happens — or doesn’t happen — in those first days often determines how well and how quickly a community recovers.

Before any cleanup is initiated, the board or its management company should photograph and document every part of storm-damaged common property. Roof damage, fence damage, fallen trees, flooded amenities — everything must be timestamped and recorded before it is traversed. Insurance adjusters need this documentation, and associations that skip this step may end up having difficult claims disputes later.

Begin preparing to file an insurance claim as soon as possible. A large storm event can cause carriers and their adjusters to be overwhelmed. In an ideal world, the association’s community association manager is managing this process directly. Your board should seek professional management support for big property insurance claims.

Contractor solicitation must always be done carefully. In fact, unlicensed contractors will swarm post-hurricane Brevard and prey on desperate boards. Check with the Florida Department of Business and Professional Regulation (DBPR) that all contractors working on association property are licensed and insured.

Establishing a Culture of Preparedness in the Community

The most prepared and reactive hurricane-season associations are those that incorporate it into their governing ethos all year long. This means that a hurricane preparedness plan is reviewed and updated each spring. It means orientation to the plan is a part of onboarding for new board members. It means that the emergency contact list is checked quarterly, not once a year. And it means the community’s management company is taking initiative when it comes to preparedness, and being proactive.

A culture of preparedness is not an option for the Brevard County HOA and COA communities particularly, as they are positioned on one of the most hurricane-hammered coastlines in Florida. This is what responsible community association management looks like.

If your association is located in the Brevard County area and you are looking for professional community management services, Southern States Management Group fulfills all of these criteria. Offering managerial services to statewide communities for 35 years! Known for their stringent vendor selection process and determination to deliver results for local communities, they care for your property as if it were their own. For more information go to ssmgfl.com or contact its staff directly.