Vol. 36, Number 10—October 2004

Year’s Worst-Ever Storms
Don’t Spare Federal Courts

In a six-week period of late summer, five named storms—four hurricanes and a tropical storm—slammed into Southeastern states. Federal courthouses and affiliated offices, and the people who work in them, were not spared.

"Nearly every court building and judicial branch office in each of the Eleventh Circuit's three states (Alabama, Florida and Georgia) was affected—closed sometime during those six weeks," said Circuit Executive Norman Zoller. "Happily, everyone is safe. But it's going to take some time to recover."

The most significant damage was felt in Pensacola, Florida, where Hurricane Ivan hit with 130 mph winds and a storm surge that left the entire downtown area under two to three feet of water.

"The courthouse suffered structural damage to the roof and gutter system, and the court seal fell from the front of the building and landed on the third-floor roof," reported William McCool, clerk of the Northern District of Florida.

"The interior of the building suffered significant water damage on all floors," and power was lost for parts of three days, he added.

But other court facilities in Pensacola experienced greater damage. The probation office was flooded by the tidal surge and declared uninhabitable. Most of the probation and pre-sentence staff were housed temporarily in the courthouse's witness rooms, and expected to move back into their building around November 1. Supervisors worked out of their homes, using laptops.

The bankruptcy court building had broken windows and water damage, and was closed for about two weeks. Bankruptcy court staff worked out of the district court-house's automation training room in the interim.

The district public defenders also became temporary tenants of the courthouse while their office was repaired.

Zoller, whose circuit executive's office in rain-soaked Atlanta served as something of a clearinghouse for storm-related information, said particularly the Middle and Southern Districts of Florida and the Southern District of Alabama were affected by power and water service outages and other disruptions.

"A district chief judge had a tree crash through the roof of his home. Our court librarian in Mobile (Ala.) had severe water damage in her home, affecting walls, floors and the ceiling," Zoller said.

In Florida's sprawling Middle District, Chief Probation Officer Elaine Terenzi said the storms affected offices and staff members in nine different cities: Jacksonville, Ocala, Cocoa, Orlando, Lakeland, Tampa, Sarasota, Fort Myers and Naples. The district stretches from the Georgia border to the Everglades, taking in a geographic area that is home to 55 percent of Florida's population.

"We had officers whose homes were damaged and some whose families were displaced," Terenzi said. "Our staff members were really busy taking care of their families, but some continued to get the critical work done. Everyone has PDAs and many have laptops. Folks worked from their homes and their cars."

Those who were able also helped with hurricane relief efforts by volunteering with the U.S. Marshals emergency response staff, the Red Cross, and by providing critical incident stress management, she added.

Although Terenzi had no power at her home for a few days after one of the storms, she had a wireless phone card for her laptop and had Internet access. When her laptop battery died, she recharged it using a car power converter and her car's cigarette lighter. Many staff members recharged their cell phones in their cars in the same way.

Zoller had high praise for the team effort in the hurricanes' wake. "Local courts, the Administrative Office, and the General Services Administration all responded in a splendid way," he said.