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Alert For Fay Considered Good Practice

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By KEVIN WIATROWSKI

The Tampa Tribune

Published: August 20, 2008

NEW PORT RICHEY - In the end, Tropical Storm Fay never made it to Pasco County. But the county's emergency management director said Tuesday the storm offered a good chance to go over emergency routines again.

"It's good to go through the practice," Jim Martin said. "I think everybody learns from it."

With early forecasts predicting Fay's landfall on the southwest coast of the state, county officials on Monday issued a state of emergency, advised evacuation of coastal mobile-home residents and had five shelters ready countywide for residents who needed them

Those shelters never opened as it became apparent Fay would spare Pasco and the Tampa Bay area.

Martin said Monday's activities gave county officials another chance to test new computer systems that will analyze the effects of storms and communication equipment.

Pasco was one of the last counties in the region to move into emergency mode. Martin said that was partly because storm warnings stopped at the Pasco-Pinellas county line.

"We were not in a watch or a warning area, which was different from other counties in our area," Martin said. "We take our time. We're very prudent about that."

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