Now that Hurricane Hermine has passed through Florida and the Mid-Atlantic, it’s a good time to reconsider hurricane response policy at the state level. Veteran Florida reporter Bill Cotterell has another piece on Florida hurricane policy. Here is an excerpt:

Gov. Lawton Chiles, virtually moved to Miami late in his re-election year, when Hurricane Andrew slammed South Florida in 1992.

Chiles, known as “Walkin’ Lawton” for his folksy campaign style of getting out among regular people, landed in Miami before Andrew had completely left the western side of the state. Creation of the cavernous Emergency Operations Center in the Southwood office complex was a spinoff of the Andrew experience, and the Chiles administration later established a secondary command post in Broward County.

To read more about Chiles’ policy on Hurricane Andrew, consult my biography of Lawton Chiles.