- December 4, 2025
Flagler County has launched a new survey as part of its emergency preparedness this hurricane season, asking business owners about their emergency preparedness process.
The survey is 15 questions, a mix of multiple choice answer and written response, that asks business owners how they prepared for emergencies and how their local governments can help with disaster preparedness. In 2023, Flagler County sustained had almost $19 million in private property damage from Hurricane Milton, to residences and businesses alike.
The survey opened on July 18 and will remain open until Aug. 17. Responses are anonymous and the link to the survey – forms.office.com/g/wqT35sfbEv – is available on Flagler County Emergency Management’s Facebook page.
In an email from Emergency Management Director Jonathan Lord, he wrote the purpose of the survey is to better understand what local businesses need before, during and after disasters to help improve Flagler County’s outreach and resources.
The Emergency Management Department has also partnered with the Palm Coast-Flagler Regional Chamber of Commerce to help spread the survey to local business owners. Chamber President John Phillips said a partnership between the two organizations first came up when he was touring the Emergency Management building.
“They were doing some research, trying to enhance their preparedness for business and folks in the community,” Phillips said. “And they asked if the chamber could help them. And I said, I'd be happy to do it.”
For the moment, the Chamber is helping disseminate the survey, spreading the word and encouraging business owners to fill it out.
“We’re happy to try to help bridge that gap between folks at Emergency Management and the residents and businesses,” he said.
It’s important for residents and businesses alike to prepare for storms ahead of time, Phillips said. For a business, in addition to possibly boarding over the windows, that could include ensuring that data is backed up or copied. Each business is unique and might require different needs.
“The first step is preparation,” he said. “The next step is who do you call when there’s a need?”
Many challenges facing businesses right after a natural disaster are in most cases infrastructure related, Phillips said, in which case he hopes the Chamber could help connect business owners to Emergency Management staff, municipalities and other resources.
Phillips also said the Chamber would be happy to help in other ways in the future, including with workshops or educational seminars for businesses to know what resources are available.
So far, Flagler County has received 50 responses to the survey, he wrote. Once it closes on Aug. 17, the county will review the survey results and intends to follow up with actions that could include planning assistance and tailored outreach materials.
The survey, Lord wrote, also offers assistance from the Flagler County Emergency Management to help create a Continuity Plan tailored to local businesses.
“We ultimately want to improve our local businesses’ resilience,” Lord wrote.
