About Us and Hurricane Charley

Founder Kai Dohm was used to extreme weather, growing up near the Alps and having lived 15 years in Chicago, experiencing blizzards and deep cold freezes with wind chills of up to 70 degrees below zero. But nothing could have prepared him for what was to come when he moved to the Tampa Bay area in 2001 seeking a more tropical climate.

When Hurricane Charley rapidly approached the Tampa Bay area in August of 2004 Mr. Dohm was faced the first time with major hurricane preparations. He quickly boarded up his house and prepared to evacuate, which he did in the early morning of that Friday the 13th driving all the way to the Georgia border.

Shortly after checking into a hotel in Valdosta Georgia, Kai learned that Charley had made an early turn and was going to make landfall in Punta Gorda, Florida that day.

Mr. Dohm returned the next morning to his home in St. Petersburg and watched in shock and awe the news of destruction and misery left behind in Punta Gorda.

He knew within 24 hours that he had to do something and quickly organized the “Pinellas DIY Hurricane Charley Relief Effort”. With the help of volunteers and donations Mr. Dohm helped with chain saws clearing debris, relocating the elderly and the sick, and feeding fellow Floridians by serving over 2,000 hotdogs during one weekend in Port Charlotte (click here for complete story and pictures).

These experiences left him wondering how he could do more and help more people, but he also realized that it is not cheap to prepare for a storm and evacuate; especially if you don’t have family in this country and are evacuating with a 90 pound German Shepherd.

It was two years later when he once again was glued in front of the TV in shock and disbelief, seeing the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina and not understanding how so many U.S. residents could be left for dead before help finally arrived days later. Over 1,300 people dead — why did they not evacuate? Sure there are always some people who want to take their chances and ride out the storm but looking at the “economic demographics” of the dead and survivors, it was clear that most did not have the means to evacuate. Questions like “why didn’t we bus everybody out of there before hand” and “what can I do to save some lives,” tormented Mr. Dohm for months to come.

On June 24th 2006 it suddenly struck him and he realized that everything that’s being done is post-disaster and we need to do something like they do with preventative medicine in Europe; in our case: Pre-Disaster planning beyond stocking up with food and batteries.

At this point Mr. Dohm started wondering if it wouldn’t be possible to get people networking around the country, making pre-disaster arrangements to have a way out and a place to stay. That day the idea of EvacuationHelp.com was born and he quickly brought on board his programmer Cory Cullers of Cayennasoft, Inc.

Even so Mr. Dohm’s company Pinellas Business Solutions, Inc. provided the web hosting for free and both dedicated a lot of time to the project; it quickly became clear that EvacuationHelp.com would never be done during storm season without some seed money.

...it's all about People Helping People
in the USA

Weeks went by until Mr. Dohm found Dennis Daley through a social gathering who was also a programmer, believed in the idea and provided the much need startup capital.

Finally on October 2nd 2006 the real work could begin and three people started working around the clock to bring EvacuationHelp.com to life…

* Special Thanks to the LaQuinta in Valdosta, GA for “cutting” my 90 pound German Shepherd into three pieces to comply with the hotels’ pet weight limit and the free upgrade to a suite since you where out of regular rooms! Also special thanks to all Georgians for the warm welcome to all of the evacuees, and the Outback Steakhouse next to the hotel, that had drink specials for evacuees (and we certainly needed a drink that day)!