Seminole County first responders drill for hurricanes, flooding emergencies

Airboats cut across Mullet Lake Park in Geneva as Seminole County first responders practiced how they would reach stranded people in flooded neighborhoods, waterways and low-lying areas when storm flooding turns roads useless.

The drill on April 29 was part of Florida’s annual Mobilization Exercise, known as MOBEX, and paired water rescue work with an urban search-and-rescue scenario. Crews practiced locating survivors, documenting property damage and working through the kinds of coordination problems that can slow a real response after a hurricane or other major emergency.

That preparation matters in Seminole County because the area is a mix of dense neighborhoods, lakes, creeks and flood-prone ground where boats can become the fastest way to reach people. Airboats extend that reach in a way ordinary engines cannot, allowing responders to move over shallow water, submerged roads and debris-filled floodwater that would block regular rescue vehicles. In a hard storm, that can make the difference between getting to a home in minutes versus waiting until water recedes.

Mullet Lake Park offered a useful setting for that work. The 55-acre county park has a boat ramp and a rustic shoreline, making it a practical place to practice launching, maneuvering and coordinating on the water before the Atlantic hurricane season begins June 1.

Seminole County Fire Department leaders say the mission is the preservation of life and property through rapid response, highly trained personnel and continuous prevention. The Seminole County Office of Emergency Management says its staff provides countywide planning, training and exercise programs for natural, technological and man-made emergencies. Together, those roles show why drills like MOBEX are not just about boat handling. They are about building the system that gets people out when flooding isolates a neighborhood.

Seminole County is also part of Central Florida’s Task Force 4 Urban Search and Rescue Team, alongside the City of Orlando Fire Department and Orange County Fire Rescue. That regional network matters because first response in a widespread disaster often depends on mutual aid, shared equipment and crews that already know how to work together.

The county has seen that value before. In March 2025, an airboat rescue helped save an overturned fisherman who later recovered and received Life Saving Awards. In February 2017, the Seminole County Sheriff’s Office Aviation Unit and Seminole County Fire Department rescued two men after their boat capsized on Lake Harney. Those rescues, and the drill at Mullet Lake Park, point to the same lesson: when floodwater rises, Seminole County’s ability to reach people depends on training that starts long before the first storm warning.