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We will present the highlights and lowlights of the preparation and response activities performed by several Florida municipalities during the extremely active 2004 Hurricane Season. The lessons learned here can be applied to any utility attempting to recover from an emergency situation. We will focus on several stories of preparation, damage incurred, and response activities taken. In this manner we hope to foster a learning process that can be applied to response and recovery planning as well as plan implementation for your utility. In just one of our scenarios, we will focus on a medium sized water and wastewater utility in the Florida panhandle that sustained a near direct hit from Hurricane Ivan and managed to maintain service with minimal outages. Other illustrations include a municipality in southeast Florida that endured direct strikes from Hurricane Frances and Hurricane Jeanne and was left to manage a large amount of wind forced debris. Yet another large water and wastewater utility in Broward County performed all the necessary preparations for the same storms and were fortunate to suffer only minor damages caused by the outer bands of the storms. By collecting information through post-mortem panel discussions and in some cases close cooperation with the recovery efforts following the storms, Red Oak will relate the extensive lessons learned regarding emergency preparedness plans and response.