Case Study: Monroe County achieves lifesaving emergency communications with Zoom Video Communications

Zoom Helped Monroe County Save Lives During Hurricane Irma

Monroe County, Florida—a 21-department jurisdiction that spans the Florida Keys and relies heavily on tourism—faced a communications crisis when Hurricane Irma struck in 2017. County leaders needed daily conference calls with more than 30 outside agencies (utilities, municipalities, state and federal partners), but their Polycom system couldn’t be used off-network, was hard to troubleshoot, and performed poorly in low-bandwidth emergency conditions, delaying critical coordination.

The county deployed Zoom as an intuitive, cloud-based alternative that offered reliable video and audio, group chat, screen sharing, and mobile access even over a 4MB/1MB satellite link. Staff quickly used Zoom during Irma with minimal training; it became the county’s top-ranked communications tool and now supports 100+ hosts from 25+ agencies for emergency and routine meetings, reducing travel and improving response coordination.

Monroe County

Alan MacEachern

Director of Information Technology