How Daytona Beach Police Chief Michael Chitwood Jr. handled Hurricane Matthew

In 28 years of law enforcement, Daytona Beach Police Chief Michael Chitwood Jr. has seen a lot.

About a quarter-million NASCAR fans descending on his city annually for the Daytona 500. The 2006 "Twistmas," a series of tornadoes that ravaged Daytona Beach on Christmas, leaving hundreds homeless. Wildfires. College spring break. And, during his stint as the head of Philadelphia's high-profile Southwest Detectives in the early 2000s, dozens of brutal homicides.

But when officials cautioned Florida residents this week — Hurricane Matthew. Extremely dangerous. Evacuate now. — the 52-yearold chief grappled with the biggest question of his career: How can you prepare for a catastrophe?

"When they tell you there is impending doom," Chitwood, son of Upper Darby Police Superintendent Michael J. Chitwood Sr., said Friday, "that kind of gets your attention."

But it didn't garner attention in just the Sunshine State area.

Back in the Philadelphia area Friday, Chitwood's father —who has a high profile himself in Upper Darby, and is often quoted on TV — was keeping tabs on his son.

"He's my son, I worry about him," the father said Friday night. "I texted him this morning to be safe, to be careful, and that I love him."

But by 8 p.m. Friday, the Florida chief's catastrophe had come and gone. The flag outside police headquarters was still flying right side up. The wind, hushed. A light drizzle fell.

"When you talk about dodging a bullet," the younger Chitwood said, "we certainly dodged one."

While downgraded Friday to Category 2 after reaching Category 4 status last week when it ravaged Haiti and the Bahamas, Hurricane Matthew still pummeled Florida's Atlantic Coast throughout the day, toppling trees, eliminating power for more than one million people, and destroying homes and boardwalks in its wake.

By Friday night, the death toll in the state was four and Chitwood Jr. was breathing a sigh of relief. Daytona Beach, for the most part, was spared.

"What could have been horrible, that didn't happen to us," he said.

His city had zero fatalities. Only 10 homes endured significant damage.

Yet winds of nearly 80 mph and extensive flooding did not necessarily stop all crime in the city: His fleet of officers still responded to nearly two dozen crimes, including one auto theft when all roads were shut down, completely empty. (That one, he said, wasn't hard to solve. It was the only car on the road, and his officers made an arrest.)

To prepare for the storm, Chitwood — who two months ago was elected to become sheriff Jan. 1 of Volusia County, where Daytona Beach is located — said he called on all 250 officers under his command to work round the clock, most of them on patrol. They came in when the wind became too fierce around 10 Friday morning.

More than 500 of his officers' family members camped out at police headquarters, most of them relocating on Thursday. They had cots, food, a generator, and movies.

Kids slept in interrogation rooms. Cats and dogs spent the night in holding cells. And as officers trekked in and out of the rain all night for quick naps, Chitwood said, they had their families to sleep beside them.

There's at least one story to tell: While patrolling with the mayor Friday morning, Chitwood said, their truck was struck by something (he doesn't know what) that knocked their vehicle off course. He and the mayor survived without injury.

"I feel complete relief," said Chitwood, running on just two hours of sleep in the last 48 hours. "No overwhelming amount of people are now homeless, no deaths, zero injuries.