In the aftermath of Hurricane Matthew, the death toll is still uncertain. As of Oct. 11, the storm claimed more than 1,000 lives between the Caribbean islands and the United States, with still more people unaccounted for.

Identified as the deadliest hurricane in more than a decade, Hurricane Matthew intensified from a Category 1 to a Category 5 hurricane in less than 24 hours. Millions of residents from south of Cape Canaveral, Florida, up the East Coast through South Carolina, faced mandatory evacuation orders.

For officials tasked with making the hard decisions, Hurricane Matthew offered no simple solutions.

According to Naval Submarine Base Kings Bay Commanding Officer, Capt. Brian Lepine, there was a lot of churn in the forecast during the storm's early stages, because there were a lot of possibilities for the storm's track. However, the more Matthew headed north, the more it shifted farther to the west, a degree at a time.

"Once it got to south Florida, the track firmed up and things changed very rapidly," Lepine said. "The base was very well prepared, and all the folks stationed here did a fabulous job of shifting focus to battening down the hatches."

The governor of Georgia issued a mandatory evacuation order for Camden County, Oct. 6. Kings Bay leadership, operating in concert with county officials and Navy Region Southeast leaders, declared mission-essential personnel only status.

The Relocation Team, a group of command representatives activated to establish a satellite command structure at Warner Robins Air Force Base near Macon, Georgia, deployed within two hours of being mobilized with the mission of assisting dislocated employees and family members.

"When our local community leaders make a decision to conduct an emergency evacuation, which is not made lightly, everyone understands how amazingly disruptive that is," Lepine said. "It creates a lot of anguish, a lot of uncertainty, [and] a lot of anxiety; but the smart thing to do is grab your ready bag, your family, and that which is most precious to you, and get in the car and drive away from harm's way and get yourself in a safe place."

At the storm's strongest point in the area, Oct. 7, the base was experiencing 65 knot winds at the waterfront, with gusts exceeding 85 knots. The brick facade along the Navy Exchange's back wall -- an area 75 feet wide, from the roofline almost to ground level -- collapsed. Channel markers in the St. Marys channel that go out to the sea buoy, which are anchored to the sea bottom and meant to stay put, were moved anywhere from 100 to nearly 1,000 yards from their position.

Throughout the worst of the storm, Kings Bay's mission-essential personnel remained on station, monitoring the situation. Base security department, the sentries at the gates, personnel at the entry control points, and patrol cars were out ensuring base was safe throughout the storm.

Fire department personnel were engaged and ready to respond. After the base established mission-essential personnel only, all dining facilities on the base closed, with the exception of Pirates' Cove, the base galley.

"They were serving anyone who walked in the door," Lepine said. "It was a tremendous effort. You could go in there any time of the day or night, and there was something to eat."

Once the storm passed, those mission-essential personnel from across the entire base, to include all tenant commands, began the process of beginning to assess the damage. And those who evacuated the area began asking when they could come home.

"There's a lot of work that has to happen when the storm is gone," Lepine said. "The sun comes out and the birds start singing, and folks naturally want to immediately come right back, but that's exactly the wrong thing to do."

Fallen trees were in the roads and on power lines throughout the region. Traffic lights were out. St. Marys and Kingsland, cities to the north, and the entire Jacksonville area faced significant flooding, losses of power, and stressed water and sewage systems.

"If you hurry and come back, you're loading down that infrastructure that is not in a position to be able to support people," Lepine said. "When our community leaders make the call to evacuate, the primary concern is for life and safety. Almost equally important, after you leave, is to wait for the 'all clear' to come back so you don't put yourself in harm's way and risk the lives of others."

The other immediate concern once the storm passed was accounting for the safety and whereabouts of Kings Bay personnel and families. That task fell to the Relocation Team, which relied on the Navy Family Accountability and Assessment System to help determine which Kings Bay families needed support or assistance.

"Accountability is crucial, and NFAAS is crucial," said Debbie Lucas, director of the Kings Bay Fleet and Family Support Center, who deployed with the Relocation Team. "Not just for assessing the needs of our families, but also for making sure our people are safe."

Some forecasts predicted the Kings Bay area would take a direct hit from Hurricane Matthew, potentially at the Category 4 level. The storm most directly affected southeastern Georgia as a Category 3 hurricane, well enough off the coast to avoid significant damage.

"Kings Bay fared extremely well because of natural positioning; Cumberland Island deflected some of the winds, and the tides were very favorable," Lepine said. "When Hurricane Matthew reached its closest point of approach, we were almost at low tide, which minimized the risk of flooding on base. As the hurricane transitioned to the north, the winds shifted and that helped drive the water out of the marshes."

While leaders at Kings Bay were riding out the storm, the Relocation Team fielded calls from service members, civilian employees, and families who evacuated as far away as Alabama. Lepine credited Kings Bay personnel with showing strong resiliency and preparedness, which he said resulted in minimal calls for emergency assistance.

The Emergency Family Assistance Center was mobilized the morning of Oct. 9 at the Fleet and Family Support Center to support any financial or emergency needs. Even with limited staff members still in the area, they were able to start providing services by noon, and operated 24 hours a day.

"The FFSC staff was just amazing," Lucas said. "No matter what we needed, they just wanted to know where they could be and what they could do to help."

According to Lucas, a family went to the EFAC in search of a wheelchair for a family member. EFAC representatives went to the base clinic, where they found emergency medical technicians from the Kings Bay Fire Department. When a wheelchair could not be found, the EMTs offered to help transport the family member to Navy Gateway Inns and Suites for adequate shelter.

The governor of Georgia rescinded the evacuation order at 5 p.m., Oct. 9. Leaders continued to assess damage, and started compiling lessons learned.

Lepine said he thinks people often underestimate the power of hurricane-force winds.

"We don't engineer most buildings and facilities to withstand those forces of winds," he said. "When you factor in the driving rain, when that water is driven by 70 knot winds, it does strange things and goes to places you wouldn't expect it. People then want to come home right away and turn all the power on, and exposed electrical circuits might be full of water. Now there are electrical fires which spread into building fires, which just gets worse and worse."

As areas along the East Coast and throughout the Caribbean start the recovery process, Lepine said Kings Bay residents have much to be thankful for.

"Nature is a very powerful thing," he said. "Sometimes we can be blessed and get lucky, but there are over 1,000 people who won't get another chance to get away from a storm."

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