Summer means it’s time to prepare for hurricane season
Photo by St. Clair Murraine
By St. Clair Murraine
Outlook Staff Writer
Summertime in Florida brings on two kinds of worries, especially for coastal residents – the weather gets really hot and hurricane season begins.
The heat is one thing that residents have learned to cope with, but there is never any way of knowing when, where or how a hurricane will strike.
Thus, the reason that government officials from the City of Tallahassee and Leon County gathered at the county’s Emergency Complex on the first day of hurricane season to reiterate how serious a hurricane can be. Hurricane Michael was the last major storm to devastate areas of North Florida, including Tallahassee, when it came ashore with category 5 conditions.
Hurricane season started June 1 and will run to Nov. 30.
“Preparing for hurricane season before a storm approaches is your best way to build resiliency,” said Kevin Peters, Leon County Emergency Management Director. “Comprehensive preparedness requires the whole community to get involved in the basic steps for helping you and your neighbors stay safe.”
Information on how to effectively evacuate if necessary is available on websites set up by the city and Leon County.
However, the AAA Auto Club suggested that surging fuel cost could keep as many as 42 percent of Florida residents from evacuating ahead of a hurricane. The same AAA survey also found that 25 percent or residents would ignore evacuation notices, while 60 percent would go to shelters.
Hesitating to take action during a storm could be dangerous, said Tallahassee Mayor John Dailey.
“You are your first line of defense, which is why we urge neighbors to properly prepare together,” he said.
As for predictions on this hurricane season, Mark Wool of the National Weather Service in Tallahassee said there is a 65 percent chance that the hurricane season will have above normal activity. For the optimist, he said the early signs are showing a 25 percent chance of normalcy.
Expectations are there will be 14 to 21 named storms, with six to 10 of them becoming hurricanes. Three to six of those are predicted to be major storms, Wool said.
Wool and others issued a recurring theme throughout the press briefing held last Wednesday.
“We must prepare,” he said. “Disaster often come with little or no warning.”
Officials suggested that families pick up a five-gallon bucket as part of their hurricane preparedness plan. It should be used for storing valuable documents and other items such as batteries. Floridians have until Friday to benefit from a Disaster Preparedness Sales Tax Holiday. The reprieve on tax also covers pet supplies this year.
Both governments have websites — www.leonready.com and www.talgov.com/prep where residents could find information on being ready for the hurricane season. Area residents could also attend hurricane preparedness training. Dates for those are on both websites.
A mascot named Billy the Bucket was added this year to help parents engage their children in storm preparation plans. There is also a coloring book to help children understand how to prepare.
Personnel in both city and county governments begin preparing for hurricanes well ahead of the season. In addition to emergency management staff, law enforcement agencies are usually on the frontline.
“Each year your first responders continue to improve our ability to coordinate and work together but we need to make sure that our community is doing the same kinds of things in terms of preparing,” said Leon County Sheriff Walt McNeil, reiterating the importance of being prepared. “Like we’ve seen many, many times before, hurricanes and other disasters can come in our neighborhoods and disrupt our way of life.”
