June 1-November 30 each year is Hurricane Season. This is the time people in the South East along the Gulf of Mexico and the Atlantic Seacoast must do three things all season long. They must Plan, Prepare and Keep Informed.
Plan:
It is important for families to do prior planning as to how they will address a Hurricane coming into their community.
Will they evacuate if so will they go out of town to high ground or will they go to a public or special needs shelter?
Will they shelter in place in their house? Is their house prepared against the harsh strong hurricane force winds and rains?
How will the family members contact one another if there is an evacuation alert?
Will the family take action only during a Hurricane Warning or will they move on things during a Hurricane Watch?
How the family execute their evacution or sheltering must be written down and available to all family members to review during the course of the hurricane season.
Prepare:
The family needs to put together a Hurricane Survivor's Kit! They must be prepared for a minimum of 7 days with this kit. The American Red Cross has an excellent planning sheet for this kit at: The "Be Red Cross Ready" Tutorial Program. You can download this shopping list by clicking on Emergency Preparedness Shopping List.
Keep Informed:
Keep up with the Television, Radio, and NOAA weather forecasts and take their information seriously. Do not hesitate to act as soon as needed. Remember that all forecasts are just that a forecast. They are not 100% correct so do not rely on a storm hitting just north or south of your region because like all things there is uncertainty and storms do seem to have a mind of their own. This is explained well in materials which are listed in the references and links below.
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Presentation
Hurricane Preparedness: Plan, Prepare, Keep Informed is the Hurricane Season of 2008 presentation by Jim Messina which he prepared to present to various groups in the community.
Links
Be Red Cross Ready Tutorial on Red Cross site at: http://www.redcross.org/flash/brr/English-flash/default.asp
Building a Disaster Supplies Kit on Red Cross site at: http://www.redcross.org/services/prepare/0,1082,0_91_,00.html
Evacuation Plan on Red Cross site at: http://www.redcross.org/services/prepare/0,1082,0_256_,00.html
Sesame Street's for Family Friendly Resources on Emergency Preparedness:
To prepare your family for a Hurricane: Hurricane Kit
Specific Tools for preparing for an emergency situation: Let's Get Ready!
Guide for assisting children after an emergency situation has occurred: You Can Ask!
Shelter in Place Guidelines on Red Cross site at: http://www.redcross.org/services/prepare/0,1082,0_258_,00.html
The National Hurricane Center with ongoing maps of current status of Tropical Weather in the Atlantic at: http://www.nhc.noaa.gov/
The NOAA Climate Prediction Center in which the National Hurricane Center Reports on Hurricane Activity: http://www.cpc.noaa.gov/products/outlooks/hurricane.shtml
The Tropical Meteorological Project of Philip Klotzbach and Bill Gray's in which the annual Hurricane Season is forecast: http://typhoon.atmos.colostate.edu/forecasts/
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