We are now two weeks into the start of the 2018 hurricane season, predicted to be an active season according to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA). As a native Floridian, I will be the first to admit that we act as if hurricane season is no big deal, but it is. The 2017 season brought us Hurricanes Harvey, Irma, Maria and Nate. I would like to say we were all prepared, that we listened to the public service announcements, established our hurricane evacuation/reunification plan and packed our hurricane supply kits.
But many of us did not.
We were at the grocery store a few hours before landfall, scrounging for a loaf of bread and peanut butter and finally settling for a can of cream of mushroom soup and a box of quinoa…we knew better. We had been warned. We grew up in Florida, for goodness sake.
So please accept my gentle reminder, the 2018 hurricane season began June 1 and runs through November 30, peaking between mid-August and September. The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration predicts this year’s season has a 70-percent likelihood of 10 to 16 named storms, five to nine of which could become hurricanes, and one to four of those major hurricanes. These are serious predictions… with the potential to impact the entire southern region of the United States.
As we all know from the 2017 hurricane season, it does not matter how active or quiet the prediction is, it only takes one.
SO GET READY … MAKE A HURRICANE EVACUATION PLAN … PACK YOUR HURRICANE GO BAG
LET’S LIVE & LEARN AND DO A BETTER JOB PREPARING FOR HURRICANE SEASON 2018
In addition to your personal or organization’s preparation, don’t forget to also take steps to better prepare your community.
CDR Maguire Inc. offers a wide-range of disaster preparation and recovery tools. Please click below to get a copy of our preparation checklist for Emergency Management Teams. If you or your community needs assistance preparing for or recovering from a disaster, please contact me directly at Tracy.Doyle@cdrmaguire.com.
CDR Maguire Preparation Checklist for EM Teams
