Hurricane season begins on Thursday June 1st. Are you prepared for this year’s hurricanes? Forecasters are predicting another active year for hurricanes. If you live inland and away from the Southeast and the Eastern Coast, you may consider yourself pretty safe from a hurricane. But hurricanes have been known to do some pretty strange things. My husband had the eye of Hurricane Hugo pass over them with hurricane strength winds. He lived in Hickory, NC, which is about eight hours from the coast. They were expecting rain and strong winds, but not the eye of the storm.
Do you know what to do in the event of a hurricane? Your location affects any plans that you make. You need to be aware of whether or not you live in a surge zone or flood plain. If you do not live near the coast, then you will not need to worry about storm surge, but you will still need to worry about high winds and flooding. Flooding can occur even after the storm has been downgraded to a tropical storm or a tropical depression. Flooding can occur several thousand miles inland. I have heard of bad storms as far inland as Ohio.
As the season approaches you need to sit down and form a plan of action for your family. This plan should include how to take care of your family during a hurricane, what to do if you need to be evacuated, and how to protect your home from the hurricane itself. There is a great website available which discusses how to prepare for a hurricane. Over the next few days I will be writing about each of these scenarios and how best to prepare yourself for them. The one nice thing about hurricanes is that you do get advanced notice that they are coming. If you have plans ready to put into place you should be able to protect your family during this emergency.
As a side note, I love weather. I mean the science behind the weather, and so I have always been fascinated with the hurricane tracking charts, which are available to help you track the storms. You can find out how to get one by visiting your local news station’s website. There are usually stores, which will give them away for free. You can also visit the National Hurricane Prediction Center’s website. It posts up-to-date information of any potential storms that they are currently tracking. You can view satellite images and predicted paths for hurricanes at this site. Currently they are tracking Tropical Depression Aletta in the Eastern Pacific.