If you live along one of the areas prone to hurricanes, then hopefully you've taken some time to make preparations in case a storm heads in your direction. Whether you're a seasoned coastal veteran, or just getting started for the first time, the material on this web site should help you with your hurricane (and general emergency) preparedness.
As I am creating this page, Brownsville, Texas is getting pounded by Hurricane Dolly. If you live anywhere along the Gulf Coast, you are susceptible to winds, rain, and possibly the storm surge from a hurricane. Yet I'm amazed that many in the potential strike zone of a hurricane never bother to make preparations until the last minute.
Of all the dangerous things that person can do is procrastinate their hurricane preparations. If you don't believe you can get killed trying to obtain gasoline, withdraw cash from an ATM, or buy the last loaf of bread in a store right before a storm, then you should have witnessed the madness in Harris County before Hurricane Rita. Though most of the residents were orderly, law abiding citizens, there were numerous reports of hot tempers and desperate actions all across the area. By having your supplies ahead of time and keeping your vehicle's gas tank at least half full, you can greatly reduce your stress and chance of running into danger before the storm even arrives.
In the Upper Texas Gulf Coast region, we've become accustomed to having a week or more of warning before a hurricane makes landfall. But roughly 75% of the storms that hit the Upper Texas Gulf Coast form in the Gulf of Mexico, and often arrive with as little as two days warning.
For years, the meteorologist have been saying that Houston is long overdue for a hurricane. Statistically, we're long overdue! However, the Dr. Gray's predictions and those of the National Hurricane Center offer nothing more than a general predictor of the chance for a storm in a given year. For example, 2006--the year after the deadly Hurricane Katrina--was predicted to be another highly active season. Yet due to an strong El Nino phenomenon, the season saw little activity. Back in 1983, it was one of the quietest storm seasons on record, with only four hurricanes. But one of those storms was Hurricane Alicia, an early-season hurricane that did over $5 billion (in 2006 dollars) of damage to Harris County, Texas.
So will 2008 be another slow season, or is will this be the year that we get "the big one?" Without a better crystal ball, it's anyone's guess. So you might want to follow the first rule of emergency preparedness: Hope for the best and plan for the worst!
Source : hidefromthewind
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