In approximately 45 days the start of the 2011 hurricane season begins. Are you ready?? Should you be ready? Why do you ask? Am I trying to scare you. No. I am trying to get you prepared for another busy hurricane season. Is there something going on that has not been reported in the news?? Yes.
We are either
(1) In the midst the third natural cycle of elevated hurricanes, that began in 1995.
(2) In the midst of a long period of elevated hurricane frequency and intensity related to man-made global warming.
(3) We are in the midst of a mixture of the two.
Either way, it does not bode well for folks who life along coastal areas of the US, the Caribbean or Central America. If it is a cycle, it will last for another 20-30 years and lord know how long it will last if it is global warming. Why do you scare us with that mess. Because, hurricanes need warm waters to feed on and the global and regional observations all show that ocean temperatures are steadily warming.
The normal number of named storms is 10-11. Last year we had 19. This year will likely be in the 13-20 range. So you feel comfortable in doing nothing huh? Well remember what happened in New Orleans?? A likely scenario exists for many coastal cities in the US. Which cities??
New Orleans (again)
Houston
Miami
Charleston SC
Wilmington NC
NYC (really?)
So what gives? Well all of these cities have similar patterns to New Orleans:
- Segregated by race
- poverty, disability, low education, low income, low home ownership all mapped on top of race.
So What?
Well when the time for evacuation comes, who will have least access to transportation for evacuation? Who will require more assistance? Who will have the least access to the internet to
plan out an evacuation.
Miami is on par for a disaster similar to Katrina because it has approximately the same level of poverty, access to transportation as New Orleans. It has a large minority population (black, hispanic).
Next on my list is Houston (you have a problem). There are 4-5 million persons in the city. It cannot be evacuated in 72 hours under nearly any scenario. First, if 1 car breaks down or runs out of gas -- massive disruption. We saw this with hurricane Rita. Houston bit the bullet with Hurricane Ike nearly missing them but destroying Galveston Island.
New Orleans believes that they are ready, but remember Katrina was a Category 3 when it hit them. I hope that emergency managers remember that part.
New York - Don't want to think about it. No way to evacuate 10-15 million people.
But the biggest disaster still on the plate is Haiti. Today, nearly 17 months after the Earthquake, more than 1 million people are still living in tents. All that we can do is hope that the new government will rush to find greater shelter for the good but very vulnerable people of Haiti. Then we gotta keep them in our prayers.
So how can we avoid what happened before with Katrina
1.) Get prepared. Keep all of your important documents in a place that you can get to them
-birth certificates
- passports
- bank accounts (check books)
- have cash on hand before the hurricane strikes. Power systems and communication systems are normally down.
2.) Plan out your escape route now. This means, start thinking about where you would evacuate to, and how you would get there.
3.) Make plans for those will will be difficult to evacuate: elderly, children and disabled.
4.) Keep your medicines together. Get extra before the storm hits. Put them in a plastic bag. You may have to get them at a different location. Take medical records for those who need them.
5.) Take you cell phone, but call people if you evacuate. Cell phone service may be lost for strong storms for days or even weeks.
6.) Make sure that your car is in good working order and fill up with gas before you evacuate.
7.) There are evacuation food packages which have 2-3 days of dry and canned food for approximately 20 dollars. Grab these if you can.
8.) Flatten the communication network. Use Facebook, Twitter, SMS to communicate the hurricane threat and evacuation plans to everyone that you know.
Stay tuned. We will be watching.
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