Winter Springs, Are You Prepared for Hurricane Season?

Hurricane Season is officially here. Are you ready for it?

Hurricane FlorenceNASA

While the summer isn't officially here yet (technically), the heat sure is and it sure *feels* like the Summer is here, doesn't it? It seems like right after that painfully dry month of May, the moment we turned the corner into June, someone turned on the heat and rain.

Rain again, finally!

Heat? Not so much.

This past week has brought us temperatures in the 90s, with a high of 90 today in Winter Springs, a high of 94 yesterday, and a heat index of 105 yesterday. And while we've not gotten enough rain to curb our need to relegate watering to specific times and days, we know more is on the way because June 1st was the first official day of Hurricane Season.

Meteorologists and organizations are already placing their bids on what kind of a season it will be. The last couple of years have been quiet in Orlando, in terms of hurricanes, with the last storm that I remember coming through the Central Florida area being Hurricane Irma, in 2017.

Before that, I have to think back to 2004, that crazy record-setting year for Central Florida in general, when we got tagged by four hurricanes back to back, Charley, Francis, Ivan, and Jeanne. I was living in Winter Springs that year and let me tell you, it was chaos.

For those of us who were there, we all remember how long many of us went without power. Some friends' houses and businesses went down for months, as storm after storm barrelled through the center of the state.

Francis, the slow-moving behemoth, hovered over my house for what felt like days, the winds just severe enough to prevent returning to ordinary life.

2004 was a year for the record books, just like last year's Hurricane Season was.

Last year in 2020, the Hurricane Season in the Atlantic broke records, with 30 named storms. As most of you know by now, when a storm turns into a tropical cyclone, it's given a name (Irma, Maria, Charley, Ivan, etc.). On average, 14 storms per year are named by weather services, so the fact that we had a full 30 systems is massive.

The threat of dealing with thirty possible hurricanes is no joke.

And now this year, forecasters are anticipating another doozy. National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) predicting between 13 and 20 named storms. And of those storms, they presume between 6 and 10 of them could become full-fledged hurricanes, with between 3 and 5 of them becoming major hurricanes. A major hurricane is defined by them as a storm that reaches over 111 mph winds.

Now whether those storms hit us here in the Winter Springs area or not is anybody's guess.

But if the great toilet paper shortage of 2020 (in the wake of the pandemic) and the great gas shortage of 2021 (in the wake of the pipeline hack) have taught me anything, it's that it's never too early to be prepared. And you don't want to get caught by surprise rushing to stores with empty shelves to buy what you need after it's already sold out everywhere.

So take simple precautions. Perhaps buy an extra couple of cans of canned food per week, some candles, batteries, and other things you might need just in case a storm comes. It might pay huge proverbial dividends to get it out of the way early.

Ordering solar chargers could mean the difference between having a phone and not having a phone during a hurricane. It's smart to be prepared ahead of time.

According to FEMA, here's what you should have on-hand in case a storm comes through:

• Water: one gallon per person, per day (3-day supply for evacuation, 2-week supply for home).
• Food: non-perishable, easy-to-prepare items (3-day supply for evacuation, 2-week supply for home).
• Flashlight.
• Battery-powered or hand-crank radio (NOAA Weather Radio, if possible).
• Extra batteries.
• First aid kit.
• Medications (7-day supply) and medical items.
• Multi-purpose tool, like a Swiss Army knife.
• Sanitation and personal hygiene items.
• Copies of personal documents (medication list and pertinent medical information, proof of address, deed/lease to home, passports, birth certificates, insurance policies).
• Cell phone with chargers.
• Family and emergency contact information.
• Extra cash (ATMs might be inoperable).
• Extra fuel for generator and car.

Personally, I prefer solar charges and they can be bought on Amazon for under $30. Also, if you can get a good solar charger, one that can power your phone, and your phone has great battery life, you can get updates from that instead of a hand-crank radio.

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