Hurricane Preparation

Hurricane preparedness is the actions and planning taken before a hurricane, tropical storm, cyclone, or tsunami strikes to avoid damage and injury from the storm. Hurricane preparedness may involve preparations made by individuals, families, cities, states, and governments or other organizations. Hurricane preparation is very important, and if done correctly can save a lot of peoples lives. There are many things people and organizations can do to protect themselves from harm during a storm.

The most important decision in individual hurricane preparedness is determining if and when to evacuate an area that will be affected by a storm. Evacuation plans should be thorough and communicated clearly to everyone involved. It is very important that the entire family or group be included in hurricane preparation. If there is a place to evacuate, it is crucial that close friends and family be informed of the plan as well. This will work just in case people are unable to find individuals after the storm has passed. If evacuation is not possible or necessary, other forms of hurricane preparation include storing supplies, securing a home against extreme winds and rain, and making plans with family and friends prior to the storms rainfall..
Hurricane preparedness kits should include bottled water, canned food, first aid kits, prescription medications, waterproof flashlights and radios, a whistle or other sound-signaling device, identification and medical cards, any necessary medical records, waterproof bags or portable waterproof containers, and other supplies helpful in a survival situation.

Hurricane Preparedness also may include planned shelter routes to ensure safety. Evacuation to hurricane shelters is an option that should be used as a last resort. Shelter space is first come first serve and only intended to preserve human life. Buildings designated as shelters are built to hold a certain number of people at a time. Shelters are expected to protect occupants from wind and water only. Shelters should be considered a major part of hurricane preparation.
Hurricane preparation policies make buildings and other infrastructure more resistant to the effects of tropical cyclones. All other buildings, whether residential or commercial, are vulnerable to damage from storms. Additionally, the internal contents of these buildings can be damaged as result of exposure to water if the building is breached, as a result of the strong winds.
Hurricane preparedness is more important in certain areas. Any area off a coast is more likely to be hit by hurricanes or storms during hurricane season. Florida is a state that get hit hard every hurricane season, due to their location. Hurricane preparation is second nature to many of the residence in the Florida cities, and towns. Other regions affected by hurricanes include, New England, Texas, California, Virginia, etc…Government agencies in these areas have evacuation routes for the citizens to follow, as well as protective levy’s to prevent flooding. Hurricane preparation may seen like another preventative tactic that takes up to much time and thought. Although it may be true that preventative methods such as these are extremely cautious, these same measures will save lives when they are needed most.

Hurricane Facts

Hurricanes can constitute serious threats the safety and well-being of coastal areas susceptible to the effects of meteorological disturbances. For residents of coastal areas where hurricanes can be a threatening reality, being well appraised of hurricane facts can be an effective tool for maximizing efforts to avoid the threatening effects of hurricanes and assuring themselves of safety. As yet the gathering of hurricane facts by scientists involved in studying them as meteorological phenomena has not produced many preventive methods for actively decreasing the power and intensity of a hurricane event. A useful hurricane fact is more likely to provide some indication as how to respond to the potential threat posed by the imminent landfall of a storm, and also possibly some contextual understanding of the ramifications of living in an area that might be unusually vulnerable to the arrival of hurricanes. One hurricane fact that can give a sense of the degree of the threat posed by a storm as contrasted with the limitations of the effects it can have. Hurricane facts related to the dissipation of these phenomena are thus useful tools for the residents of coastal areas.

An essential point made by hurricane facts is that the scientific categorization and understanding of these storms is rooted in a view of them as being essentially tropical. A hurricane can be considered as such by lieu of exhibiting tropical characteristics, and the hurricane fact of dissipation occurs when the storm is deprived of these tropical features. Residents preparing for the effect of hurricane landfall should be aware of the hurricane fact that these storms will dissipate if by moving over land they are deprived of the warm water which provides them with energy. A study of hurricane facts will show the usual trend for storms to lose their essential characteristics in a day or two after moving over land. In the area of hurricane facts related to safety, mountainous areas can be particularly dangerous when confronted by hurricanes due to the rapid weakening process they trigger in these areas. In the process of disintegrating, hurricanes release vast quantities of water over the area below and thus have the potential to cause great loss of life in these periods.

A related hurricane fact relates to this phenomenon and stems from the same basic need of a hurricane for some source of warm water. Rather than disintegrating over land, hurricanes can break apart upon reaching sections of ocean that are filled with water existing at a temperature that is far below 26.5 °C (79.7 °F). After this process of disintegration, the newly cooled hurricane will become a remnant low-pressure area, which possesses the capability to last in this state for a period of several days. These hurricane facts illuminating one manner in which they can halted has proven interesting to scientists and government officials with ambitions for finding artificial methods for stopping hurricanes. This hurricane fact was implemented in the 1970s U.S. government program Project Stormfury, which proved, however, unsuccessful in its use of silver iodide seeding.

Hurricane Gustav

Coming three years after the devastating effects of Hurricane Katrina on New Orleans and nearby Gulf Coast regions, the impending arrival of Hurricane Gustav in the same area in 2008 raised concerns that similar misfortunes might befall the area comparable to the calamities that occurred during the first storm. These concerns over the imminence of Gustav were especially heightened by widespread criticism lobbed at the state and federal government responses made to Hurricane Katrina’s previous impact. With the United States presidential elections being prepared for in campaigns by prospective candidates, Presidential hopeful Barack Obama and John McCain kept the possible effects of Hurricane Gustav in mind as they monitored their public images. Likewise, the administration of President George W. Bush made early precautions to avoid drawing the same kind of criticism over its handling of Gustav as had occurred with Hurricane Katrina. Ultimately, in comparison to the long-lasting repercussions suffered from the landfall of Hurricane Katrina, the effects of Hurricane Gustav were less overtly disastrous. That being said, several dozen deaths and significant amounts of damage were suffered as a result of Gustav.

One response to the widespread criticisms elicited by the governmental handling of Hurricane Katrina was to begin evacuation efforts early on. At the point when Hurricane Gustav had only reached the point of Haiti, officials in the state of Louisiana began discussing plans for moving residents out of potentially affected areas. At first, New Orleans Mayor Ray Nagin announced, on August 30, that residents of the city should start evacuating the area if it was possible for them. By the next day, mandatory evacuations had been ordered. In responding to the problems that had afflicted evacuation efforts during Katrina, different venues were chosen for the safe housing of evacuees, and evacuation materials were secured ahead of time in quantities estimated to be sufficient for meeting demand. Measures were also adopted for attempting to keep highways and other roads open for the passage of evacuees from Gustav.
The eventual results of Gustav’s landfall in New Orleans and elsewhere in Louisiana were, as had been hoped by planners for the response to the storm, less disastrous than those suffered from Hurricane Katrina.

In total, forty-eight deaths were blamed on Hurricane Gustav, with two deaths caused by a tornado that had been created by Gustav. Thirty-four parishes (the equivalents of counties for other states) were declared disaster areas by the Bush Administration, which subsequently dispatched the president to the areas in question in the interests of remedying lingering bad will from memories of the handling of Katrina. A major component of the previous storm’s devastating effect had been the breaching of levees, which thus was also a concern in preparing for the arrival of Gustav. Though water was splashed high enough to go over flood walls, it did not cause any breaches, which avoided a major cause of flooding. Recovery efforts proceeded quickly enough for the restoration of power to be effected and allow New Orleans’ official reopening on September 4.