2018’s National Hurricane Preparedness Week

In 2004, National Hurricane Preparedness Week replaced National Hurricane Awareness Week because it’s better to be prepared than to be just aware. This year, National Hurricane Preparedness Week is taking place May 6-12. The purposes of the week include educating people about the effects of hurricanes, ensuring every family and business has a disaster plan, and guaranteeing everyone knows when and where to evacuate.

2017: The Worst Hurricane Season Ever

Last year, multiple hurricanes wreaked havoc across the United States, making 2017’s hurricane season the most expensive in history and accounting for more than $200 billion dollars worth of damage. Together, we can minimize loss of life and damage to assets resulting from hurricanes.

About Hurricanes

A hurricane, sometimes also called a typhoon or cyclone, is a giant storm that gathers over water and migrates over land to cause destruction. Hurricanes bring strong winds, heavy rain, floods, rip tides, and even tornadoes.

Hurricane intensity is measured on a 1-5 scale, and 3 or higher is considered a major hurricane. A hurricane watch indicates a region might experience hurricane conditions in the next 48 hours, while a hurricane warning indicates an area might experience winds up to 74 mph in the next 36 hours.

Although Atlantic hurricane season takes place from June 1 to Nov. 30, these devastating storms are most likely to occur mid-August to late October.

Mitigating Hurricane-related Damages

National Hurricane Preparedness Week presents a great opportunity to ensure your family, business, site, or assets are protected in case of a hurricane. See the following suggestions to help you prepare:

• Assess your hurricane risk. Your risk level depends on several factors. First, consider your geographical location. Those who live on the coast face the highest risk of extreme winds, flooding, and storm surge. Those who live inland can still experience wind, thunderstorms, flooding, and power outages. Second, consider the structural reliability of your home or office.
• Know your evacuation zone. Decide in advance where you will stay in case of evacuation. And if experts advise that people living or working in your location evacuate, please actually heed the warning. Most communities have a unique evacuation plan. It’s worth finding out what it is before disaster strikes. Click here for evacuation zone information for your area.
• Make an emergency plan. Employees, families, and individuals should plan in advance what they will do should a hurricane strike the area. That means gathering a basic disaster supplies kit, writing down emergency contact numbers, identifying an evacuation destination, and creating an emergency fund.
• Check your insurance coverage. All businesses should assess potential property and asset damage that could result from natural disasters then invest in the appropriate insurance.
• Get Weather Alerts. Keep your employees informed with CentrAlert’s Weather NOW!™, which automatically sends weather alerts to specific people via any communication channel warning them of a weather crisis. Weather NOW!™ receives information directly from the National Weather Service or the National Oceanic and Atmosphere Administration.

Contact us to find out how you can better protect your organization from hurricanes.

 

 

Tags: hurricane, natural disasters, weather NOW!