Tag Archives: hurricane

Is your “Groovy Home” HurricaneStrong?

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Get your “Groovy Home” and family ready for the 2023 hurricane season by preparing before a storm approaches by following these five #HurricaneStrong steps.

Safety – Know Your Evacuation Zone

One of the most critical steps for survival is to identify whether you reside in a storm surge evacuation zone and to develop a plan for where you will be when the waters rise. Once you have your plan in place, heed all evacuation orders, and do so quickly. Remember, making the right decision to either stay or leave on a timely basis will keep you, your family, and your community’s first responders out of harm’s way. Use this updated list from FLASH to Find Your Evacuation Zone today. 

Preparedness – Make a Plan. Build a Kit. 

You’ll need to plan for two situations—remaining home or evacuating to a different location. Click here for a comprehensive list of supplies that you will need to stay comfortable and safe. 

Resilience – Strengthen Your Home 

It’s time to get the house ready for hurricane season. A well-built home can stand up to hurricanes, so gather the family to make sure your house is hurricane-ready. The best place to start is by visiting InspectToProtect.org. Use this tool to determine the building codes used in your community today, or contact your local government for information about building codes used in the past. 

You can strengthen your home by performing a Do-It-Yourself Wind Inspection to find out what needs attention. Once you finish the inspection, you can get started with these one-hour, one-day, or one-weekend activities. You can find checklists and how-to videos here. 

Insurance – Have a Checkup. Create an Inventory 

Homeowners, renters, and flood insurance policies are the most effective financial recovery tools available for storm victims, but often many realize too late that flood insurance is a separate policy that requires a 30-day waiting period. It’s likely that you won’t be able to add a flood policy or change any of your regular policy coverages if a storm is imminent, but you should still contact your agent or company in advance. Understanding your policy limits, co-pays, deductibles, and where to call with any claims will come in handy if you are affected by the storm. Find out what types of insurance you need in this guide, If Disaster Strikes Will You Be Covered?  

Service – Help Your Community 

You and your family are now prepared to confront a hurricane; it’s time to think about how you can help your community. Here are a few ideas to get you started.

  •  Be sure everyone has a plan. Exchange information so you can stay in touch.
  • Discuss how you may be able to help each other if someone is out of town. Neighbors can help each other by clearing yard debris and creating a checklist of the items to bring inside during a high-wind event.
  • Get involved in community-wide efforts. One of the best things you can do for your neighbors and yourself is to be sure there’s a solid plan and a network of resources for everyone in the community and that they know how to use them.

Whether you reside along the coast or well inland, planning now and following the above advice can help you should a storm head your way. For more information, visit www.flash.org, www.hurricanestrong.org or email info@flash.org, follow @FederalAlliance on Twitter, follow FLASH on Facebook, or call (877) 221-SAFE (7233).

Top Ten Tips for Disaster Safety in 2021

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Affordable, Simple, and DIY Ways to Protect Your Home

This year brought a record breaking-breaking hurricane season; wildfires burned nearly nine million acres; ongoing winter storm alerts; and a pandemic. While there is good news on the horizon as the COVID-19 vaccine rolls out, people may continue to work, educate, and vacation at home. To take advantage of the time at home, the nonprofit Federal Alliance for Safe Homes (FLASH) offers these ten tips to get your home and family ready in 2021.

1. Know Your Risk: No Cost – Click here to learn more National Center for Disaster Preparedness  

  • No matter where you live, you are at risk for some type of disaster. To prepare, you must understand what risks you face. You can start your search online by searching for the disaster history in your community. Use keyword searches and phrases for each peril, such as “earthquake and your town.” From there, you can learn not only what happened but also how fast or well your hometown recovered.
  • Remember, just because a community hasn’t experienced disaster already doesn’t mean it won’t happen in the future.

2. Earthquake: $20 or less – Click here Purchase a Gas Shutoff Wrench

  • It starts with a wrench! Fires caused by earthquakes are the second most common hazard after the quake and can be even more deadly. Broken gas lines caused by the shaking can cause deadly fires.
  • Minimize your risk by learning in advance how to turn off their main gas line. Make sure to locate the gas shutoff valve and purchase a gas shutoff wrench to shut off the gas supply manually. Keep the wrench near the gas shutoff, so it is easy to locate. This type of tool is typically under twenty dollars.

3. Flood: Cost Varies – Click here Purchase Flood Insurance

  • Where it rains, it can flood. Purchasing flood insurance is one of the best financial protections for your home. Most homeowner insurance policies do not cover flood damage, but nearly every home has some level of flooding risk. Even if you live outside mapped high-risk flood zones in a moderate or lower risk location, you need flood insurance. Typically, the lower the risk, the lower the cost.
  • On average, full primary coverage for a 250-thousand-dollar home with 100 thousand dollars in contents, the premium is $572 in low-risk X zones. Remember that there is a 30-day waiting period before flood policy coverage goes into effect. You can determine your flood risk by contacting your insurance professional, local growth management agency, building and zoning department, or visiting floodsmart.gov.

4. Hurricane: $20 or less – Click here Strengthen Your Soffits

  • A residential soffit is a horizontal surface outside on the underside of the eaves. The eave is an area of the roof which overhangs the exterior walls. Properly installed and braced soffits resist wind forces and keep water out when the wind drives rain against the outside walls and up into the attic of your home. So follow these DIY steps to ensure that soffits stay in place when it matters most. A caulk gun is typically under five dollars, and a tube of caulk is an average of three dollars.

5. Tornado: Approximately $3000 – Click here Build or Buy a Safe Room or Shelter

  • Having a tornado safe room or shelter in your home can help provide near-absolute protection for you and your family from injury or death caused by the dangerous forces of extreme winds. Having a safe room can also relieve some of the anxiety created by an oncoming tornado threat.
  • According to FEMA, prefabricated safe rooms typically cost less than site-built safe rooms and are available in smaller sizes. A small, 10-square-foot, residential, prefabricated safe room may cost as little as $3,000.

6. Wildfire: No Cost to Low Cost – Click Here Create a Defensible Space

  • If combustible yard debris, trees, shrubs, other vegetation, or materials surround your home, your property is at a heightened risk of wildfires. With a wildfire-resistant landscaping plan, you can make a defensible space around your home and reduce your wildfire threat. Defensible space is one of the most cost-effective ways to protect a building from a wildfire.
  • Limit the amount of flammable vegetation and materials surrounding the home and increase the remaining vegetation’s moisture content. This design breaks down into zones. Zone 1 is closest to your home; Zones 2-3 move further away. Here are some basics for the homeowner to get started.
    • Zone 1:
      • This well-irrigated area surrounds your home for at least 30 feet on all sides, allowing room for fire suppression equipment if needed. Clear combustible materials; replace flammable vegetation; prune branches and shrubs to create 15 feet of space from the structure, from the ground, and between trees. Limit plants to carefully spaced low flammability species. Consider landscaping alternatives to shrubs, such as a rock garden.
    • Zone 2:
      • 30-100 feet out. Use low flammability plants that are low growing. Replace flammable vegetation, create “fuel breaks” such as driveways and gravel walkways, prune tree limbs 6 to 10 feet from the ground. The irrigation system should include this section.
    • Zone 3:
      • 100-200 feet out. Remove underbrush and thin vegetation, ensure that you place firewood at least 100 feet away from the structure, and keep tall trees from creating touching canopies.
  • Remember, before fire season begins, remove combustible litter on roofs and gutters and trim tree branches that overhang the roof and chimney. Consult your local or state fire agency or qualified fire management specialist about codes, requirements, and standards related to defensible space.

 7. Winter Freeze: Cost typically under $20 – Click Here Foam, Dome, and Drip

  • Frozen water pipes are one of the costliest threats to your home. You can prevent frozen water pipes by doing something called Foam, Dome, and Drip.
    • FOAM: Insulate pipes exposed to the elements or cold drafts. You can stop pipes from freezing and save energy for as little as $1 per 6′ of insulation. By keeping your water warmer, you reduce the amount of energy needed to heat water in the cold, winter months.
    • DOME: Place an insulating dome or other coverings on outdoor faucets and spigots to reduce the likelihood of water pipes freezing, expanding, and causing a costly leak. The cost of these domes is less than three dollars each.
    • DRIP: Allow a slow drip from your faucets to reduce the buildup of pressure in the pipes. Even if the pipes freeze, the water system’s released pressure will reduce the likelihood of a rupture. If you are going out of town and suspect the temperature will drop, turn off the water and open all of the taps to drain the water system. This way, pipes won’t freeze, and you won’t return home to a mess. FREE!

8. Create a Home Inventory: No Cost – Click Here

  • One of the fastest and simplest ways to create your inventory is by using your mobile phone to both video and photograph items as well as entire rooms, closets, and drawer contents. As you map out the plan for your inventory, think about each room and section of your home. Don’t forget your attic, basement, closets, garage, and detached structures, such as tool sheds. For a full detailed list on how to create a home inventory, click here.

9. Have an Insurance Checkup: No Cost – Click Here

  • Review your coverage with your insurance agent to make sure you have the right financial resources to rebuild, recover, and bounce back from a disaster. These are the topics that you should be sure to discuss:
  • Coverages – Know Your Basics
    • What types of things does my policy cover?
  • Deductibles and Claims
    • For example, did you know that you may have coverage for food that spoils when the power fails even if your home isn’t damaged? Moreover, did you know that food spoilage coverage is often deductible-free?
  • Discounts and Incentives
    • What types of discounts are available?
    • Does my community’s building code affect my rates?
  • For full instructions on having an insurance checkup, click here.

10. Know Your Building Code: No Cost Inspect to Protect.org

  • Building codes are the foundation for resilience and can be complex; however, you can determine your community’s type of building code by visiting the consumer-friendly Inspect2Protect.org. InspectToProtect.org allows you to identify the building codes by inputting their address to see a map with a color-coded analysis. Once you understand how your home was built, you will have the knowledge needed to better prepare for severe weather events and natural disasters.

For more information, visit www.flash.org or email info@flash.org.

The Five Steps to #HurricaneStrong

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Get your home and family hurricane season ready by preparing before a storm approaches by following these five #HurricaneStrong steps.

Personal Safety – Know Your Evacuation Zone

One of the most critical steps for survival is to identify whether you reside in a storm surge evacuation zone and to develop a plan for where you will be when the waters rise. Once you have your plan in place, heed all evacuation orders, and do so quickly. Remember, making the right decision to either stay or leave on a timely basis will keep you, your family, and your community’s first responders out of harm’s way. Use this updated list from FLASH to Find Your Evacuation Zone today.

Family Preparedness – Secure Supplies and Build a Kit

You’ll need to plan for two situations—remaining home or evacuating to a different location. Click here for a comprehensive list of supplies that you will need to stay comfortable and safe.

Related Podcasts:

  1. Skills + Supplies Today = Safety and Survival Tomorrow feat. Sean Reilly, District Manager for Lowe’s along North and South Carolina coast-between Myrtle Beach and Morehead City
  2. #HurricaneStrong Home Hacks that Save Time and Money feat. Bill Ferimer, Lowe’s Store Manager in Wilmington, North Carolina

Financial Security – Talk with Your Insurance Agent 

Homeowners, renters, and flood insurance policies are the most effective financial recovery tools available for storm victims, but often many realize too late that flood insurance is a separate policy that requires a 30-day waiting period. It’s likely that you won’t be able to add a flood policy or change any of your regular policy coverages if a storm is imminent, but you should still contact your agent or company in advance. Understanding your policy limits, co-pays, deductibles, and where to call with any claims will come in handy if you are affected by the storm. Find out what types of insurance you need in this guide, If Disaster Strikes will You Be Covered? 

Related Podcasts:

  1. Have an Insurance Checkup and Make Your Policy #HurricaneStrong feat. Amanda Chase, State Farm Agent
  2. Take Steps Today for a Smooth Hurricane Claim Process Tomorrow feat. Elizabeth Gulick – Vice President of Claims Operations, USAA and member, FLASH Board of Directors

Strengthen Your Home – Reduce Home and Contents Damage

It’s time to get the house ready for hurricane season. A well-built home can stand up to hurricanes so gather the family to make sure your house is hurricane-ready. The best place to start is by visiting InspectToProtect.org. Use this tool to determine the building codes used in your community today or contact your local government for information about building codes used in the past.

You can strengthen your home by performing a Do-It-Yourself Wind Inspection to find out what needs attention. Once you finish the inspection you can get started with these one hour, one day or one weekend activities. You can find checklists and how-to videos here.

Related Podcasts:

  1. The Scoop on Hurricane Shutters feat. Tim Robinson, Managing Partner of (GPP) and President of the International Hurricane Protection Association
  2. Anne Cope on Science That Makes Us #HurricaneStrong feat. Dr. Anne Cope, Chief Engineer, IBHS

Community Service – Help Your Neighbor

You and your family are now prepared to confront a hurricane, its time to think about how you can help your community. Here are a few ideas to get you started.

  • Be sure everyone has a plan. Exchange information so you can stay in touch.
  • Discuss how you may be able to help each other if someone is out of town. Neighbors can help each other by clearing yard debris and creating a checklist of the items to bring inside during a high-wind event.
  • Get involved in community-wide efforts. One of the best things you can do for your neighbors, and yourself, is to be sure there’s a solid plan and a network of resources for everyone in the community, and that they know how to use them.

Whether you reside along the coast or well inland, planning now and following the above advice can help you should a storm head your way. For more information, visit www.flash.org, email info@flash.org, follow @FederalAlliance on Twitter, follow FLASH on Facebook, or call (877) 221-SAFE (7233).

How to Be #HurricaneStrong for Michael

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  1. Minimize Danger – Understand the Power of Rushing Water

According to the National Hurricane Center, storm surge accounts for approximately half the deaths in hurricanes since 1970. The National Weather Service (NWS) tells us that these tragedies happen because people underestimate the force, speed, and power of water. A modest six inches of fast-moving water can knock down an adult, 12 inches can carry away a small car, and 24 inches will move an SUV. That’s why FLASH and NWS created the Turn Around, Don’t Drown program in 2003 with lifesaving reminders. Watch this video to learn more, and remember that where it rains, it can flood.

  1. Know Your Zone – Define Evacuation Needs

One of the most critical steps for survival is to identify whether you reside in a storm surge evacuation zone and to develop a plan for where you will be when the waters rise. Once you have your plan in place, heed all evacuation orders, and do so quickly. Remember, making the right decision to either stay or leave on a timely basis will keep you, your family, and your community’s first responders out of harm’s way. Use this updated list from FLASH to Find Your Evacuation Zone today.

  1. Avoid Regrets – Secure Supplies and Build a Kit

You’ll need to plan for two situations—remaining home or evacuating to a different location. Click here for a comprehensive list of supplies that you will need to stay comfortable and safe.

  1. Act Now – Reduce Home and Contents Damage

You still have time to take some meaningful steps to protect your property the storm. Take the following actions to protect from expected flooding:

  • Clean out gutters and ensure downspouts are clear to allow water to flow away from the home.
  • Prepare and place sandbags using these steps to ensure they don’t topple. (Don’t forget to review safe disposal guidelines.)
  • Elevate, wrap, and move valuable carpets, electronics, and furniture to a higher floor or alternate location.
  • Secure cleanup materials (masks, gloves, mops, buckets, bleach, etc.) before the storm.

Click here for a full list of pre-storm flood mitigation options. If you reside in an area where high winds are expected, click on this link to read or watch a video with hurricane prep steps broken into one-hour, one-day, and one-weekend checklists.

  1. Talk with Your Insurance Agent

Homeowners, renters, and flood insurance policies are the most effective financial recovery tools available for storm victims, but often many realize too late that flood insurance is a separate policy that requires a 30-day waiting period. It’s likely that you won’t be able to add a flood policy or change any of your regular policy coverages if a storm is imminent, but you should still contact your agent or company in advance. Understanding your policy limits, co-pays, deductibles, and where to call with any claims will come in handy if you are affected by the storm. Find out what types of insurance you need in this guide, If Disaster Strikes will You Be Covered? 

Whether you reside along the coast or well inland, planning now and following the above advice can help you any storm heads your way. For more information, visit www.flash.org, email info@flash.org, follow @FederalAlliance on Twitter, follow FLASH on Facebook, or call (877) 221-SAFE (7233).

FLASH Partnership Introduces Updated Weather App

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“FLASH Weather Alerts” Version 3.0 offers speed, precision, forecasting, preparedness tools, and NOAA weather radio functionality.

In partnership with Weather Decision Technologies, Inc. (WDT), the nonprofit Federal Alliance for Safe Homes (FLASH), today released the updated FLASH Weather Alerts app V3.0 on the iTunes and Google Play stores. This mobile app delivers precise GPS, precision text-to-speech severe weather alerts, useful “How-To” videos, and bilingual home safety, mitigation, and disaster preparedness information.

“We are proud to partner with WDT, the country’s premier weather data provider, to reintroduce this powerful, easy-to-use app combining technology with real-time severe weather information,” said FLASH President and CEO Leslie Chapman-Henderson. “Often, our smartphones and tablets serve as lifelines in a disaster, so we are offering this app and the speed it delivers to maximize the short window of time available to make life or death decisions in a disaster. The added everyday benefits of reliable weather forecasts make it a must-have.”

The FLASH Weather Alerts app enables the user to receive critical alerts via voice and push notifications. Your phone will “wake up” with alerts and also track your location to warn you wherever you go. Listen to local weather forecasts while on the move. Enjoy the power of a NOAA Weather Radio, with all the convenience and precision of a smartphone.

Features of FLASH Weather Alerts include:

  • ACCURATE ALERTS- Provides the most precise alerts compared to other similar apps on the market
  • COMPLETE CONTROL- Choose only the type of alerts you want to receive
  • FOLLOW ME- Alerts you when a watch/warning is issued in your area
  • MULTIPLE LOCATIONS- Ensure friends & family are safe by saving up to 5 additional locations
  • AUDIO- Hear beeps followed by a brief description of the alert type
  • RADAR- Quickly reference your location to adverse weather using radar with watch and warning overlays
  • QUICK FORECAST- Access current and forecast weather information for remote locations
  • VOICE OVER- Works for the visually impaired
  • MITIGATION RESOURCES- Includes information to make homes stronger and families (available in English and Spanish)
  • CURRENT NEWS- provides event-driven preparedness/mitigation tips as severe events unfold

All app features are included for $4.99 with no additional in-app purchases. If you previously purchased FLASH Weather Alerts, you may download the update for free. For more information, visit flashweatheralerts.org.

Dr. William Gray – A Man for All Seasons

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By John Zarrella – Former CNN Correspondent

Oh joy. Hurricane season is nearly upon us. It’s like an annual check-up at the dentist. You don’t know what to expect! But if you brushed and flossed, you should be okay. Same can be said for hurricane season. If you have your emergency supplies ready, you’ve secured your home, and have an evacuation plan, you should be fine. If not, what are you waiting for? You need me to come over and hold your hand?

For me, this season will be very different. Perhaps the most recognizable voice in forecasting over the past half century will be silent. Bill Gray passed away last month. He was the “Vin Scully” of hurricanes. I hope you got a chuckle out of that line Bill. I know you were a huge baseball fan.

When Dr. Gray started putting out his seasonal hurricane forecast in the 1980’s just about everybody rolled their eyes. Those who didn’t certainly raised an eyebrow. How times have changed! It’s safe to say Bill got the last laugh. Who doesn’t put one out these days? Heck, even I did. Bill was needling me one year to come up with my own numbers.  So, I did. He put it up on the board in his office at Colorado State University. At the end of the season, he sent a letter to my boss at CNN, Eason Jordan, telling Eason that my forecast had beaten his. I’m not sure how true that was but that was Bill, a wonderful, kind man with a tremendous sense of humor who at least publicly laughed off all those who thought he was a snake oil salesman.

Dr. Gray’s contribution was far more than just the science of forecasting. He elevated hurricane awareness more than any single individual. At CNN we’d attend the National Hurricane Conference and Florida Governor’s Hurricane Conference just to hear what Dr. Gray was forecasting and to get an interview with him. His forecast was always one of the top stories in the newscasts not just for CNN, but for other national news outlets and for local radio and televisions stations across the country. Today we would say his forecasts always went viral! Bill’s work transcended science. He would be the first to admit that over the years he threw in a clunker or two. But he got people’s attention like no one else could.

Now I’m not going to beat you over the head to get your attention.

Look, preparing for a hurricane is not rocket science and it doesn’t need to be crazy expensive. You know that. So, here’s something that will guide you through the process.

A new campaign called #HurricaneStrong is rolling out. Along with www.flash.org, it is everything you need to know about how to secure your home and protect your family. Is there anything more important? Do I need to answer that?

There are a number of activities this month to promote the campaign:

  • May 15 – 21 is National Hurricane Preparedness Week
  • On May 15, The Home Depot will conduct free do it yourself hurricane workshops in 695 stores in hurricane prone states. The same day, The Weather Channel program “Wx Geeks” will feature the campaign
  • The five day Hurricane Awareness Tour kicks off in San Antonio, on the 16th followed by stops in Galveston, New Orleans, Mobile, and Naples. Hurricane Hunter aircraft, pilots, and storm experts will be on hand.

Some of you are probably saying to yourselves, “I don’t need all that. I’ve been through a hurricane and know what to expect.” Do you? Last month I was honored to be the keynote speaker at the National Tropical Weather Conference in South Padre Island, Texas. I was talking about the speech with a producer, Rich Phillips, who had covered dozens of hurricanes with me. It struck both of us that out of all those storms, only on a few occasions we were close to the core of the storm where the really bad stuff happens. And consider this, no major hurricane, category three or higher has hit the U.S. since Wilma in 2005. Just because you experienced a hurricane doesn’t mean you really went through one. Keep that in mind in case one heads your way this year!

Here’s the bottom line. The more you do now, the easier it will be to recover after the storm passes. It’s real simple. Misery does not have to follow disaster.

Hurricane Center Director Deconstructs “Lite” Season

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By John Zarrella – Former CNN Correspondent

It’s over. Put a fork in it. The 2015 Hurricane season is done. You get six months to exhale unless something crazy stupid happens! No more looking over the shoulder out into the Atlantic or Gulf wondering if that puff of clouds might grow into the next named storm. No more wondering if this might be the year your town or city’s luck runs out.

Unfortunately we, the collective we who live in harm’s way, don’t really seem to wonder near enough. And if you’re not wondering then you’re certainly not doing much to prepare. Over the years, study after study has shown most folks living along the coastal United States from Maine to Texas don’t give hurricanes much thought until one is about to beat down their door.

And that is troubling to the experts. I talked recently with National Hurricane Center Director Rick Knabb. “I fear that so many coastal and inland residents at risk to wind and water hazards have forgotten how to get ready for the next hurricane season. We must take action now to survive the storm and be resilient in the aftermath.”

Sadly, it’s the same refrain Knabb’s predecessors shared with me over and over again, decade after decade. Whether it was Bob Sheets or Max Mayfield or Bill Read or Jerry Jarrell and all the way back to Neil Frank the fear was people were not paying attention. Bottom line, not much has changed. The directors talk, we don’t listen.

Sure there are spikes in attention the season after a big one hits like an Andrew, Hugo, or Katrina. But then you get a few years in a row of relative calm and we, that collective we again, fall back into our old complacency. For every Hurricane Center director, complacency was the first ingredient in that recipe for disaster.

Knabb says one of his great frustrations is that it really doesn’t take a whole lot of heavy lifting to be ready, “Here’s a start to your hurricane resilience to do list: create an evacuation plan, buy supplies, update insurance, including flood, and strengthen your home.”

So, why put it off? Now that you can exhale, now that the season is over, there’s no better time to get your plan together. For thirty-five years going back to David and Frederick in 1979, I have covered hurricanes. The common denominator in every, single storm was last minute panic. There were no exceptions. You’ve seen the images, cars backed up for miles as people flee the storm. Supermarkets wiped out. How about the long, long endless lines that snaked around gas stations? The guy with the plywood sheets roped down to his compact car. And that’s just before the storm hits! Really? Do you look forward to that?

No one can tell you what next season will bring. Who could have predicted Florida, the peninsula that sticks out like a sore thumb would have gone ten years without a hurricane? Director Knabb says that doesn’t change his outlook, “I don’t know how much longer we have until we get another Florida hurricane, but they’re coming back at some point. I live in Florida, and I’m going to continue to plan every year as if my house could be hit by a hurricane.”

2015 was an El Nino year. Strong winds helped keep a lid on hurricane activity and shielded the U.S. mainland. But as Knabb says, it didn’t shield the Bahamas from Joaquin. “Do you think the people in the Bahamas care about how many numbers of storms there were this year? They care that they got hit. And that really is at the end of the day all that matters. And we can get hit in any year. We can get hit in any era, El Nino or not, and everybody tends to look for this thing that they can hang their hat on and say ‘ok, this season it’s not my problem’, but it is our problem every year.”

Here’s a case in point from the Zarrella personal experience archives. This hurricane season ended with eleven named storms. The last was November’s Hurricane Kate which turned away from land. Thirty years ago, the 1985 season ended with eleven named storms. You know the name of the eleventh? Kate. It too was a November hurricane. But, it didn’t turn out to sea.

My crew and I were in an RV. I probably should have thought that one through a little more! But, back in those days, the dark ages of television, we didn’t have satellite trucks lined up every few miles along the coastline. The RV was our production facility on wheels. We loaded it with food, camera equipment, and edit machines. We could shoot, write, and edit our stories all in one place and then drive to a feed point. It worked just fine until November 21.

We were heading down a two lane road towards Mexico Beach, Florida in the Panhandle. Problem was category two Kate got there first. So here we are in this RV as the storm comes ashore. Pine trees are snapping. The rain hit the windshield so hard and heavy that you could see absolutely nothing. It was a white out. The RV was trembling. Looking out the side window, I saw the tin roof of a barn lift off, then sail across a field until it was blown to bits.

My cameramen Doug Hart and Rudy Marshall were yelling, “We’ve got to get back to that house we saw up the road.” The roar of the storm outside was so loud you had to yell. My editor Steve Sonnenblick was behind the wheel. He began backing the RV up the road. There was no way we could turn around. The wind and rain was hitting us head on. If we attempted to turn, the RV would have been broadsided, and I have no doubt, would have flipped.

I don’t know how far we drove in reverse. It may have been a half a mile or so. But when you are driving in reverse on a two lane road in the middle of a hurricane, it takes a whole heck of a lot longer than you want! When we got close enough, we left the RV on the side of the road, ran for the house, and started banging on the front door. The husband and wife were more than a little bewildered seeing four guys standing on their porch, but they graciously let us in to ride out the storm.

The point is, as Knabb and all the other National Hurricane Center Directors have repeated until they were blue in the face, you have to be ready. You need a plan whether it’s June, November, or anytime in between. Why risk your life or the lives of your loved ones. No one has a crystal ball. No one can tell you when or if. Director . Knabb says, “We learned this season that you can have really, really horrible impacts in what had been forecast to be a below average year and what has been an El Nino year.”

And by the way, we never rented an RV again to cover a hurricane!

Hurricane Wilma – Distant Memory or Timely Reminder?

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By John Zarrella – Former CNN Correspondent

The sign in front of the Ramada Inn Hotel in Pensacola, Florida stood on a pole about fifty feet off the ground. The manager at the front desk told us not to worry—it had withstood Hurricane Ivan the year before. That’s nice I thought, and proceeded to tell the camera crews not to park underneath it. Turned out that was good advice.

It was July 2005, the morning of July 10 to be exact. Anderson Cooper and his team had just rolled in from Panama City where one on air personality is reported to have said as they left, “dead men walking!” I guess that phrase is appropriate anytime you are planning to stand out in the middle of a hurricane.

Cooper and I would tag team this one together. That afternoon hurricane season 2005 kicked into gear, high gear as the “D” storm Dennis came ashore. As the storm hit, we huddled against a wall at the corner of the hotel. The wind blew, pine trees snapped and guess what, that Ramada Inn sign that had survived Ivan started spinning like a top, flew off its mounting, and crashed down in the parking lot. Chunks of razor sharp aluminum went airborne. Anyway, the video evidence of our “dead men walking” moment is still all over YouTube. 

Of course, no one had a clue that Dennis was just foreshadowing worse storms to come, life altering events from Katrina to Rita and finally Wilma. So here we are approaching ten years since Wilma hit South Florida. And that means ten years of relative calm here, ten years of tropical tranquility.

My season of the storms had started with “D” and ended with “W.” Wilma, you may recall, had at one point 175 mile per hour sustained winds and the lowest barometric pressure ever recorded in the Atlantic Basin. It hammered the Yucatan Peninsula as a category four hurricane. Then it took a right turn, accelerated to the east, and made a beeline towards Florida.

Anderson and I were again joined at the rain slicker for Wilma. He emailed, asking where I thought we should be. I suggested Marco Island on the west coast close to where most folks thought it would make landfall. I was pretty close. The storm came ashore near Naples as a Category three hurricane. We were near the center of it. The eye took a good hour to pass over us on the morning of October 24. We stood out on the beach for this one. No Ramada Inn sign to worry about!

But, while I was right about landfall, I was really, really wrong about where the worst impact would be! The west coast made out pretty well, but the reports out of Broward and Palm Beach Counties on the east coast were not good. My own home in the town of Davie near Fort Lauderdale took a pretty good punch. Since I’m not a meteorologist I will spare you the meteorology. Why it did what it did is a good read from the real experts at the National Hurricane Center. For me, Wilma is the poster storm for why it’s critical to be prepared even if you don’t think you’re in much danger.

We left Marco Island at lunchtime and headed east across I-75. As we drove, I tried reaching my wife Robin, but the cell phone lines were jammed. I wasn’t terribly worried about my house. I had shuttered all the openings before leaving for Marco and we had a Miami-Dade hurricane code garage door. I knew my family would be safe. And, as a journalist who covered hurricanes I would have looked like an idiot if I hadn’t taken all the precautions to protect my home. We had plenty of food on hand too.

“What a mess”, was my first thought as I entered our neighborhood. Trees were down, power out and roofs were damaged. A gas grill ended up at the bottom of our friend’s swimming pool, later to be recovered by my sons and their friends who made considerable money in the days after cleaning up debris.

My family was just fine. But my wife warned that while the house looked good from the front, the back, well, not so much. There was a huge pine tree down by the lake. It snapped at the base but no, it couldn’t fall harmlessly into the lake, it had to fall on the screened enclosure over the pool. The enclosure crumbled and Wilma’s winds threw some of the beams onto the roof raking the tiles.

There wasn’t much I could do about any of this at the moment. Overall, it was just cosmetic damage. Close to six figures worth, but we were fortunate. And, I still had to work. That night Cooper and I were on the Larry King show. Much of Broward County and parts of Palm Beach County were a mess.

Here’s one of the great Wilma ironies. Florida prided itself on being the best prepared for hurricanes. Yet less than twenty-four hours after the storm, thousands of people were lined up for water and ice. Most gas stations were closed because they didn’t have generators. CNN sent in a fuel truck to keep us going. One hundred thousand people waited in lines for emergency food stamps.

One Broward official told me, “I think we need to do a better job on the ‘how to’ in their preparations.”

Some six million people were without power. If you didn’t have a generator you were in trouble. One of our friends living in Atlanta drove down with a couple for their family here. But, even if you had a portable generator, you couldn’t get fuel. A neighbor loaded gas cans in his truck and drove to Fort Myers to find it. At the time I remember wishing I had a standby generator that can run for more than a week. I do now!

So Wilma became known as the Urban Storm because it took out so many trees that took out so many power lines. Some people were without juice for close to a month. Ours came back on Halloween afternoon, eight days after Wilma hit. There was one bit of good fortune. The cold front that forced the hurricane to turn right and race across Florida pushed through right after the storm exited bringing cool, bearable October weather.

Six weeks later as Christmas approached, the Wilma effect resulted in an odd holiday shopping trend. The hottest selling gifts were coolers, flashlights, and propane powered stoves. A manager at Outdoor World told me, “We’ve had people come in here and actually buy for their kids three, four, five different types of stoves and they’re going to give them as Christmas gifts.”

One woman bought thirty, I’m not kidding, thirty lanterns. An author even wrote a book called the “Storm Gourmet Cook Book,” how to prepare good meals without power. It sold out just in time for Christmas.

It has now been a decade since Wilma and a decade since South Florida has been hit. You have to wonder with so much time for complacency to set in, would the result be any different now? Or would we again be Christmas shopping for propane stoves and storm cook books?

Hurricane Katrina Through the Lens of Former CNN Correspondent John Zarrella

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By John Zarrella

As Hurricane Katrina sideswiped New Orleans, windows blew out in the buildings next to our hotel on Common Street. Sheets of glass fell and shattered on the street.  Reams of paper flew out from the now breached office windows. It was like watching one of those old New York City ticker-tape parades.

As a reporter it was always frustrating covering hurricanes in the moment. Your field of vision is narrow. You can only report on what is happening around you. It is after the storm has passed when you get a better sense of the larger picture.

Katrina was different. In the late morning when the wind subsided, we drove out to get a better perspective of the damage. You know how some things always stick with you?  For me, on that day it was the drive along Elysian Fields Avenue. As we headed towards Lake Pontchartrain I kept thinking, “Why is there so much water?  It hadn’t rained that much during the storm.” At least, I didn’t think it had.

As we drove closer to the lake, the water kept getting higher. We stopped. An elderly man was sitting on his porch. With the water above our knees, my camera crew and I waded over to him. I asked, “Have you ever seen the water this high before?” “Not since Hurricane Betsy,” he said. Perhaps we were standing, and didn’t know it, in the first of the flood waters. To this day I still wonder.

That night, people poured out of the hotels along Canal Street. Many were locals who rather than stay in their homes during the storm got rooms in the French Quarter. They were smiling, laughing, and raising glasses. It was festive. New Orleans had dodged the bullet again they thought.

The next morning, I woke up, looked out my hotel room window and saw water and cars parked along the sidewalk bobbing in it. We all know what happened after that.

Recently, I went back to the Gulf Coast to work on a “Ten Years Later” story. I don’t care to call it an anniversary. For me, anniversaries should be reserved for happy occasions.

But, there are a couple of stories from my trip that really highlighted the human strength to, as William Faulkner wrote, “endure and prevail.”

After Katrina, Bay Saint Louis, Mississippi was called part of the forgotten coast. So much of the media attention went to New Orleans that places like Bay Saint Louis, Biloxi and Gulfport fell out of the spotlight rather quickly even though they took Katrina’s direct hit.

That was just fine Mayor Les Fillingame told me. “We didn’t want to let anybody see us bleeding.  We didn’t want to let anybody see us wounded. We, by and large, are to the person very proud.”

More than twenty feet of water covered Bay Saint Louis. There were, the Mayor told me only fifty homes out of forty-five hundred that were not completely destroyed. Today, the city is back. While I was there, there was street festival along the rebuilt waterfront. A truck drove around delivering bags of ice to keep drinks cold. A decade ago, you need ice here just to survive.

The wounds Katrina left behind have healed. There are of course still scars, an overgrown slab of concrete where a house once stood. But driving through the city you would never know what happened here a decade ago. The mayor says, this rebirth would never have been possible without the Federal Government, FEMA, and private donations that allowed Bay Saint Louis to build back better, stronger, and more resilient.  If there is a next time, Fillingame says they are far better prepared.

Last year, the city’s new marina opened. It was, Mayor Fillingame says, the “final piece” to the resurrection of Bay St. Louis. “We had a big grand opening and basically right then we kind of declared an end to the war. We declared an end to the war of Katrina and it had been fought in literally thousands of battles. Every individual home had their own battles. It was a battleground of its own. The city was a battleground.”

And now, the mayor told me, Katrina is in their rear view mirror. “Most people in Bay Saint Louis want it there and most people don’t like telling the story of Katrina. It was a bad chapter.”

Jesse Shaffer lived through not one but two bad chapters. Shaffer and his family lived outside New Orleans. When Katrina hit, ten feet of water flooded their neighborhood.  He and his neighbors rebuilt. “You live here and you don’t want to move away. You lose all your friends,” Shaffer said.

And not far from them, almost in their shadow, a massive concrete and steel flood wall was constructed to keep the water out in case it happened again.

Problem was, the Shaffer’s neighborhood was just outside the wall. And seven years to the day after Katrina, it did happen again. Hurricane Isaac. The old clock on the mantle stopped at five minutes to three in the morning when the water rose above it. This time, it wasn’t ten feet of water. It was fourteen feet. But unlike Katrina, the people here didn’t evacuate for Isaac. “It wouldn’t be, couldn’t be as bad,” they thought.

That night and part of the next day, Jesse Shaffer and his son saved lives. “A friend of mine had a boat on the other side of the wall and we launched it and we just started trying to get as many people out as we could.” “So how many people did you rescue?” I asked. “Between me and my son one hundred and twenty people. Two guys were floating on a spare tire.”

The Shaffer’s don’t live here anymore. Virtually no one else does either. Of the seventy-five or so homes in the neighborhood Shaffer says only one is being lived in.

What you see now along the Gulf Coast is a testament to the human spirit, a testament to our ability to endure and prevail. Communities were rebuilt. Lives were saved. A decade after the Katrina nightmare, the page has turned. But, make no mistake, the book is not yet closed. Everyone will tell you there is still much work to be done. Some of the hardest hit areas of New Orleans are far from healed, but there is progress. And for the people of Mississippi and Louisiana, they are starting to believe the storm has finally passed.

Last House Standing™ … Edu-tainment, App-style

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Jay Hamburg, FLASH Consumer Writer

Many of us know that where and how we build is a critical factor to surviving disasters, and now the new, fun, and free app from FLASH is spreading that message to players of all ages.

FLASH designed the engaging and informative Last House Standing (LHS)™ game with inspiration from research such as FEMA’s Preparedness in America report on public preparedness and perceptions. The report showed that 58% of 18 to 34-year-olds surveyed failed to recognize disaster safety as a priority. Survey respondents said they needed information, but did not know “where to begin” to become protected and resilient in the face of natural disasters.

Last House Standing solves that problem with a fun, fast-paced game. Each player starts with a budget of $100,000 and has three minutes to choose from many building parts and design pieces to create the best blend of great style and disaster resistance. After building your home, the game tests your design against hurricanes, tornadoes, wildfires and more.

“Our goal is to introduce players to the idea that their choices help determine their level of disaster resilience,” said FLASH President and CEO, Leslie Chapman-Henderson. “The app does this by wrapping serious options about whether to build using a code or other strengthening features like metal connectors inside dozens of fantasy options from space domes to yurts. With only three minutes and a $100,000, players have to think fast to survive the disasters, but they learn that it can be done.”

Players also choose the locale of their home, which means they need to be aware of which natural disasters are most likely to affect the area. FLASH worked with many partners and volunteers to create a game that’s inviting, exciting, and provides easy-to-understand lessons about the importance of design and location in creating a safe, resilient home.

“With more than one hundred feature choices and millions of potential outcomes, the game will keep every audience engaged,” said former Walt Disney Imagineer and FLASH Board Member, Joe Tankersley. “In today’s crowded app world, serious games have to be informative and fun. FLASH has accomplished this with Last House Standing.”

Last House Standing is available for free on both iPhone and iPad here, and in Google Play here. LHS requires iOS 7.0 or later, and is compatible with iPhone, iPad, and iPod touch. While the app is optimized for iPad 4 and later, iPhone 5, iPhone 6, and iPhone 6 Plus, it will operate on older models.