‘Better safe than sorry’ during peak of hurricane season
Published 6:00 pm Monday, August 26, 2019
It’s peak hurricane season, and the Federal Emergency Management Agency and the National Flood Insurance Program are urging Southwest Louisiana residents to prepare now before it’s too late.
Around this time in 2017, areas of Southwest Louisiana received horrendous flooding due to Hurricane Harvey.
This year, NOAA is predicting an above-average season with five to nine hurricanes, including two to four storms category 3 or higher.
While predictions and forecasts are just that, Southwest Louisiana residents should consider taking a “better safe than sorry” approach to each hurricane season. It is better to be prepared and not need it, rather than to need it and not be prepared.
All it takes is one significant storm to devastate a region.
FEMA and NOAA suggest these steps to help you and your family stay safe should a storm head our way:
- Sign up for alerts and warnings in your area and download the FEMA app.
- Learn your evacuation zone.
- Develop a household communication plan, and designate a place for family to meet if you are separated.
- Build a preparedness kit or “go-bag” with water, food, medications, clothing and critical financial, medical and legal documents and records.
- Purchase or renew your flood insurance policy.
We would like to add that readers look for stories in the American Press, in print and online, for suggestions on hurricane preparation. We will still be reporting and providing relevant information, come what may.
There have been improvements in hurricane forecasting technology over the past 20 years. Satellites can take detailed pictures of these storms, and technologies have created monitoring devices that are more advanced than any previous time in our history. But that does not mean meteorologists will be dead-on with their predictions each time.
That’s why it is important to take these precautions well before a hurricane hits our region.
The hurricane season runs through Nov. 30. Don’t wait, take steps to ensure you and your family stay safe during a storm.
