Are you prepared for hurricane season

Every area of the US has some kind of natural disaster risk. In Southwest Florida, we enjoy hurricanes. Now, at first blush that sounds terrifying. But, when you think about it, hurricane's provide the most advance notice for preparations... so if you have to pick your poison, I would take the hurricane over many other alternatives. The key to dealing with a hurricane is being prepared. This article provides some good resources to help you get prepared for hurricane season.

TRACK IT

The best resource for tracking the storms... the one that the news stations get it from can be accessed at the National Hurricane Center. Click on the storm name and see the latest model predictions.

DEVELOP A HURRICANE PLAN

As with anything important, it is always good to have a plan. Having a hurricane preparation plan is strongly advised. Here are some resources to help with that. FEMA also has some great information for making a plan.

GET YOUR SUPPLIES

For a comprehensive list of supplies that could come in handy should a hurricane hit, visit this page that lays out Hurricane Kit Supplies.

PREPARE YOUR HOME

Looking for some pointers on what to do to protect your home during hurricane season, check out these helpful videos. Here is a video on protecting your home from flooding.

ASSESS INSURANCE

If a hurricane hits (or even proactively before that happens), check out this guide to understand natural disaster insurance coverage.

ADDITIONAL RESOURCES

• ​FEMA app you can download for information on shelters and other important information.

• National Weather Service has a number of resources that you may find useful.

• National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration has good information to familiarize yourself with hurricanes. They have a page that provides some basic information from an education perspective.

• ​The CDC has a resource page for hurricanes

• Florida Disaster Org has a webpage with information on how to know your zone (not flood zone but evacuation zone) and what to do with that information.

• Closer to home, here is some information for Collier County on hurricane preparedness. Here is also a facebook page for Collier County Emergency Management with up-to-date information.

• Collier County Shelter locations and evacuation maps can be found on this page.

Hurricane_Checklist.pdf

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