Sally Says
From the Desk of Pinellas County’s Emergency Management Director
We all owe a great debt of gratitude to the generations which have come before us. These are the people who weathered the Great Depression, fought two World Wars and built the nation we call home. As this generation ages, many of these fiercely independent people may not be able to get about as well as they used to and may need some additional help to get through the day.
This need becomes critical during the approach of a hurricane or during some other natural disaster. That’s why Pinellas County runs its Special Needs Evacuation Assistance and Sheltering programs. Now, remember that these programs should only be used as a last resort. It will be more comfortable to ride out the storm with friends or relatives who can provide assistance and share each other’s company than to ride out the storm at a shelter.
Registering for the Special Needs Evacuation Assistance service is free and takes just a few minutes over the phone or on the Internet. Residents who believe they may qualify can call Emergency Management at (727) 464-3800 or visit www.pinellascounty.org/emergency/specialneeds.htm for information on how to register. Applications can be taken over the phone or online. Relatives of the resident needing special needs assistance can call to register, but we advise strongly that they communicate clearly what is going on to the resident in need.
Once registered, local fire departments will get the information and will be able to provide transportation assistance to a shelter – for free – to these residents. Should the storm pass and we don’t have any effects, the fire departments will provide transportation back home at no charge as well.
This service isn’t just for elderly residents. Any resident who is mobility impaired, requires oxygen, is a dialysis patient or has a number of other qualifying conditions can register for special needs assistance. Call Emergency Management or your local fire department to see if you qualify.
Looking out for each other helps to make our community a stronger and safer place.
Hurricanes for Kids
While getting ready for a hurricane may seem like it would be just for adults, one fifth of the residents of Pinellas County are under the age of 18. That’s why Pinellas County hit on the idea of producing a new video called Hurricanes for Kids to reach out to the county’s younger residents and show them what they can do to get themselves ready for a storm, and how they can help build their family’s emergency plan.
The information collected for the video was pulled from a number of resources, including the National Weather Service and a website called Weather Wiz Kids. While the research was impressive, the most effective part of the video was in casting. Osceola High School Student Madina Behori was tapped to play the role of Stormy, the young host who helped communicate the message to the intended audience.
Fun is definitely the key word in Hurricanes for Kids. While the video offers a wealth of hurricane information, the tone is kept light and entertaining. Segments focusing on what hurricanes are, how the storms are named and how storms are tracked are filled with practical advice.
Why spend the time to educate younger residents in the first place? History has proven that a campaign targeted at children can prove very successful for themselves and their families. Smokey the Bear and McGruff the Crime Dog have helped students learn and pass along the importance of preventing forest fires and ‘taking a bite out of crime.’ And the kids reached by this campaign will later grow up to become residents who are prepared to face a hurricane threat.
Also, last year while Hurricane Ike approached the Texas coast, nearly half of the residents of Galveston and the Bolivar Peninsula chose not to evacuate, and many of those who didn’t evacuate had young children at home. By giving kids some hurricane know-how, they may be able to change their family’s behavior – before it’s too late.
To watch Hurricanes for Kids, visit the Hurricane Video page at www.pinellascounty.org/emergency/hurricane_videos.html.
Local Mitigation Strategy Focus group Meetings set to begin
Every few years, Pinellas County is required to update its Local Mitigation Strategy to ensure that the proper steps are being taken to plan for the threats we face. To help ensure that the county’s LMS is meeting the needs of residents, a series of three focus group meetings will be taking place this month. The times and dates for the meetings are:
- Thursday, July 16 @ 6 p.m.
Countryside Recreation Center | 2640 Sabal Springs Drive, Clearwater - Wednesday, July 22 @ 6 p.m.
Tarpon Springs Public Safety Building | 444 Huey Ave. S., Tarpon Springs - Wednesday, July 29 @ 6 p.m.
Treasure Island City Hall | 120 – 108th Avenue, Treasure Island
The focus groups will last about one hour, be limited to 20 participants for each session. Refreshments will be served. Participants will be limited to attending only one session.
Those wishing to participate must register by calling the Tampa Bay Regional Planning Council's office at (727) 570-5151.
Neighbors Helping Neighbors
It may seem difficult to believe, but many pet-owning residents will refuse to evacuate – even in the face of imminent danger from an approaching hurricane – because they don’t have a plan for what to do with their pets. The message of having a plan for yourself and your pets is crucial, and there are also a number of dedicated volunteers who will help pet owners develop their plan well in advance of a storm.
Bay Area DART (Disaster Animal Response Team) is a team of volunteers focused on all aspects of dealing with animals in disaster situations. They share a love of animals and many have backgrounds in animal-related fields.
DART works with emergency responders, humane associations/shelters and other disaster volunteers. DART members strive to educate the public to be prepared while furthering their own education through various training and networking activities.
DART is a program of the Humane Society of the United States and is a nonprofit organization comprised solely of volunteers. When a disaster strikes, DART members move quickly to assess the damage and evaluate the impact on animals and then provide the most appropriate support to the community.
If you are interested in becoming a member of the DART team, visit www.bayareadart.org/index.html or call Greg Andrews, operations manager at Pinellas County Animal Services, at (727) 582-2623.
DTV is here
On June 12, all television stations were required to switch from analog to digital broadcasting for their programming. If you get your signal from cable or satellite, you won’t have to do a thing to keep watching TV – those formats are compatible with all sets. However, if you use a regular antenna and your TV does not have a digital tuner, you will need a digital converter to continue receiving a signal.
That’s great for your home TV during normal operation, but many portable battery-powered TVs are used when the power goes out after a storm. Unfortunately, the older sets will not function after the shift to digital transmission. And without a source of power, digital converter boxes will not work.
So, what can you do? Unfortunately, if you want to use a portable TV to receive broadcasts in the aftermath of a storm and your TV isn’t equipped with a digital tuner, you will have to purchase a new portable TV. Another option is to use a radio to get your news and information. However, if your radio is equipped to receive audio TV signals, that feature will no longer function since both audio and visual signals from TV broadcasters are going digital.
For more information on this switchover to digital transmission, visit the Federal Communications Commission’s website at www.fcc.gov/cgb/consumerfacts/digitaltv.html.
Storms in History
Hurricane Emily,
July 10 – 21, 2005
The 2005 Atlantic hurricane season will forever be remembered for the seemingly endless parade of storms it generated. Powerful and deadly hurricanes such as Katrina, Rita and Wilma struck terror into the hearts of residents all along the Gulf Coast. While the storms later in the season received the vast majority of attention, the 2005 season could have ended much earlier and still have been considered one of the worst on record.
In July – exceptionally early for major hurricanes in the Atlantic – the season started off with a bang when powerful Hurricane Dennis formed in the eastern Caribbean and ripped through the Gulf of Mexcio, making landfall in the Florida panhandle.
While Dennis was an oddity, the earliest storm ever recorded to achieve Category 4 status, Emily was developing in the eastern tropical Atlantic. Emily was never expected to develop into a powerful storm. However, it continually surprised forecasters, eventually peaking at Category 5 strength in the central Caribbean. Emily remains the only Category 5 storm recorded before August.
The storm continued westward, eventually making landfall in Cozumel before battering the Yucatan peninsula. After emerging into the Bay of Campeche, Emily reintensified to a Category 3 strength before making its final landfall just south Texas.
Emily broke the records for early season storm intensity set just days earlier by Hurricane Dennis. The storm did more than $1 billion in damages to Grenada, Jamaica and Mexico and claimed 15 lives. Despite the fact that the storm broke so many records and caused so much damage, the name Emily was not retired from the Atlantic hurricane list and is slated to be used again in the 2011 season.
For more information on 2005’s Hurricane Emily, check out the Wikipedia page at en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hurricane_Emily_(2005).
We take our show on the road
Hurricane season is here, and if you’re looking for a presentation for your homeowner’s association, civic group, church, business or other gathering, Pinellas County can help.
Currently, there are four hurricane-related presentations that can be requested:
- Hurricane 101 What are hurricanes? How do they form? What are their effects? Get the basics on these dangerous tropical storms.
- Does it Take a Category 5? Everyone in Florida worries about the next ‘big one.’ But does a hurricane have to be a monster to do major damage? See what damage storms of all Saffir-Simpson categories are able to do.
- Busting Hurricane Myths Learn the dangers of some commonly held beliefs when hurricanes approach. Not only will you find the real story, you may also save your life when a storm comes.
- Hurricanes for Kids Hurricane season can be a very trying time for younger family members. Through experiments and easy-to-understand language, youngsters can find some control over these scary situations.
To schedule a speaker, call Pinellas County’s Speakers Bureau at (727) 464-3000. Remember, knowledge is power. We can’t do anything about the weather, but by knowing what to do when bad weather threatens, you can gain control over your personal safety.
What does THAT mean?
A rose by any other name would smell as sweet...
William Shakespeare, Romeo and Juliet
Those words penned by Shakespeare basically mean that it doesn’t matter what you call a rose, it’s still going to be the same thing.
The same thing applies to the many names of tropical cyclones. While they are known by different names, these similar storms have common traits – they rotate around a central core or eye, draw their strength from warm water and bring high winds, heavy rains and storm surge.
Hurricane: This is what tropical cyclones with winds greater than 74 mph are called in the Atlantic and the northern Pacific basin east of the International Date Line. The word originated from the word Hurakan, the name of the Mayan god of wind, storm and fire. This name was adopted by Spanish explorers to describe these terrible storms.
Typhoon: This is what these storms are called in the northern Pacific basin west of the International Date Line. This word originated with the Chinese daaih-fung, which means big wind. This is the most active area for tropical development and because there is a tremendous amount of ocean area for the storms to develop, they can become incredibly large and powerful.
Cyclone: This is what these storms are called in the Indian Ocean and anywhere south of the Equator. This word originated from the Greek kyklōma, meaning a wheel or coil, and was first used to describe these storms after 1848 when sailors began to understand that the winds of these storms circulated around a central core.
The term cyclone – specifically extra-tropical cyclone – can also apply to non-tropical storm systems such as nor’easters that affect the east coast of the United States and Canada with tremendous winds and snowfall. Low pressure areas on weather maps also induce winds to rotate counter-clockwise in the Northern Hemisphere. This rotation is known as cyclonic flow.
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