Sally Says
From the Desk of Pinellas County’s Emergency Management Director
Well, we made it. The 2009 Atlantic hurricane season has drawn to a close and thanks to El Niño, Florida was very fortunate this year. Damage to the state was exceptionally minimal, but the effects of Hurricane Bill and Tropical Storm Claudette claimed the lives of three Floridians. All three were out on the water even though warnings were issued that the surf could be dangerous.
While having a season with little activity is a good thing for Florida, it may end up being a bad thing in the long run. In over 23 years in this business, I have found one issue that remains a constant and that is periods of low storm activity tend to breed complacency in people who have not recently experienced extreme tropical weather. This year marked the fifth anniversary of hurricanes Charley, Frances, Ivan and Jeanne. Next year will also mark the fifth anniversary of the record-breaking 2005 Atlantic hurricane season, which saw the terrible impact of hurricanes Dennis, Emily, Katrina, Rita and Wilma.
My concern – and that of emergency managers from across the state – is that one day our luck is going to run out. Instead of experiencing just the threat of a hurricane like we had with Alberto and Ernesto in 2006 or Fay in 2008, we could actually see one make landfall here in the Tampa Bay area.
Would our residents be ready?
The hard lessons learned after the 2004 and 2005 seasons were once so fresh in our minds. It took little encouragement to get people thinking about taking the basic steps to prepare themselves and their families. This year, with four consecutive mild seasons behind us, it seems we may be falling back into the mindset that hurricanes never happen here. We start to think that somehow, the ‘Native American blessing’ placed on the burial mounds at Philippee Park or the county’s unique peninsula-on-a-peninsula geography really is keeping us safe.
But when a storm does come, the complacency felt by many who do not understand the tropical storm threat can quickly turn into the fear and uncertainty we saw in 2004.
Hurricane Season 2009 is in the record books. However, June 1, 2010 will be here in six months. This quote from an anonymous emergency manager in Kentucky, "Emergency Management — spanning the gap between ‘It isn't going to happen here’ and ‘We're all going to die’” really hits the mark. Please don't be among those who put off preparation because it's hard to conceive of a disaster few have experienced and no one wants to think about. Will you be ready?
Learn how to prepare yourself and your family at our Emergency Management website: www.pinellascounty.org/emergency.
Hurricane season draws to a close
December 1 marks the end of the 2009 Atlantic hurricane season, and it proved to be a below average year for storms even though preseason forecasts called for a slightly above-average season. No systems approached the Tampa Bay area, meaning that there was never an instance where the Emergency Operations Center was activated.
The only storms that truly caused concern for the Tampa Bay area were August’s Claudette, which actually attained tropical storm status just west of the Tampa Bay area, and November’s Hurricane Ida, which intensified rapidly and passed through the middle of the Gulf before making landfall in Alabama.
All told, the season saw nine named systems, with three (Bill, Fred, Ida) achieving hurricane intensity and two (Bill and Fred) becoming major hurricanes with winds of or in excess of 111 mph.
Some facts about 2009 include:
- On August 12, Tropical Storm Ana became the latest first storm to be named since the 1992 season.
- Hurricane Fred was the strongest hurricane so far south and east according to the National Hurricane Center.
- Tropical Storm Grace became the farthest northeast-forming tropical storm in the Atlantic in the satellite era, breaking Tropical Storm Vince's record from 2005.
- Hurricane Ida became only the fifth storm to make landfall in the United States during the month of November (Hurricane Kate in 1985, Hurricane #6 in 1935, Hurricane #14 in 1916 and Hurricane #8 in 1861)
- September, normally the busiest month for tropical formation, saw only Erika and Fred. This gives the month the lowest amount of activity since 1994, and makes it the sixth quietest September on record since reliable aircraft reconnaissance data became available in 1944.
- Should no more storms form in the Atlantic, 2009 will go down as the 15th least-active season on record since reliable hurricane radar tracking stared in 1950, well below normal for the Atlantic Basin.
Special holiday preparations
Now that we’ve traded the hurricane season for the holiday season, the last thing on your mind is – quite probably – staying ready for natural or man-made disasters. However, with a little forethought, you can incorporate preparedness into your holiday activities without raising too many eyebrows.
For instance, what do you get for that someone special in your life? Well, there are dozens of radios out there that run on batteries or can be charged by turning a hand crank or exposing their photo cells to sunlight. Not only are these great for emergencies, but they also come in handy for listening to music on the beach or at a camp site.
With the switch to digital broadcasting that took place this past June, a new portable TV equipped with a digital tuner is another good idea. Besides its obvious use for tuning in to the latest emergency information in the event of a power outage, what is better to bring to a tailgate party to catch the pregame shows before a Buccaneers, Lightning or Rays game?
If you have an outdoor enthusiast on your list, freeze-dried and dehydrated foods for camping and backpacking are always a hit. Besides providing easy-to-carry (and rather tasty) nutrition, they have extremely long shelf lives, making them ideal to tuck away in case we have to recover from a disaster.
While you are out shopping for those folks on your list, be sure to take advantage of the big sales on batteries. If you have older batteries in your survival kit, use them in the toys, radios and other battery-powered gadgets you are giving during the holiday season and stash the new ones in the kit for next year. This way, your kit’s battery supply will be fresh.
Also, it’s a good idea to take a look at the nonperishable food in your survival kit. Believe it or not, nonperishable food has an expiration date. If it is approaching soon, you can use the food in your daily cooking or donate it to a local food bank and buy new supplies through the spring to restock your kit.
Neglecting to purchase renters insurance could be a costly mistake
For homeowners, buying property insurance is not optional because mortgage companies require it. But because renters have the option, many go without insurance protection – and that can be a big mistake if a major disaster or a theft occurs.
Buying renters insurance provides a very important financial safety net. Renters insurance covers personal possessions in the event of a fire or other insured disaster. It will pay to replace your belongings and provide coverage for additional living expenses and liability protection in the event someone is injured on your property. With the average policy costing only about $200 per year, it is also affordable. Unfortunately, a 2006 Insurance Research Council (www.ircweb.org) poll found that only 43 percent of renters had insurance compared with 96 percent of homeowners. Many renters underestimate how much they own.
If you rent, take the time to add up what it would cost to replace all your possessions. When you consider the value of your television, computer, furniture, clothing and other items, the value of purchasing renters insurance becomes evident.
For more information, visit www.InsuringFlorida.org.
Storms in History
Tropical Storm Olga,
December 11 – 13, 2007
Just because hurricane season is over doesn’t mean that the potential threat is gone.
After the 2007 Atlantic hurricane season - a relatively active one – ended, a storm formed in the still warm tropical Atlantic just north of the Caribbean Sea. Battling the odds and very strong wind shear, the storm organized enough to be named by the National Hurricane Center. Olga drifted westward, eventually interacting with the mountains of Puerto Rico and Hispaniola. By the time the storm spent its energy in the mountains and emerged back over open water, there was little chance that the system was going to regain its tropical storm status.
This would have normally been the end of the storm, but something interesting happened. Olga’s remnants drifted westward for the next few days and then were absorbed by a cold front slicing down across the Gulf of Mexico. Combining the action of the strong cold front and the tropical moisture of ex-Olga created a strong storm system that was pushed back over the Tampa Bay area. In the wee hours of the morning of Dec. 16, the storm thundered overhead, bringing high winds to coastal areas, including a 78 mph gust on Clearwater Beach. The storm also dropped two tornadoes in Florida, one each in Alachua and Pasco counties.
Olga’s remnants later continued up the east coast, helping to intensify a strong winter storm that hammered the mid-Atlantic and New England states as well as the Atlantic provinces of Canada.
For more information about Tropical Storm Olga, visit the Wikipedia page at en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tropical_Storm_Olga_(2007). For information about the severe winter storm that was fed by Olga’s energy, visit en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mid-December_2007_North_American_Winter_storms#December_15-16_storm.
What does THAT mean?
Flood zones and evacuation zones or levels. These two terms appear to be so close in meaning that some people use them interchangeably. However, they both refer to very specific, often unrelated, things.
Flood zones are areas mapped by FEMA for use in the National Flood Insurance Program. Each flood zone designation, represented by a letter or letters tells homeowners exactly what the risk is for flooding on their property. In other words, planners determine what percentage chance there is for flooding at your residence over a period of years, regardless of the cause. Storm surge from the Gulf, water overwashing a stream or pond, or excessive rainfall on poorly-drained areas are all considered flood risks. Some areas, such as B, C and X, are considered low-risk flood areas (less than a one percent chance of flooding per year), and flood insurance is not required as a condition of holding a mortgage. High-risk areas (greater than a one percent chance of flooding per year, or greater than a 26 percent chance of flooding during the life of a 30-year mortgage) are designated by the letter A with a suffix describing the particular type of flood threat the property is most vulnerable to. For example, if your home’s rating is AO, it is particularly susceptible to flooding from a river or stream. Areas designated by the letter V are also high-risk areas that are subject to coastal flooding.
Evacuation zones are determined by ground elevation and the area’s vulnerability to storm surge from a hurricane. These zones range from A through E and areas that are non-evacuation. The National Hurricane Center uses a model called SLOSH (Sea Lake Overland Surge from Hurricane) to determine just how high a storm surge will be, based on the strength and direction of travel a storm takes. The levels roughly correlate with the Saffir-Simpson category of storm. For instance, a Category 1 storm will require a level A evacuation.
Even though both of these types of zones are determined by different methods and refer to different functions, since they are referred to by letter, homeowners could easily become confused. A home may be located in a non-evacuation zone yet be in a flood zone due to the proximity of a nearby stream or pond.
For more detailed information on flood zones, visit the National Flood Insurance Program’s website at www.fema.gov/business/nfip or the Pinellas County Planning Department website at www.pinellascounty.org/Plan/flood.htm. For more information about finding your evacuation zone, visit www.pinellascounty.org/emergency/knowyourzone.htm.
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