Lesson 9: Lessons Learned from Hurricane Season 2004

[SeaBrz_FL]

LESSON 9

Stock up on the right things
Have enough supplies to last at least 5 days, officials say

Byline: Etan Horowitz, Orlando Sentinel

When hurricane season started last year, Lori Stollar of Leesburg paid little attention. She didn't buy any supplies and continued going about her everyday life.

"I always said it was never going to happen to us because we are too far inland," Stollar said.

But after three hurricanes battered Central Florida, she learned her lesson and isn't taking any chances this hurricane season.

"I'm going to prepare even before one is coming," Stollar said. "I don't want to wait until the last minute to stock up on batteries and water."

Across the region, people are learning from last year's experience and are poised to gear up for what could be another active hurricane season.

"Prepare for the worst, hope for the best," is a mantra that has added importance this year.

Some vow to have more gas on hand to run portable generators; others are planning to use leftover supplies such as water, batteries and flashlights. And local governments have even changed their instructions to residents as a result of last year's storms.

Before last year, many governments advised people to have enough supplies to last them 72 hours, said Alan Harris, Seminole County's emergency-operations manager. But with slow-moving storms such as Hurricane Frances, many people were without power for weeks and could not get to stores to restock.

"A hurricane may take five days just to get by," Harris said. "It's the same supplies, but now we are trying to encourage people to have a kit to last them for five days instead of three days."

Mike McCarthy of Tavares echoed Harris' sentiments and said he wished he had more gas for his generators last year. McCarthy has a lakefront home and had to keep cycling his generators on and off to preserve the gas.

"If we had more gas, we could have kept everything running all the time," McCarthy said.