Palm Beach Post: Hurricane experts warn of complacency

[gatorcane]

This is exactly what I have been warning to all people on this board.

Thanks Palm Beach Post for telling more people. South Florida still hasn't seen the knock-out punch nor have many other vulnerable areas of the GOM and EC

snippet:

Experts worry too many South Floridians are using the lighter hits from Frances, Jeanne, Katrina and Wilma as a yardstick for all future hurricane preparation.

That could mean fewer residents evacuating from flood-prone coastal areas, putting up hurricane shutters and storing away enough food and water.

http://www.palmbeachpost.com/storm/cont ... _0511.html

Thoughts on this complacency?

[SouthFloridawx]

I have only lived here for 4 years but, I have noticed the same thing the article is talking about. With the large influx of people moving from the inland areas, new york, new jersey, michigan and pennsylvania they have little or no hurricane experience. People just do not prepare for hurricanes here in south florida like they should and that was proven by wilma as we saw Thousands of people out looking for food and water not 12 hours after the storm. When south florida eventually someday gets a major hurricane they will not be ready. It's a great Idea of palm beach county to try to get as many brochures, newspaper articles and hurricane preparedness on our local news channels.

[MiamiensisWx]

What surprises me is that the conference on hurricanes in Fort Lauderdale has not gotten the attention in the local newspapers that I expected and think it should get. That is a problem because conferences like this are VERY important for Floridians to hear about or participate in/discuss on lessons learned, to take every storm seriously (even tropical storms) and not categorize storms' destructiveness by intensity, ways to get prepared/receive relief, not to rely on the government as much after a storm by preparing more before the season starts, and many other good related things. The local papers should give this conference and these points more attention, yet I have not seen them doing this. Has anyone else noticed this?

[Scorpion]

I agree. Thankfully I am smarter than this and know that I only got Cat 1 winds in all 3 storms. Some people are just in denial though.

[gatorcane]

Yep CAT 1 winds with maybe CAT 2 gusts in northern Palm Beach. Some sustained CAT 2 winds in some of Palm Beach...

Last year when Wilma was approaching, some people in the area I spoke with could not imagine it could be worse then Frances -

Wilma was FAR worse in South Palm Beach - but not nearly as bad as it could get.

[Blown Away]

Yep CAT 1 winds with maybe CAT 2 gusts in northern Palm Beach. Some sustained CAT 2 winds in some of Palm Beach...

Last year when Wilma was approaching, some people in the area I spoke with could not imagine it could be worse then Frances -

Wilma was FAR worse in South Palm Beach - but not nearly as bad as it could get.

Wilma gave coastal PB County Cat 1 sustained w/ Cat 2 gusts, Belle Glade area got Cat 2. Frances & Jeanne were Treasure Coast & extreme N PB County events. Boca - Stuart got the same winds from Wilma +/- a few knots, the reason the damage was more significant in S PB County was due to all the thick vegetation, older roofs, and weak structures not getting cleared from S PB County during Frances & Jeanne like it did from WPB - Vero.

[Aquawind]

While I think there is clearly some complacency in some people for many reasons including:

1. Know it alls(been there done that in their eyes).

2. Not knowing a thing.

3. The Gov't will take care of me.

Complacency is not the only concern. I feel many people have basically given up with the financial burdens of preparation. Money is getting tight as insurance, energy, housing and many other costs including reconstruction, and just good old shutters are becoming more and more out of reach for the average person to afford. Soooo many homes still have blue tarps from 2 years ago. These people either didn't get the financial support or couldn't afford coverage. In some cases they did get ripped off by the insurance companies or simply didn't understand what they were buying. Or they did get the money but it wasn't enough and thus thought they could get it fixed some other way(which never happens like all of those home projects on the back shelf) or they simply had to spend the money on something else. People can take a huge financial hit without even considering the home and getting it repaired.

Unless your doing fairly well and can afford to have a contractor put up shutters and what will cost thousands of dollars or your a handy person who can build themselves shutters sooo many go without. It does take alot of money to protect your property and at least some for your life. Now you can pack up and leave your belongings and save your life. But if you lose everything even with assistance your life is going to be changed for a long time.. Ask the folks still in the FEMA parks from Charlie. I think there is a feeling of desperation and thus giving up due to the financial stress for many these days.. Heck many don't have cars and if they do it's spendy to fill the car with gas and get a hotel and not work even for a couple days. Many families don't really have that kind of budget. Through the shutter bid of 5-10-$30,000.00 and they just give up on the belongings and just save their lives but leaving if they can afford it. Wants and Needs are 2 different things and clearly many think all is lost and give up if they don't get what they want. Do nothing till the last second and usually packing up and leaving is like some big decision even.. I sense desperation and stressful risk taking in many families. I tend to think alot of the post storm charity could go to pre storm charity. I mentioned this financial issue to Craig Fugate the Florida Director of Emergency Management and you can hear his response in the podcast. There are many options to get the little things. But nobody gets free shutters and free supplies etc.. They can get what they truly need fairly cheap and suffer most likely in some form even if they don't get blasted at their home. 2 things Craig mentioned we should have charities giving out hurricane prep kits before the storm and not just after. He also mentioned a plan in Hillsborough County where they are matching up people in Evac zones with those inland prior to the season. If you have listened to me on IPR before you know I have concern for the people in poverty and that includes many of the elderly( ~70% of Katrina deaths) on limited incomes. The poor really suffer and I hope they don't just give up along with median income families because of the financial burden and that fact that they just don't wanna deal with the stress. Few can Really afford to live in Florida or along the hurricane prone coastlines these days..

I just thinks it's a whole lot more than complacency and ignorance.. It's one thing to plan it's another to execute the plan no matter how simple it may be and I am afraid the burden is more than many want to handle..so they gamble high stakes(bet the farm). More prestorm friendships and support need to be developed to make this work with so many active years forecast ahead. This personal responsability thing is probably more than than many can handle and even more so for the poor and elderly.. JMHO

[gatorcane]

Aquawind great post

I agree with your points

[benny]

If you haven't gone through the eyewall of a major hurricane... specifically the stronger side (usually the right or northern side).. then you didn't go through the hurricane. Period. It can be so much worse. People need to be prepared to be at ground zero... aka Punta Gorda, Homestead, Pass Christian... none of this outer band stuff... It is hard to emphasize this point though.

[BocaGirl]

What surprises me is that the conference on hurricanes in Fort Lauderdale has not gotten the attention in the local newspapers that I expected and think it should get. That is a problem because conferences like this are VERY important for Floridians to hear about or participate in/discuss on lessons learned, to take every storm seriously (even tropical storms) and not categorize storms' destructiveness by intensity, ways to get prepared/receive relief, not to rely on the government as much after a storm by preparing more before the season starts, and many other good related things. The local papers should give this conference and these points more attention, yet I have not seen them doing this. Has anyone else noticed this?

CVW, I have spoken to several members of our Fire department who are attending this conference. What I have gotten from them and from looking at the program is that this conference is aimed more at those in municipal service and less for the general public. That said, there has been coverage about the conference almost every night on the local news. Tonight there was an interview with Dr. Gray. On Monday, Channel 5 ran a piece from the conference featuring the PIO of the Boca Raton Fire Department.

By the way, the City of Boca Raton has been running some great Hurricane Preparedness seminars throughout the city. The next one comes up on May 15 at 7:00 PM at James A. Rutherford Community Center located at 200 Yamato Road. I hope every Boca resident finds time to go to one of the seminars this year.

BocaGirl
Barbara

[gatorcane]

CVW, I have spoken to several members of our Fire department who are attending this conference. What I have gotten from them and from looking at the program is that this conference is aimed more at those in municipal service and less for the general public. That said, there has been coverage about the conference almost every night on the local news. Tonight there was an interview with Dr. Gray. On Monday, Channel 5 ran a piece from the conference featuring the PIO of the Boca Raton Fire Department.

By the way, the Ciry of Boca Raton has been running some great Hurricane Preparedness seminars throughout the city. The next one comes up on May 15 at 7:00 PM at James A. Rutherford Community Center located at 200 Yamato Road. I hope every Boca resident finds time to go to one of the seminars this year.

BocaGirl
Barbara

As always Barbara, thanks for letting us know where the local activities are.

-Chris

[BocaGirl]

This is exactly what I have been warning to all people on this board.

Thanks Palm Beach Post for telling more people. South Florida still hasn't seen the knock-out punch nor have many other vulnerable areas of the GOM and EC

Thoughts on this complacency?

Chris,

I can tell you that in your own city - Boca Raton - over 400 CERT members are prepared and ready for this year's storms. Interest in the program has never been higher. We are graduating a new class on May 24 and our June class is already filled. The next class, which starts in August, is filling up fast.

As Team Leader Coordinator of Boca Raton CERT, I can tell you that I have never seen people so interested in getting prepared. Not just in the CERT organization or the Fire Department, but in my office, the gas station, where my son works, etc. Where folks used to talk about sports, travel or maybe American Idol, they are now talking about generators, flashlights and coolers. Shutters are a hot topic around the coffee room.

I just don't see the complacency thing.

This is not to say that people really understand the breadth and magnitude of a Cat 4 storm. Most don't. And yes, some people think that Wilma was the big one. But there are very few people kicking back and waiting for nature to take its course. No way.

Complacent? No. Just about everyone I've talked to thinks we're going to get socked with something - whether it's a tropical storm or a Wilma or an Andrew - again in 2006.

(BTW, we'd love to have you in the August CERT class!)

BocaGirl
Barbara

[gatorcane]

Chris,

I can tell you that in your own city - Boca Raton - over 400 CERT members are prepared and ready for this year's storms. Interest in the program has never been higher. We are graduating a new class on May 24 and our June class is already filled. The next class, which starts in August, is filling up fast.

As Team Leader Coordinator of Boca Raton CERT, I can tell you that I have never seen people so interested in getting prepared. Not just in the CERT organization or the Fire Department, but in my office, the gas station, where my son works, etc. Where folks used to talk about sports, travel or maybe American Idol, they are now talking about generators, flashlights and coolers. Shutters are a hot topic around the coffee room.

I just don't see the complacency thing.

This is not to say that people really understand the breadth and magnitude of a Cat 4 storm. Most don't. And yes, some people think that Wilma was the big one. But there are very few people kicking back and waiting for nature to take its course. No way.

Complacent? No. Just about everyone I've talked to thinks we're going to get socked with something - whether it's a tropical storm or a Wilma or an Andrew - again in 2006.

(BTW, we'd love to have you in the August CERT class!)

BocaGirl
Barbara

Barbara I promise I will make it to one of your classes. They sound interesting and educational. You bring up some good points. I think Katrina actually has lessened the complacency here more than the storms that hit here - people now know that a CAT 5 close to home is a reality where it has been so quiet the past 50+ years.

But we are far from done in ameliorating this complacency. The one main argument against your comment is that there are many people moving here from out-of-state (especially New York, New Jersey, etc) where they have no idea what a hurricane can do. They just see bright sunny skies, palm trees, and sparkling beaches - that is it. How do we address these types of people that live here with no prior experience?

[T'Bonz]

I agree about the money aspects. Even the cheapest shutters are very expensive. We were lucky to be able to get shutters last year (a mix of the silver ones that one puts up and the white permanent ones that one pulls shut), but a few years ago, financially it would have been impossible.

Add to that the $400 to replace our front yard (trees, plants, sod, mulch, etc.) the several hundred dollars for the "minor" roof repair, the $500 assessment for cleanup in our development and the insurance hike, and it's no wonder that people may not be able to prepare. I have two children in college and money doesn't grow on trees.

Other people with worse damage (roof) had it worse. And all of this for a minimal cat 2 hurricane (in my area.) I don't want to think about what a cat 4 - 5 will do. But I wouldn't experience the hurricane out of here, because after Wilma, I will leave for a cat 3, 4 or 5, not just a cat 4 or 5 as I had planned before experiencing Wilma.

But then again, you evac, and that's more money hemorrhaging out of one's wallet. Food, gas, motel costs. *sigh*

We were hoping to buy a generator this year, but with one child graduating college and our last one going in, we don't have the extra money. So I'll have to hope that we don't get whacked like we did this year, or worse.

Another bad hit or two, and who knows? Maybe we'd have to move out of the area. I'd like to last the ten years until retirement, but I don't want to spend our retirement money on hurricane costs like this year.

People aren't complacent, not those who went through Wilma. Two weeks sans power has a way of humbling one.

[SouthFloridawx]

This is exactly what I have been warning to all people on this board.

Thanks Palm Beach Post for telling more people. South Florida still hasn't seen the knock-out punch nor have many other vulnerable areas of the GOM and EC

Thoughts on this complacency?

Chris,

I can tell you that in your own city - Boca Raton - over 400 CERT members are prepared and ready for this year's storms. Interest in the program has never been higher. We are graduating a new class on May 24 and our June class is already filled. The next class, which starts in August, is filling up fast.

As Team Leader Coordinator of Boca Raton CERT, I can tell you that I have never seen people so interested in getting prepared. Not just in the CERT organization or the Fire Department, but in my office, the gas station, where my son works, etc. Where folks used to talk about sports, travel or maybe American Idol, they are now talking about generators, flashlights and coolers. Shutters are a hot topic around the coffee room.

I just don't see the complacency thing.

This is not to say that people really understand the breadth and magnitude of a Cat 4 storm. Most don't. And yes, some people think that Wilma was the big one. But there are very few people kicking back and waiting for nature to take its course. No way.

Complacent? No. Just about everyone I've talked to thinks we're going to get socked with something - whether it's a tropical storm or a Wilma or an Andrew - again in 2006.

(BTW, we'd love to have you in the August CERT class!)

BocaGirl
Barbara

BocaGirl,

I was at the advanced classes for skywarn and got to meet who I think was the head of CERT there. Foregive me I forgeet his name. He seems very knowledgable and has a sincere urge to teach people and wants his community to be prepared not for just hurricanes but anything that may come thier way. I think i am going to sign up for the cert classes. I now live in Delray Beach, just moved there from boynton. Anyway just though I would point that out.

[BocaGirl]

BocaGirl,

I was at the advanced classes for skywarn and got to meet who I think was the head of CERT there. Foregive me I forgeet his name. He seems very knowledgable and has a sincere urge to teach people and wants his community to be prepared not for just hurricanes but anything that may come thier way. I think i am going to sign up for the cert classes. I now live in Delray Beach, just moved there from boynton. Anyway just though I would point that out.

I'm glad you had a good time. We'd love to have in the class. Like I said, sign up soon......the August class is filling up fast! I'll look forward to meeting you. Feel free to PIM me for more informantion.

BocaGirl
Barbara