National Hurricane Survival Initiative

Saving Lives & Minimizing Damage -- Is your community prepared?

Active, Record-Setting 2020 Hurricane Season Closes

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Preparedness and Recovery Key to Protection for Floridians.

Tallahassee, FL – 2020 will be remembered for making history in the most active Atlantic hurricane season since 2005, when a record-setting 28 storms formed. But that’s history now, as the 2020 season shattered the mark and now holds the record for the most named storms in a season at 30. This year’s storm season, which started early when Tropical Storm Arthur formed on May 16, officially ends today as the most active since official record keeping began in 1851.

Despite the many challenges posed by the global pandemic, Floridians largely escaped the full fury of hurricane season thanks to the preparations of emergency managers, the attentiveness of residents – and a measure of luck. Four of the storms touched Florida, but only one – Hurricane Eta earlier this month – made direct landfall in the state.

Twelve storms made landfall in the continental United States, a number of them targeting our neighbors to the west in Alabama, Mississippi, and Louisiana. The 2020 hurricane season also brought more devastation from the storms and longer-lasting effects than in recent years. And because additional storms are possible even though the calendar says hurricane season is ending, forecasters at the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration’s National Hurricane Center will continuously monitor the tropics for storm development and activity.

“Like most things in 2020, this hurricane season was truly one for the record books,” said Craig Fugate, former Federal Emergency Management Administrator. “Thankfully, we now have an advanced lead time that emergency managers need to evacuate vulnerable areas and stage resources ahead of landfalling storms so we can help people withstand the worst impacts of wind and water.”

Paul Handerhan, a spokesman for Florida’s FAIR Foundation, said preparedness efforts among federal, state, and local emergency managers, and community groups helped protect lives and property. The FAIR Foundation is a nonprofit dedicated to creating safer, stronger, and more resilient communities in the face of natural disasters. Even though 13 of the storms became hurricanes – including six major hurricanes with winds topping 111 mph – the continental U.S. was largely spared the devastation experienced in Central America and elsewhere. 

“The 2020 hurricane season caused at least $14 billion in damages in the U.S., and Florida alone has over a million homes that are vulnerable to storm surge but are uninsured for flood risk,” said Handerhan. “It’s critical that Floridians access affordable private flood insurance to properly insure their properties and narrow the insurance protection gap so they can get their lives back without the lingering impacts of financial devastation.”

This historic season saw record water levels in several locations, including along the Gulf Coast – soaked by Hurricane Sally, Pensacola experienced its highest observed water levels since Hurricane Katrina in 2005. But taken together, the collective U.S. damage caused by all the storms this season likely won’t come close to matching those of individual catastrophic storms that caused massive destruction in highly populated areas such as Katrina in 2005, Sandy in 2012, and Michael in 2018.

This is the fifth consecutive year with an above-normal Atlantic hurricane season, in keeping with a pattern that has seen 18 above-average seasons out of the past 26. Preparedness for this increasing number and intensity of storms by Floridians is a key factor also cited by Brittany Perkins Castillo, CEO of AshBritt Environmental, a rapid-response disaster recovery and environmental services company. 

“We see the physical and emotional toll these storms have on entire communities long after the actual storm has passed,” Perkins Castillo said. “Our goal is to get families and communities back on their feet as quickly as possible. Every year carries the potential to be another record-breaker, and that’s why it’s so important that as part of annual hurricane planning, Floridians have to make it a priority to check in with their insurance providers ahead of time to review coverage and insurance plans.”

Floridians’ concerns about coming hurricane season spike, amid overlapping COVID-19 pandemic ongoing issues

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Floridians cite strain on first responders, economic hits, and finding shelter

A majority of Floridians are more concerned than usual about the coming 2020 hurricane season, given the simultaneous continuing issues related to the COVID-19 pandemic. Nearly all Floridians expressed at least one significant concern – from the strain on first responders and more business closures to damaging hits on the economy, according to a new survey conducted by the statewide hurricane safety initiative, Get Ready, Florida!

“COVID-19 has created a very real, sustained sense of anxiety, and that’s even before the wild card of a major hurricane,” said Jay Neal, President and CEO of the FAIR Foundation and a Get Ready, Florida! partner. “Add hurricane season to the uncertainty of the pandemic and you introduce another set of serious issues to worry about.”

More than half of Floridians surveyed (51%) feel more concerned about hurricanes this year than in other years due to their experiences with the COVID-19 pandemic over the past few months, with the rest feeling no different at all. More than 9 in 10 (91%) said they had at least one concern regarding the upcoming hurricane season, including:

  • More strains on first responders (62%)
    • Business closures or more hits to the economy (58%)
    • Fewer shelters open due to social distancing (43%)
    • Uncertainty about where it would be safe to evacuate to (39%)
    • Ability to care for elderly or special needs relatives (35%)
    • Ability to afford supplies (30%)

That uncertainty about where and how to evacuate or find shelter may aggravate an existing problem – the tendency of many Floridians to ignore evacuation recommendations or wait until the last minute. According to the survey, nearly half (47%) of Floridians report that they have stayed where they live through a storm despite recommendations to evacuate.

“Social distancing will change the way we shelter people in a hurricane, without a doubt,” said Craig Fugate, former administrator of the Federal Emergency Management Agency. “For instance, everyone should add masks to their family hurricane kit. But if you’re told to evacuate, you still need to heed those orders and get out to a safer place.”

The economic strain of COVID-19 may also leave some Floridians less prepared for hurricane season. In addition to the 30% who worry about their ability to afford supplies, about 25% say they have put off needed home repairs due to COVID-19.

Many Floridians continue to lack essential safety knowledge needed for hurricane season. For instance, when asked where it’s safe to use a generator, 27% cite an unsafe spot, including a balcony or garage.

And while nearly a quarter of Floridians (23%) feel more prepared for hurricane season, possibly because they’ve become accustomed to spending more time at home, experts say it is important that all Floridians stock up on the basics they need to weather a storm.

“It’s important to plan ahead and ensure you have an adequate supply of tap and/or bottled water when hurricanes emerge as a potential threat, said Kent Koptiuch, natural resource manager for Nestlé Waters North America. “Emergency managers now recommend households have enough food and water for seven days, including one gallon of water per person per day.”

Get Ready, Florida! is an annual statewide public education initiative that has been working to educate Floridians about hurricane preparedness and safety for more than 20 years. The survey of 1,500 Florida voters was conducted by Sachs Media Group on May 21-22, 2020, with a margin of error +/- 2.2% at the 95% confidence level. To see the full survey results or for more information about hurricane preparedness, visit hurricanesafety.org.

The impacts and costs of flooding

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By: Craig Fugate

In an era of increasingly intense and frequent severe weather, tens of millions of Americans are all too familiar with the impacts and costs of flooding.

Unfortunately, Congress has failed to update flood policy to meet the challenges of this new norm, instead choosing to continually extend its own deadline for reauthorizing the National Flood Insurance Program (NFIP), which provides federally backed coverage for homeowners and small businesses in 22,000 communities nationwide.

The program, which is more than $20 billion in debt, is in dire need of reform. In its current form, the NFIP has failed in two of its goals — decreasing the costs from flood damage and improving the federal government’s management of flood risk — and without major improvements will continue to burn through taxpayer dollars while incentivizing policyholders to live in at-risk areas through subsidized premiums.

And yet, Congress has kicked this can down the road for the seventh time in less than a year.

This continued delay comes despite the fact that some in Congress are proposing fresh ideas for fixing the program. Pending bills would require sellers to disclose flood risk to homebuyers, require repeatedly flooded communities to develop localized plans to reduce risk, enhance mapping of risk areas, boost investments in resilience — for example, through a revolving loan fund — and engage private insurers, all viable strategies to keep people safer while decreasing the costs of disasters.

The failure of Congress to act on these proposals should be particularly concerning to the tens of millions of Americans who live in areas with a 26 percent chance of flooding during the life of a 30-year mortgage.

And there’s a more immediate threat: The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration predicts a 75 percent chance that this year’s hurricane season, which began June 1, will be equal to or worse than average (the season has already produced two hurricanes, a benchmark that isn’t reached until Aug. 28 in an average year).

Last year’s destruction from Hurricanes Harvey, Irma and Maria caused more than $270 billion in losses. Even now, 10 months after the last of those storms, many Americans continue to grapple with their losses and unsettled insurance claims, and many communities struggle with how and where to rebuild.

Americans deserve better from the NFIP. Established in 1968 to compensate for a lack of available private insurance and to promote sound floodplain management, the program is where most people turn for flood insurance. And in the five decades since the NFIP’s creation, it has grown to cover roughly 5 million policyholders nationwide. Unfortunately, in that time it also has largely failed to mitigate flood risk while becoming fiscally unsustainable.

Each month, people unwittingly buy homes in areas likely to flood, learning only at closing that they’re required to carry flood insurance on their new property — coverage that isn’t included in a standard homeowner’s policy.

Some, due to a perceived lack of flood risk, feel they should not be required to purchase the insurance, and many who have flood insurance policies — even those who pay federally subsidized premiums — believe the costs are too high. And others who are not required to buy insurance because they live adjacent to — versus in — designated flood-prone areas are often unable to pay for repairs and rebuilding when major storms flood their properties.

Fiscal conservatives who support self-sustaining government policy and programs largely want the NFIP reformed and point to the billions in losses that the program has racked up, including the recent forgiveness of a $16 billion debt to the federal Treasury.

Others who are similarly concerned about wasteful spending note that the program functions as a perverse incentive, encouraging people to live in high-flood-risk areas and to rebuild, sometimes again and again, after their homes are damaged or destroyed — rebuilding that is financed through subsidies and payouts.

Floods don’t choose political sides or respect jurisdictional boundaries, nor are they confined to the coasts. In the past decade, landlocked states accounted for eight of the 10 states that experienced the most flood-related disaster declarations. And allowing the federal government to fund repairs and rebuilding for policyholders that repeatedly flood — in some cases to the tune of exponentially more money than what their property is worth — will drive the NFIP deeper into debt.

With the historic flood costs our nation suffered last year, and the potential for billions of dollars more in damage this year, Congress must act now to authorize a modernized NFIP with effective policies regarding disclosure and repetitive-loss properties. That is one surefire way to help communities prepare for flooding and break the costly cycle of rebuilding the same structures time and time again.

Craig Fugate was administrator of the Federal Emergency Management Agency from 2009 to 2016.

Source: https://amp.washingtontimes.com/news/2018/aug/5/the-impacts-and-costs-of-flooding/?__twitter_impression=true

Column: For hurricane season, keep a hand-crank or battery-powered radio at the ready

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Article Written By: Craig Fugate

All Floridians should have a battery-operated or hand-crank broadcast radio in their hurricane emergency supply kit. That’s a key lesson I’ve learned from a career spent in public safety, including nearly eight years as head of the Federal Emergency Management Agency.

It is easy for Americans to trust that their smart phone, the internet or pay-TV will be there when they need critical information when disaster strikes. Time and again, though, we see cellular networks go down or become congested. Our cable or satellite TV system is knocked offline. The power goes out and we are left in the dark, literally and figuratively.

That happened to me in Gainesville during Hurricane Irma — the power went out, taking out my cable and with it went the internet. My cellular data stopped working. Good thing I had a battery-powered radio. It was the only news source I had.

Last year was a wake-up call. Americans watched as Hurricane Harvey slammed into Texas’ Gulf Coast and caused unprecedented flooding. Hurricane Irma tore a path that left millions of residents in the dark from Florida up the Atlantic Coast. And, in Puerto Rico and U.S. Virgin Islands, Hurricane Maria caused devastation from which residents are still recovering and its effects may be felt for decades to come.

As we approach the heart of hurricane season, Americans should heed the lessons from last year and prepare themselves. And they need to know where to find live, local and detailed information during times of crisis. Knowing what is going on, where to find help and how to avoid trouble can make the difference between staying safe or getting caught in a dangerous situation.

That is why – from a career spent in public safety, including nearly eight years as head of the Federal Emergency Management Agency – I believe all Americans should have a battery-operated or hand-crank broadcast radio in their emergency supplies. Local broadcasters remain our communities’ most important “first informers,” working closely with public safety officials at every level to keep Americans updated on the situation. During last year’s hurricanes, local radio and TV stations went wall-to-wall with coverage, providing critical information about evacuation plans, places of aid for those in need and how to avoid disease for those stuck in their homes.

Yet, despite broadcast radio’s role as a source of lifeline information, many Americans fail to include a broadcast radio in their emergency plans. Thankfully, an innovative feature can turn many smartphones into an FM radio receiver during times of emergency, without having to stream over the internet or waste excessive battery life.

Mobile devices have for years been manufactured with FM radio chips which, when paired with headphones acting as an antenna, allows users to tune to local radio broadcasts even when a cellular network goes down. Though a popular feature in the rest of the world, many wireless carriers in the United States kept these FM chips deactivated until relatively recently.

The 2017 hurricanes showed radio-enabled smartphones can play a significant role in keeping people safe. Radio listenership on smartphones exploded in Texas and South Florida as hurricanes Harvey and Irma barreled down on the areas, allowing residents to use their mobile devices to get the latest updates about the storm from their local radio stations. In the Tampa Bay area, the NextRadio app — which enables over-the-air radio listening — had more than eight times more listeners on the Sunday before the storm hit than the previous week. Before a storm hits, test to see if your smartphone has this capability.

If you have an iPhone, you’re out of luck.

While the rest of the wireless industry has recognized the public safety benefits of radio-enabled smartphones — and despite calls from newspapers, lawmakers and even the chairman of the Federal Communications Commission — Apple continues to resist this innovative public service.

Americans need more access to lifeline information when disaster strikes — information local radio stations provide day-in and day-out. I strongly urge Apple to do the right thing and equip iPhones with FM radio capability. In the meantime, have that radio ready.

Craig Fugate served as FEMA administrator from May 2009 to January 2017. Previously, he served as Florida Gov. Jeb Bush’s Emergency Management director from 2001 to 2009.

Source: http://www.tampabay.com/opinion/columns/Column-For-hurricane-season-keep-a-hand-crank-or-battery-powered-radio-at-the-ready_169489997