NOAA
CONCLUDES SUCCESSFUL HURRICANE AWARENESS TOUR
Continued Preparedness Efforts Urged
May
5, 2006 � With the official start of the Atlantic hurricane season less
than one month away, NOAA's 2006 Hurricane
Awareness Tour came to a successful conclusion today in Tampa, Fla.,
delivering its message of the need for hurricane preparedness to thousands
of visitors and media audiences. (Click NOAA image for larger
view of school children visiting the NOAA hurricane hunter aircraft
while on a stop in Mobile, Ala., on May 3, 2006. Click
here for high resolution version. Please credit “NOAA.”)
More than
4,000 students and other guests throughout the Gulf Coast region toured
"Kermit," one of NOAA's Lockheed WP-3D Orion hurricane hunter
aircraft, during stops in Brownsville and Beaumont, Texas; Mobile, Ala.;
and West Palm Beach and Tampa, Fla., which were extensively covered
by local and regional media.
Max Mayfield,
director of the NOAA National Hurricane
Center, emphasized the importance of an individual hurricane plan.
"We know that people who have a hurricane plan, and execute that
plan, fare much better than those that do not," said Mayfield.
"Each person needs to take individual responsibility and make preparations
now."
The
NOAA National Weather Service forecast offices arranged the event with
local governments, emergency managers, FEMA, schools, the public and
the media in a team effort to increase hurricane awareness and encourage
preparedness in this vulnerable area of the nation. (Click NOAA
image for larger view of school children getting the inside scoop of
flying into hurricanes from NOAA electronics technician Bill Olney while
aboard the NOAA hurricane hunter aircraft during a stop in Brownsville,
Texas., on May 1, 2006. Click
here for high resolution version. Please credit “NOAA.”)
"Educating
the public is an ongoing mission. Hurricane season starts on June 1
and coastal residents need to be prepared," said Bill Proenza,
director of the NOAA National Weather Service southern region.
NOAA, an
agency of the U.S. Department of
Commerce, is dedicated to enhancing economic security and national
safety through the prediction and research of weather and climate-related
events and providing environmental stewardship of the nation's coastal
and marine resources.
Through the emerging Global Earth Observation System of Systems (GEOSS),
NOAA is working with its federal partners, 61 countries and the European
Commission to develop a global network that is as integrated as the
planet it observes, predicts and protects.
Relevant Web Sites
NOAA Hurricane
Preparedness Week
NOAA
National Hurricane Center
NOAA
Aircraft Operations Center
NOAA
Satellite Images of 2005 Storms
NOAA
Hurricanes Page
Media
Contact:
Dennis Feltgen, NOAA
National Weather Service, (301) 713-0622 ext. 127
(Photos courtesy of Lori Bast, NOAA Aircraft Operations Center.)
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