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As I wrote in yesterday’s blog about monitoring Beryl, FEMA remains in close coordination with our partners at the National Hurricane Center in tracking what is now Tropical Storm Beryl.

On a more personal note, I just happen to be in the Daytona Beach area this weekend visiting family, and I am very appreciative of the information that is coming from state and local officials as it pertains to Beryl’s expected landfall. When it comes to severe weather and the aftermath they leave behind, FEMA always advises individuals to closely monitor the advice of local officials. The latest forecast track for Beryl has prompted tropical storm warnings from the Volusia/Brevard county line in Florida to Edisto Beach, South Carolina.

Staff in our regional office in Atlanta, Ga., and in Washington, D.C., are monitoring Tropical Storm Beryl, and as I noted yesterday, we have deployed a liaison to the National Hurricane Center in Miami, Fla. to share information on current conditions with the regional office and affected states.

The latest from the National Weather Service shows that the storm has maximum sustained winds near 60 miles per hour, with higher gusts. There is little change in strength expected before tropical storm Beryl makes landfall, and tropical storm conditions are expected to reach the coast within the warning area from northeastern Florida to southern South Carolina late this afternoon, and continue throughout tonight.

As can be the case with these systems, dangerous surf conditions, including rip currents, are expected along the coast from northeastern Florida to North Carolina for the remainder of the Memorial Day Weekend. All of us here at FEMA encourage individuals to monitor local radio and television news outlets or listen to NOAA Weather Radio for the latest developments.

On another note, ironically, the hurricane season isn’t supposed to start until June 1, yet we already have our second named storm. As part of leading up to the start of hurricane season FEMA has joined with the National Weather Service to promote hurricane preparedness week – starting today.

On this first day of Hurricane Preparedness Week, FEMA encourages all individuals in hurricane-prone areas to know your risk and make a pledge to prepare at ready.gov/hurricanes. You can complete your emergency preparedness plan, update your emergency kit and Be a Force of Nature and share your preparedness efforts with family and friends.

You can save a life by sharing your readiness tips with others and encouraging them to do the same. Make a YouTube video on how you prepared, share information on Facebook, comment about the importance of preparing on a blog, or post a tweet using #imaforce. And if you’re on other social media sites, post messages there too.

You can also add our preparedness widget on your website to share the information with your website visitors.


We’ll continue to post updates on Beryl as needed, but you should continue to visit hurricanes.gov/ for the latest updates. And this week we’ll have guest bloggers as part of Hurricane Preparedness Week, so stay tuned.