Preparing for the 2016 Hurricane Season
On May 27, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) will issue its hurricane outlook for 2016. Hurricanes not only affect coastal communities, but also can have significant impacts hundreds of miles inland. All hurricanes could potentially cause significant damage.
NOAA's seasonal hurricane forecasts are comprised of three separate outlooks:
- the Central Pacific Hurricane Outlook, which runs from May 15 to November 30;
- the North Atlantic Hurricane Outlook, located on the Atlantic basin, which runs from June 1 to November 30, with the peak of the season occurring from mid-August to late October;
- and the Eastern Pacific Hurricane Outlook, located primarily in the Baja California area, which runs from May 15 through November 30.
As FEMA employees, we set an example for preparedness. By preparing for emergencies, we can better focus on serving communities in need. What can you do to get ready? Here are just a few steps you can take to get ready for hurricane season:
Stay Informed: Keep abreast of news and weather reports that have the potential to develop into a major event.
Communicate with family: Plan how you will assemble your family and loved ones, and anticipate where you will go for different situations. Get together with your family and agree on the ways to contact one another in an emergency, identify meeting locations, and make a Family Emergency Communication Plan.
Download the FEMA app: Receive weather alerts, safety tips and push notifications from the FEMA app to prepare your home and family for disasters. The app also provides a customizable checklist of emergency supplies, maps of open shelters and recovery centers, tips on how to survive disasters, and alerts from the National Weather Service.
Get Prepared: There are several actions you can take before disaster strikes to ensure your own personal readiness in the event you are called to deploy. At work, this may include reviewing the 2016 mandatory training requirements, as well as logging into FEMA Deployment Tracking System (DTS) to make sure your contact information is up-to-date and validated in DTS. Have you refreshed your go bag and prepared your household for your absence if you’re called to deploy? Be sure to set plans in place to ensure your family, pets, finances, etc are cared for in your absence should you be deployed to the field in support of disaster survivors.
For additional information, visit www.ready.gov/hurricanes or www.noaa.gov.
