WASHINGTON, D.C. – We are at the start of hurricane season and the Caribbean is preparing itself for an unusually early storm this year with tropical storm Bret expecting to bring some heavy rains to some of the islands. We spoke with FEMA on this and how the agency is preparing for upcoming storms.
June kicks off hurricane season and in a rare occurrence, eastern parts of the Caribbean are bracing for some early weather as tropical storm Bret is set to move in. Some meteorologists believe once it moves into the Caribbean later this week it will weaken.. But they expect heavy rains in the region.
“FEMA is ready for this upcoming hurricane season,” said Jeremy Edwards, the press secretary for FEMA. “We have a bunch of resources and commodities prepositioned to be ready to be moved once those storms pass.”
FEMA said they work with their local partners and other federal agencies to make sure they are prepared for the strong weather. They also have three tips for those who live in hurricane, typhoon or even tornado zones.
“The first thing is to know your risk,” said Edwards. “It’s easy to look at a map and say ‘oh this is where the cone is gonna go or this is where the map says its gonna go’ but think about things like rainfall. When we think about hurricane Ian, there was wind there was storm surge that also dumped 20 inches of rain that led to intense flooding. We want people to know their individual risk is based on where they live and adjust accordingly.”
The second piece of advice:
“We also want people to know how to get information,” said Edwards.
And third:
“Make a plan,” said Edwards. “Its great if you have the information, its great if you know the risk but it doesn’t mean anything if you don’t have a plan.”
FEMA said not every disaster is the same and recoveries do take a long time but are reassuring people they will be there for as long as it takes.
