'Expecting to see lots of storms': Lake's emergency management director talks hurricane season
With an above-average storm prediction for hurricane season 2022, it's never too early to start prepping for hazardous weather.
Hurricane season in Florida runs from June 1 and continues through Nov. 30, and experts say the time to prepare is yesterday.
The new Lake County Director of Emergency Management, Megan Milanese, spoke with the Daily Commercial about how to prepare, Lake County's biggest threats, 2022 storm predictions, and what the department is doing to keep the community safe.
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When should people prepare for hurricane season?
Storms can start to form as early as May in some instances so the time to prepare really is now. We have seen some pre-season storm formation the past seven years in a row so it's best to have your plan in place and ready to activate every hurricane season.
What advice would you give to those prepping for hurricane season?
The best thing I could tell them is to take good inventory of what they need should they be without power or other resources for days at a time. So this can include unique needs such as prescription medications, eye glasses, hearing aids or any other special needs. Also ensure that you communicate that plan to your friends and family especially those who are out of state so that they know what you're planning to do to keep yourself safe during the storm.
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What is the most important thing in a hurricane kit?
Food, water, and medical items are things that I would start with. It is also important to consider having cash in your kit in case any ATMs are out of power or stores might not be able to accept credit cards. There should also be enough food and water to sustain you for at least 72 hours but prepare for more if you can. So that means at least one gallon of water per person, per day for at least three days.
What is unique about Lake County when it comes to hurricanes?
Lake County is somewhat different from what folks might consider a Florida county to be in in regard to hurricanes.
We are an inland county and we aren't on the coast so I think that most folks think that means we aren't at as high of a risk.
However, we are definitely still at risk to detrimental impact from storms since we really aren't that far off the coast. And storms can have high winds and heavy rains that can expand for miles beyond the eye of any given storm.
So we are still in that potential of having those high winds and all that rain and flooding and hazards related to hurricanes even though we are not on the coast.
What is the biggest threat Lake County has during a hurricane?
Lake County is at risk from all hazards associated with a hurricane really other than storm surge. This includes winds, rain, urban flooding, any kind of flooding — we also have to be wary of flooding from the St. John's river area and after. We always conduct special monitoring of this area whenever we activate a hurricane related emergency.
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How does the Lake County Emergency Management Department work with the state during hurricanes?
When we activate our EOC we are in constant communication with the state. We receive regular briefings from them and also provide information to them regarding our local situation at regularly scheduled intervals.
And if there's a resource that we cannot provide locally, we always try to source it locally if we can, but we can request resources from the state, as well.
As the new director of Emergency Management, are you making any changes this year?
I'm not planning on doing anything too new, but I'm in a good position now because we are able to bring back some activities that we haven't been able to accomplish since the onset of COVID.
We are going to be conducting a hurricane exercise this year which will simulate a full activation of our EOC for our major hurricane response and recovery and that's going to allow us to practice any of the operational aspects related to hurricane response and ensure we're ready for whatever the clouds decide to throw at us this year.
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Are you aware of any of the storm predictions for the 2022 hurricane season?
Yes. We monitor storm predictions as they are released. Currently Colorado State University has released theirs and they're predicting an above average season with 19 named storms, nine of those being hurricanes and then four of those hurricanes being major — so category three or above.
We're expecting to see lots of storms form this year but I would say that the main takeaway is that even in a below average season it only takes one storm to track into our communities. So even if not many form it only takes one to come by.
Are there any other ways to stay safe during hurricane season?
I want to let people know our office does have an alerting system for storms or other public safety concerns. It's a county-wide system called AlertLake and if folks are interested in receiving alerts for public safety issues directly to their phone all they need to do is go to alertlake.com.
This article originally appeared on Daily Commercial: Lake County emergency management director talks hurricane season 2022
