Coastal Residents Not Prepared, Concerned About Season Ahead

May 31, 03:12 PM

Current Headlines: By Ken Kaye, South Florida Sun-Sentinel

May 31--Although the six-month 2007 Atlantic hurricane season is forecast to be busy, 53 percent of coastal residents apparently aren't that concerned, according to a Mason-Dixon poll released on Thursday. The residents said they don't feel vulnerable to a hurricane, a tornado or flooding.

That has state and federal officials worried, considering the season starts on Friday.

"We've been lulled into a false sense of security," said Ron Sachs, executive director of the National Hurricane Survival Initiative, a conglomeration of governmental agencies and private concerns that promotes storm preparation. "That's cause for real concern as another hurricane season begins."

Other poll findings: --39 percent believe this hurricane season will be about the same or less active than last year; which saw 10 storms, including five hurricanes; --16 percent said they might not or would not evacuate even if ordered to do so; of those, 38 percent said they would prefer to weather a storm at home and 22 percent said they want to protect their property; --78 percent didn't know that storm surge represents the greatest potential for a large loss of life in a hurricane; --96 percent didn't know that garage doors are the part of a home most likely to fail during a hurricane; --54 percent believe most tornadoes occur within 3 miles of the eye of a storm, when they can be spawned by rain bands far from the core; --45 think masking tape will help keep windows from shattering; --82 percent of those with survival kits have candles as an item, when experts warn that candles or kerosene lamps can pose a serious fire hazard. Meanwhile, storm prognosticators William Gray and Phil Klotzbach of Colorado State University on Thursday stood pat in their updated seasonal outlook, continuing to predict 17 named storms, including nine hurricanes with five of those intense. As they did in their April forecast, they still predict a 74 percent chance that a major hurricane will strike the U.S. coastline this year.

During a news conference at the National Hurricane Center in Miami-Dade County, officials implored residents not to be complacent following the relatively calm 2006 hurricane season and take preparations seriously. One of their most pressing messages: Plan to be self-sufficient for at least three days and preferably up to a week in the aftermath of a storm and don't rely on government agencies to provide food or water.

"We're certainly praying this year is as quiet as last year, but it's essential that all our citizens take the threat of tropical storms seriously," said Florida Lt. Gov. Jeff Kottkamp.

Bill Proenza, director of the hurricane center, called the United States is a "vulnerable" nation during the season, noting that since the 1850s, about 1,400 tropical systems have hit somewhere on the U.S. coast. The problem, he said, is that new residents continue to flood to coastal areas and many of them likely will not make adequate preparations.

"Most people have little or no experience with tropical storms," he said "We have a big challenge of ahead of us, indeed."

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