EDITORIAL: 'Tis the Season -- Get Ready Now, Not Later: OUR OPINION: BE PREPARED FOR WHAT's PREDICTE

Jun 01, 04:37 AM

Current Headlines: By The Miami Herald

Jun. 1--On the first day of the 2007 hurricane season, let's dispense with some diehard myths about preparing for and surviving these natural disasters. Given the mixed results of a new poll on coastal states' residents' hurricane awareness, it's actually imperative that people get proper, truthful information.

For instance, almost half of those polled still think masking tape will secure windows during a hurricane. It seems nigh onto impossible that anyone could still believe in the staying power of masking tape 20 months after Katrina shredded the Gulf Coast and New Orleans. Yet the poll shows otherwise, unfortunately.

Enough food, water

So. Spare the masking tape. Another myth: The government must provide food and water for residents after a storm. Wrong. You are responsible for having enough food and water on hand to provide for yourself and your family for at least three days after a hurricane.

And how about this one? When told to evacuate, you can consider it an option. Wrong again. If emergency officials order your area evacuated there's a good reason -- as in you are a sitting duck for a storm surge. So you should head inland or go to a designated storm shelter when an evacuation order is given.

One more myth: Stocking up on storm supplies should be left until the last minute.

Of course that's not true, but every year so many people wait until the last minute to stock up that a bunch of them must think it's mandatory behavior. Here's the truth: Given that hurricanes generally begin to brew in late summer, there is a good chance that you have June and July to prepare, shop for and store all the things you need to be ready before and after a hurricane. You've got two months -- use them wisely.

Back to that poll, commissioned by a coalition called the National Hurricane Survival Initiative. Overall, it showed that Floridians are more hurricane savvy than residents in other coastal states. But even so, too many Florida residents still say they won't evacuate if told to, won't bother to assemble hurricane supplies and won't do anything to protect their homes. This kind of willful ignorance gives emergency managers nightmares.

No excuses

Given the multiple sources of information -- from government mailings to households to this newspaper's annual special hurricane section to radio and TV how-to programs -- there is no excuse for ignorance any more. No excuse for not knowing -- or doing -- what all those who live in hurricane country must do to be ready and to survive.

So it's simple: Learn the facts, recognize your personal responsibility to prepare for hurricane season and then get busy -- now, not in August.

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