“Be Prepared” was the motto of the day at the 11th Annual Hurricane Expo held Friday at the Rohan Regional Recreation Center. Thirty-nine vendors including government agencies and local businesses were on hand to talk to attendees about preparedness before a hurricane and recovery assistance if a hurricane does hit close to home.
National Weather Service Meteorologist Will Ulrich said so far this year is on track to be a normal hurricane season, which typically means 12 named storms and six hurricanes. He said his response when people ask what type of season we are in for is “It only takes one.” Hurricane Andrew in 1992 happened during a below normal hurricane season. Regardless of the projected season, he cautions you need to be prepared. He identified four main areas of preparedness.
• Know your area. Are you in a flood zone? He feels that during a hurricane season this far inland the main concerns are tropical cyclones and flooding.
• Make sure your trees and shrubs are trimmed. Reduce the risk of things flying around.
• Put together a disaster supply kit including a three-day supply of food and water, a change of clothing, a first aid kit that includes medications, flashlight with extra batteries, and important family documents in a fire and waterproof container.
• A weather radio with battery backup is strongly recommended. “That is the fastest way to receive information,” said Ulrich. “The information goes direct from our office to the radio. A hand crank version of these radios is available and can be used to charge cell phones.”
Each county in The Villages gets their storm information from a different National Weather Service office. Lake County gets their information from the Melbourne office. Marion County information comes from Jacksonville and Sumter information is from the Tampa office.
This was the first year this event was at Rohan, after 10 years at the Savannah Center, and Lt. John Longacre with the Villages Public Safety Departmentand planner of the event was very pleased with the turn out. The parking lot was packed and the stream of residents carrying bright yellow bags to hold all the handouts was constant.
Patty and Doug Morton of the Village of Caroline have attended all 11 expos. Patty said there probably isn’t much they can learn about hurricanes.
“We are always very prepared,” said Doug. “We keep a supply of water, batteries, full tank of gas in the car. We have a weather radio that can charge our cell phones.”
Newer Villagers Tony and Sandra Nargoski of La Belle North moved here last October. The said this expo inspired them to get ready.”
“We are going to go home and make a list of what we should do based on the information we learned today,” Tony said.
