Secure Zone Safety - Hurricanes

Will This Fall Yield Even More Hurricanes?

The incredible impact of hurricanes

Front and center in the news world, from June 1 until winter, will be hurricanes and the damage they can cause. Last year drilled it into the minds of just about everyone, whether you're the owner of waterfront property in the Southeast or you live 500 miles from the nearest body of water. To put it mildly, 2005 was a brutal hurricane season. We saw incredible winds, floods and power outage issues. We saw debate over government readiness. We are still seeing the blame game played by officials on the local and federal level. It's amazing what hurricanes can do to our society. Let's recap some of the events of 2005...

Katrina hit New Orleans. The biggest storm on record, Katrina entered the Big Easy with winds so strong that Superdome's roof was torn off in parts. Then, unlike even most severe hurricanes, it caused mass flooding when the city's levees broke. Hysteria ensued, with hundreds of thousands of residents displaced, widespread disease plaguing the area, and billions in damage.
Rita raged into Texas. While Rita did not cause near the damage of Katrina, it looked for a time that it would. Fearful of what hurricanes can do, having just watched Katrina hit New Orleans a few weeks prior, hundreds of thousands of people fled the Houston metro area in anticipation of Rita's wrath.
Wilma struck Florida. The Sunshine State dodged the worst of Katrina, but was hammered by Wilma later in the hurricane season. The Southern portion of the state is still rebuilding, having lost power for weeks on end and incurred incredible amounts of damage. It was a long, long year for the region.

What have we learned from the hurricanes of 2005? For one, few of us are as prepared as we should be. More importantly, you can never predict the weather, but you can always do more to plan ahead, and have contingency measures in place.