It Is That Time of Year Again

April is here and the time is coming for both amateur radio operators and everyone else to start thinking about and preparing for — wait for it — Hurricane Season.

Nobody really wants to right now, because the weather is the best it has been all year and June 1^st seems a long way off. Most, if not all, of us would rather go to the beach and work on our tan than get prepared for what right now seems to be a distant worry.

The people who are the very first to respond if a hurricane hits the State of Florida cannot delay their preparations at all. Just last week, the state held its 2012 Hurricane Conference in Orlando. Amateur radio operators were a major part of that event, as they are every year.

If the authorities are already knee deep in preparations for the coming weather season, it only makes sense that we should also be making plans for our own families. Where would we go? What do we need to have on hand? What will we do about the medications we need every day? What and where will we be able to eat? If we have a generator, how much gas will we need to stock up on? If we have family members dependent on medical devices like oxygen concentrators or a ventilator, how will we keep them alive?

The answers to these questions and more need to be considered and answered now. The actual stocking up process can probably wait a few more weeks, but the planning must take place now. Here are a few things to consider when you sit down to make those plans and lists. Depending on the severity of the damage caused by a storm there may not be ANY cell phone service at all. The same goes for regular land line phone service and the Internet. There probably will be few, if any, gas stations or grocery stores open. Your pharmacy will be closed, if it still stands at all after a major hurricane. The street signs will be gone. Similarly, any traffic signal lights will be out, if they didn’t get blown away entirely. Debris will fill many roads making them impassable. That means that not only will you not be able to get out, but also the first responders like ambulances and fire services may not be able to get to you. If you think I am painting an overly dark picture of what may happen, just think back to New Orleans and Katrina. Locally, think about Punta Gorda a few years before that.

In order to keep you and your loved ones out of the panic mode it pays to start now to plan and prepare for the coming hurricane season. There are plenty of resources on the Internet and available from your county and municipal authorities. You can find lists of shelters, suggested packing lists, what to do about medications, etc from many local sources. Every year, commercial entities like TV stations and newspapers provide guides to assist you in planning for your unique situation when a hurricane or tornado strikes. Get ready. It is much better to be a survivor than a statistic. Be part of the solution otherwise you are part of the problem. Here are just a couple of web sites that can be of help:

http://www.myfoxtampabay.com/subindex/weather/tropical/storm_guide

http://www.tampabayhurricaneexpo.com/newsinfo.cfm