Pine Island Weather Blog

I’ve just completed the first part of a three part guide on preparing for and dealing with the aftermath of a hurricane. This guide is a little bit different than most of the guides you will see on other web sites or in the papers because I’ve included some things gained from my own personal experiences with hurricane Charley here in SWFL and hurricanes Fran and Floyd in NC.

Hurricane Guide 1: Getting Ready For Hurricane Season, concentrates on the actions we should all take just before the season begins. My goal with this section, is to help you be prepared by taking care of those things that can be dealt with long before the first storm threatens.

In reading through Part 1, you may see some things missing that are often included in other preparation guides. This is on purpose. For instance, in my pre-season disaster kit preparations, I didn’t include blankets, pillows, etc., because these are items that you normally have around the house. You don’t need to do anything special or out of the way to gather up blankets when a storm approaches because you already have them. These types of items will be included in Hurricane Guide 2: When a Storm Approaches.

One area that I haven’t covered that I do want to add is a section on boat preparations.

Ultimately, I have three goals I want to accomplish with this guide:

1. Reducing your stress levels.
2. Saving you time.
3. Giving you a sense of control over a situation that you don’t have much control over.

I hope you find this information useful, and as always I welcome any feedback on what I’ve written and ideas for things to include that I may have left out. I should begin work on Part 2 in the next several days and then it will be on to Part 3: Dealing with the Aftermath.