Remember: 'The first 72 are on you!'

Don't let a few cooler nights fool you. Hurricane season is far from over. It does not officially end until the end of November.
There's a lot of weather between now and then. So stay prepared.
As the cover of the Mississippi Emergency Management Agency's hurricane preparedness guide proclaims in large, red letters: "The first 72 are on you!"
What that means - and what every coastal resident in America must be made to understand - is that anyone who chooses not to evacuate from the path of an approaching hurricane should have enough supplies to sustain themselves for at least three days after a storm makes landfall.
This is not because government officials and disaster relief agencies are heartless or lazy.
As South Mississippians learned in the days and weeks after Katrina, it takes time to respond to an emergency. It takes time to locate those in need. It takes time to restore electricity and phone service. It take time to resupply stores and gas stations and for those who did evacuate to return to their jobs.
All the sympathy in the world will not make life less miserable after a disaster.
That's why being prepared is far better than being pitied.
Summer has now turned to autumn, but it is still hurricane season.

Allen Roark
Individual Assistance Specialist
Mississippi Emergency Management Agency

Reprinted from the Sun Herald, September 23, 2008

Gustav and Katrina

I visited a woman today who lives in a rural area outside of New Orleans, on Route 90 midway between Pearlington and St Bernard Parish. She has been living there for 42 years and her stilt house, which is half finished, came through the storm fine. She and her husband, a commercial fisherman, paid for Grade A pilings, the largest possible. She wanted a sturdy home. Those pilings easily withstood Gustav's winds.

If the contractors had finished building her home in December as the contract originally stated, she would not have had a problem with Gustav. However, they have only brought her house to the plywood sheathing stage. She has been living in a trailer for two years as a result of Katrina, waiting for the contractors she paid to finish building her home. Her trailer was rolled by the winds of Gustav.

She lost everything for the second time.

Hurricane Ike is on its way

Just heard from some friends in Key West. They are packing and planning to evacuate. Still too early too tell how strong it will be when it passes Florida, but people are preparing. I hope that everyone is safe and that there is little damage. Currently, the storm is poised to hit the Gulf Coast at the end of next week. Much can happen between now and then to affect the trajectory, but people here are hoping for the best and planning for the worst.

As you know, I have been working with independent volunteer organizations for the past two years. If you want your donations to get to the residents with the least amount of muss and fuss, I would recommend donating to small, local groups. They are the ones on the ground assessing damage, supporting people through the stress and they are best poised to help quickly and efficiently. My links section has groups which I can vouch for personally as being excellent stewards of donations.

Hurricane Gustav

Thank you to everyone who called and wrote to me and other residents of the Gulf Coast during the run up to the storm. Your support provided immeasurable strength to so many people. I am sorry that I have not yet responded to everyone but as you can imagine, there is a lot to do here.

It's still too early to tell the long-range effects of Hurricane Gustav. Of course, we are all grateful that we were spared the widespread destruction of Katrina. However, the stress leading up to it was intense. The mental health issues were magnified by the possibility of a complete wipeout. I worry that the lack of destruction and the challenges people faced with evacuation may create a Boy Who Cried Wolf scenario here. When I talk with people who stayed during Katrina, at least a third of them told me that part of the reason was that they had already evacuated twice that summer during storms that did not pack the promised punch. Each storm must be evaluated on its own merits. I hope that the storms that are brewing right now diminish before making landfall. And I hope that people do not become lulled into a false sense of security that could prove extremely dangerous.