Atlantic hurricane season begins June 1. The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration released its predictions for the 2024 hurricane season today and we need to be prepared. They predict an 85% chance of above average hurricane activity this year with up to 25 named Atlantic storms.
https://www.noaa.gov/news-release/noaa-predicts-above-normal-2024-atlantic-hurricane-season
If you are in an evacuation zone, know your evacuation routes and have go bags and cash prepared to get out. If you are the zone to evacuate to, prepare your own evacuation routes and have plans to be ready to go and plans to deal with what may come.
There is a link in that article to the new flood prediction center. Use that as an additional tool to help determine if you need to evacuate in zones that are not already designated as evacuation zones as hurricane data comes in:
https://water.noaa.gov/#@=-91.7128439,38.6337147,3.6294214&b=topographic&g=obsFcst,1!1!1!1!1!1!1!1!1!1!1!1!1!1!1!0!0!0!0!0,0.5,1!1!1!1!0,0,0&ab=0,0,
Also, FEMA updated the flood zone maps this year, so know your flood risk:
https://www.floodsmart.gov/understanding-my-flood-zone
There are a plethora of guides on how to prepare for a hurricane out there. Here are some official ones:
https://www.cdc.gov/hurricanes/safety/index.html
https://www.ready.gov/hurricanes
https://www.fema.gov/blog/how-prepare-hurricane-season
https://www.fema.gov/press-release/20210318/proper-emergency-kit-essential-hurricane-preparedness
https://www.redcross.org/get-help/how-to-prepare-for-emergencies/types-of-emergencies/hurricane.html
https://www.noaa.gov/hurricane-prep
Using Virginia as an example, you can see the coastal evacuation zones if you click through to the map here: https://www.vaemergency.gov/know-your-zone
As you can see, Richmond, VA is a zone to evacuate to. However, hurricanes requiring coastal evacuation can also seriously impact the Richmond area like Irene did in 2011. One, Isabel in 2003, had significant impact all the way in Charlottesville, well inland even from Richmond.
I'm not saying Richmond and Charlottesville residents or residents in similar areas necessarily need to evacuate when there is a hurricane, but they should absolutely be ready with knowledge and preparedness. Know your flood zones, assess your trees, have an evacuation plan and be ready to execute it if necessary. If you live in an east coast state that could possibly suffer the impacts of a hurricane, I suggest you at least have something like waders in your kit as well as sturdy work gloves and tools to cut tree branches.
When Irene hit, we were without power for ten days (and we were not the last to get power on) and it took two days of neighbors working together to clear our road to get out. IIRC, it took four days for Red Cross to set up a food and water center for residents to go to (if they could even go at all) and another couple days before National Guard were clearing roads. If a tree falls on your property, even if the tree did not originate on your property, there is no entity responsible for coming to clear that for you and companies you can pay to do it for you will likely be overwhelmed and my not be able to help you for a while.
Hurricane Beryl Update via the Hurricane Watch Net:
https://hwn.org/policies/activationplans.html
https://www.star.nesdis.noaa.gov/GOES/floater.php?stormid=AL022024
UPDATE: Sunday, June 30, 2024 @ 10:00 AM EDT (1400 UTC)
Overnight, Beryl grew into a strong Category 3 Hurricane. As of 8:00 AM EDT (1200 UTC), Beryl was located about 420 east of Barbados moving to the west or 280 degrees at 21 mph with sustained winds of 115 mph.
Continued rapid strengthening is forecast over the next day or so, and Beryl is expected to become an extremely dangerous category 4 hurricane before it reaches the Windward Islands.
On the current track, Beryl is expected to move over the smaller islands between Grenada and St. Vincent. Some of these islands are populated. Any deviation to the left of the current track and Grenada could take a direct strike. Any deviation to the right of track and St. Vincent could take a direct strike.
The Hurricane Watch Net will be activated this afternoon at 3:00 PM EDT (1900 UTC) on 14.325.00 MHz (USB). We remain in operation on this frequency for as long as propagation allows. We will activate this evening at 7:00 PM EDT (2300 UTC) on 7.268.00 MHz (LSB). We will remain active on this frequency overnight for as long as propagation allows. If propagation allows us to operate all night, we will suspend operations at 7:30 AM EDT Monday to allow the Waterway Net to conduct their daily Net.
For this evening and overnight, we will be lining up reporting stations in the path of Beryl. This will allow people to check their equipment and allow us to know where storm shelters are located as well as line up Emergency Operations Centers and Emergency Comms.
For Monday, we will resume operations on 14.325.00 MHz at 6:00 AM EDT (1000 UTC). Also, we will resume operations on 7.268.00 MHz at 8:30 AM EDT (1230 UTC). We will be collecting surface reports and forwarding that information directly to the National Hurricane Center in Miami.
As always, we greatly appreciate the daily users and various nets who use 14.325.00 MHz and 7.268.00 MHz for allowing us a clear frequency. It certainly makes our job easier and I know those in the affected area appreciate it as well.
Our prayers go out to those who could be affected by Hurricane Beryl. HWN is prepared, ready to serve, and do what we can to help save lives.
Kind Regards and God Bless,
Bobby Graves - KB5HAV
Hurricane Watch Net
Net Manager
Update, it's now tracking to make landfall at the SW end of Calhoun County, TX, almost the same as Hurricane Harvey in 2017. Currently live out of state, but I'm not making any headway on getting my parents to evacuate.
https://www.nhc.noaa.gov/refresh/graphics_at2+shtml/145521.shtml?cone#contents
My buddies in Bryan and Frisco reported no significant impact, albeit they are more inland. Still have power and no flooding.
Galveston saw a good bit of flooding, but so far nothing to report from where my oldest brother lives in Bridge City.