Preparing for hurricane season with FDEM

Reporter: Ashley French Writer: Elyssa Morataya
Published: Updated:
FDEM, Hurricane

Hurricane season is just weeks away, and experts say It’s time to start making a plan to have in place.

The plan can vary from having the proper supplies to home protection.

In a round table discussion on hurricane preparedness, The Florida Division of Emergency Management said members are working to finalize contracts to get ferries, aircraft, and more to get people safely out before a storm hits.

One of the members who spoke with WINK News was director Kevin Guthrie.

He says they’ve increased their staff by hiring temporary workers during their times of need, ranging from field staff to mutual aid requests.

Guthrie says it’s all a joint effort to stay prepared, and most importantly, keep you safe.

“We have field staff augmentation, contract staff, EOC, staff augmentation, we have mutual aid requests, where we bring people in from other states to help us just like we’re helping Oklahoma and Texas right now with their disasters,” said Guthrie. “So we have that bigger network that we can bring people in. So it looks like people, it looks like resources. So generators, pumps, you know, flood control systems, all of that type of stuff we have on the shelf. And then we also have contracts to bring more of that stuff in so we are ready ahead of hurricane season for anything that it may throw at us.”

One of the things Guthrie emphasized is evacuations. He urges people to have an evacuation plan in place.

Especially if you live in a trailer or a home that’s not built to handle the strength of a hurricane.

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