

State’s utility, Florida Power & Light (FPL) has built a storm command centre for a whopping 3.8 million dollars. This centre is built with hard concrete and can withstand a category 5 hurricane and is spread across ten thousand square feet. It is directed towards response efforts and storm preparedness. It has several key amenities which encompass media communications, tracking power outages, dispatching crews, prioritizing power restoration to police, fire department and hospitals, restoring electricity and dispatching repair crews. This will definitely boost the state’s preparedness and response and will infuse confidence among citizens. It should also be noted that people do not properly prepare for storm due to flawed risk assessment.

Social media is fast emerging as an imperative tool for response and preparedness for storms and hurricanes. Emergency responders deployed by the state should be active on social networks such as Facebook and twitter to make communication with people in their region effectively before, during and after storms. This storm season is predicted to be less active than previous year.

A little known facts: Tropical storms that are giant and spiraling are called hurricanes and can reach speed of over 250 Km/hour. They can also let loose more than nine trillion liters of rain per day. These Hurricanes are also known by the name of typhoons and cyclones.

Strong winds, heavy rain and waves combined can wreck havoc on buildings, houses, trees, bridges, cars, etc. Storm Surges is the name given to the heavy waves. These surges can be twenty feet high and can extend up to hundreds of miles.

They are classified into five categories namely Category 1, Category2, Category 3, Category 4 and Category 5, which are based on their speeds.

The “Eye” of the hurricane is its centre and can be as wide as thirty miles. You will be astonished to know that the eye is very calm. However the walls of wind surrounding this eye have some of the strongest rains and winds.

Not only winds and waves, Hurricanes can also result in enormous landslides and destructive floods. The best way to defend oneself against a hurricane is the precise prediction of the hurricane.