Get ready for the ‘New normal’

Hurricane preparedness requires year-round mindset

If we’re entering a “new normal” with more frequent and more powerful hurricanes, then June 1 can no longer be the start of hurricane preparedness season.

Getting ready for the next storm is now a year-round vocation.

So say a diverse group of experts and advocates behind a renewed hurricane prep awareness program that’s off to a much earlier-than-normal start for next year.

“In 2017, we had three hurricanes that all set records,” said Craig Fugate, former director of both the Federal Emergency Management Agency and Florida Emergency Management Division. “This is our new normal, and now is the time to get ready.”

Longtime Florida residents know the drill — bottled water, batteries, flashlights, gas cans, canned goods.

Despite annual awareness efforts, sponsors and organizers of the National Hurricane Survival Initiative and its state-centric affiliate, Get Ready, Florida! say not enough people heeded the messages before Hurricane Irma barreled into the state last September. What’s more, results of a post-Irma, multiple-choice survey of 500 Florida residents taken Dec. 5 to 10 reveal that too many Floridians remain uninformed about the best and safest strategies to employ before, during and after dangerous hurricanes:

One in five — 22 percent — say their windows weren’t protected.

Asked to select an option to make their windows safer if they didn’t have shutters or impact-resistant windows, 17 percent made a wrong selection: “Tape on windows” (7 percent); “Cardboard on windows” (3 percent), or “Leave windows slightly open to stabilize pressure” (7 percent). Seventy-six percent correctly chose “Plywood on windows,” and 19 percent selected “None of these/Unsure.” [For some of the survey questions, total percentage points exceeded 100, meaning some respondents checked more than one answer.]

Nearly six in 10 said they didn’t know the dollar amount of their hurricane-insurance deductible. Half of respondents said it would be “somewhat difficult,” “very difficult” or impossible to come up with the amount of the average deductible — about $5,000 — to make repairs.

The question, “Which of the following former director, FEMA