Jesse Scheckner
Nearly a quarter of Florida residents don’t make any advanced preparations for hurricane season, and even more would disregard warnings to evacuate, a new survey found.
Saturday marked the official start of the 2024 Atlantic hurricane season, and it’s anticipated to be an active one. The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) predicts there will be 17 to 25 named tropical storms or hurricanes in the region this year before Nov. 30. At least four are expected to strengthen to Category 3, with wind speeds of up to 129 mph, or worse.
However, according to polling by AAA—The Auto Club Group, 23% of people living in Florida aren’t planning ahead and assembling nonperishable food, water, and useful materials in case a storm strikes their area.
Twenty-seven percent say they would ignore evacuation warnings ahead of a severe storm. Of those who would evacuate, nearly two-thirds (64%) said they would only do so if the approaching tempest was a Category 3 or stronger.
Arizona-based ACG Market Research questioned 400 Florida residents April 10-15 on behalf of AAA. The survey had a 4.9% margin of error.
Asked why they’d ignore evacuation warnings, 33% of those who said they wouldn’t leave explained they would want to stay home in case there’s damage to their property that they could fix. Twenty-nine percent said they’d stay with the hope or belief that the storm would go elsewhere.
About a quarter said they wouldn’t know where to go or couldn’t leave because of financial reasons. One in five said they feared post-storm looting. Roughly the same share said they don’t have a safe option to transport their pets.
Staying in the path of a storm isn’t worth the risk, AAA spokesperson Mark Jenkins said in a statement.
“Take steps now to develop an evacuation plan for your family and pets,” he said. “If you’re worried about property damage, contact your insurance adviser. Having adequate coverage will give you the peace of mind in knowing that anything damaged while you’re gone can be repaired or replaced.”
Saturday also kicked off a two-week Florida Disaster Preparedness Sales Tax Holiday. The holiday runs June 1-15 and covers a variety of temporarily tax-free goods, from portable self-powered light sources, radios, batteries and generators to medication, pet food and fire extinguishers.
A second sales tax holiday will run Aug. 24-Sept. 6.
In April, Gov. Ron DeSantis said Florida’s modern building practices and consistent utility infrastructure hardening by Florida Power & Light have prepared the state to weather the coming storms.
“The newer construction can withstand strong hurricanes,” he said at an April 7 news conference in Davie. “We’re in a situation where … this stuff has worked.”
Residents can visit PrepareFL.com for tips and resources, including information on Florida’s tax-free home-hardening initiative, My Safe Florida Home.
One comment
MarvinM
June 3, 2024 at 5:17 pm
Solar generator! Buy a solar generator now during the tax holiday (thru June 14th).
Or if you miss it, buy one anyway.
You can use them to charge your cell phone/s, rechargeable batteries, and/or run fans the entire rest of the year (duh, yes, with recharging).
The sun supplies so much energy, we really need to be capturing more of it.
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