Updated May. 15, 2020 11:36 AM
With less than a month to go until the start of the 2020 Atlantic hurricane season, officials in Florida are looking for ways to
With forecasters calling for a "very active" Atlantic basin hurricane season in 2020, addressing the complications that the pandemic has created for American society, particularly those on the Southeast coast of the United States, has become all the more urgent this year.
Shelters are still needed across coastal states as they provide life-saving havens to many people, officials agree, and the damage from Hurricane Michael in 2018 is a deadly reminder of why public shelters are so critical for the vulnerable Sunshine State. Five people were killed by Michael's storm surge in Florida. All of those fatalities occurred in evacuation zones -- and all of the victims were between 60 and 91 years of age, according to the National Hurricane Center (NHC) storm report.
But, now that the new coronavirus has taken the nation by storm, many are wondering how shelters can safely be utilized when a hurricane approaches.
"You pile people into a place under normal circumstances -- that may be fine. But that would potentially allow the virus to really spread if somebody is in fact infected," said Florida Gov. Ron Desantis at a news conference in Sarasota last week during Hurricane Preparedness Week.
Jared Moskowitz, the director of the Florida Division of Emergency Management, said his office is looking to do more non-congregate sheltering as opposed to mass congregated sheltering when a hurricane approaches, but other questions still remain.
“If we have to do mass congregate sheltering, what are the protocols we’re going to have in place? Are we going to have COVID-only shelters? How are we going to do evacuations?” Moskowitz said at the press conference, referring to questions his office was still reviewing.
Moskowitz also said there is a possibility that stay-at-home orders will stay in effect for those who live in places built to certain hurricane
However, it is not yet clear what specific buildings this would include. Neither the federal government nor the state of Florida have released updated guidelines with hurricane season fast approaching.
One thing the state is already planning on doing in preparation, Moskowitz told reporters, is stockpiling 10 million personal protective equipment masks.
Florida has seen more than 40,000 confirmed cases of coronavirus and almost 1,800 COVID-19 deaths as of this writing, according to data from Johns Hopkins University.
Experts have been calling for a busy hurricane season with AccuWeather meteorologists predicting 7-11 hurricanes and multiple major hurricanes, Category 3 strength or higher, during the 2020 Atlantic hurricane season.
“It’s going to be an above-normal season,” AccuWeather Senior Meteorologist and Lead Hurricane Forecaster Dan Kottlowski said of AccuWeather's 2020 hurricane season forecast. “On a normal year, we have around 12 storms, six hurricanes and roughly three major hurricanes.”
Colin O'Hara of St. Petersburg, Florida, told AccuWeather that the confluence of the 2020 hurricane season and the coronavirus pandemic has him concerned more than usual this year heading into hurricane season. (AccuWeather)
Kottlowski, like many other meteorologists and government officials, emphasized the importance of having a plan in place ahead of time so as to be prepared when a hurricane approaches. Ken Graham, director for the National Hurricane Center, said in a recent interview with AccuWeather's Monica Danielle, having an evacuation plan is still critical, even in the age of the coronavirus.
"If you're in the evacuation zone," Graham said, "you know the storm surge is still the leading cause of fatalities in these tropical systems." Graham said to heed the warnings officials may issue. "If the local officials tell you to leave, you gotta get out," he said.
Some residents around the state are continuing to grow worried about how the virus could impact evacuation plans. Colin O'Hara, a St. Petersburg resident who lives just across the bay with his girlfriend and young daughter, is one of those concerned people.
"I just think it would be a little unsafe to keep all those people in a school gym when they’re telling us right now it probably wouldn’t be safe to go to your friend's house," O'Hara told AccuWeather's Jonathan Petramala.
O'Hara said his plan when a hurricane approaches this season is to take shelter in his parents' home, which is located on higher ground in Pinellas County.
However, some residents are struggling to find a way to seek shelter due to coronavirus fears.
Dave Barnes, a Tampa resident who lives along the water, told Petramala that in a normal year, evacuating with his pets is a complicated endeavor. But this year, Barnes said, he also has to think about his elderly mother and making sure she has a plan to shelter.
"She’s 85 and we’re in our 60s, so I don’t think we could go to a shelter," said Barnes.
Marcus Martin, a planning chief for Hillsborough County Emergency Management, said his department is encouraging people to evacuate just tens of miles out and not hundreds of miles out.
"If you have family members or friends outside of that surge area and they have an extra bedroom, they have a garage apartment, this is the time to be making those arrangements," Martin said. "We really want the shelter to be a refuge of last resort."
Some important ways to plan for a hurricane in advance include buying supplies now, which this year includes items to stay safe from COVID-19 -- like masks, gloves and disinfecting
The 2020 Atlantic hurricane season officially begins on June 1. Visit the AccuWeather Atlantic basin hurricane center for everything related to tropical weather.
Reporting by Jonathan Petramala and Monica Danielle.
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