This article recently appeared in Sarasota Patch featuring the Sarasota EOC’s Emergency Management Chief, Ed McCrane. Click here to read the full article.
The closest hurricane experience Sarasotans can have is one of those hurricane booths in the mall that blows 78 mph winds, but just because a real one hasn’t struck the city in years doesn’t mean you should be any less prepared this hurricane season.
“I’m an Eagle Scout and the slogan’s always been ‘Always Be Prepared,’” County Administrator Randall Reid said during the county’s 2012 hurricane season preview press conference Monday morning.. “It is very difficult to maintain preparations even as something as regular as hurricanes in Florida when we have a few seasons where we’re blessed with not having them.”
One way of being prepared is to “Know Your Zone.” A new online tool that the county is promoting shows which areas will be evacuated first in case of an evacuation. Properties are in zones A through E. Zone A would be evacuated for tropical storms and Category 1 hurricanes while Zone E would evacuate all zones including Zone E, for a Category 5 hurricane.
