Hurricane season 2024: More than 1 million new Florida residents may not understand storm prep

• Florida's hurricane season officially runs June 1 through Nov. 30 but storms can form before or after those dates.
• The peak of hurricane season, when the highest number and strongest storms usually form, is mid-August to mid-October.
• Statewide hurricane evacuation zone maps can be found at Floridadisaster.org.

When Sarah Garcia moved to South Florida from the San Francisco Bay area, she knew she was trading earthquakes for hurricanes. She had no idea what to expect from the tropical maelstroms that plague the state.

“I may have been terrified at the first storm, but once you’ve gone through it you learn how to react and prepare and it’s less scary,” said Garcia, whose relocation to Lake Clarke Shores in Palm Beach County came four years after 1992’s Hurricane Andrew. “I wouldn’t discourage anyone from moving here. Common sense prevails.”

But with more than 1 million new residents moving to the Sunshine State between 2020 and 2023, emergency managers do worry that a lack of awareness about preparing for, and weathering hurricane season, could mean anything from limited discomfort when the lights go out to death in a roaring storm surge.

They are urging newcomers to find out what their evacuation zone is, which is different than a FEMA flood zone, learn where the nearest shelter is, have supplies for a week, pack an emergency kit and evacuate when ordered, but not to Georgia.

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“Don’t make evacuation an insurmountable task,” said National Hurricane Center Director Michael Brennan. “I think the mindset is you have to drive hundreds of miles away when it can just be a few miles to a shelter or a friend or relative’s house.”

Statewide hurricane evacuation zone maps can be found at Floridadisaster.org. But more updated maps may be available at individual county emergency management websites such as Palm Beach County’s discover.pbcgov.org.

Evacuations in Florida are largely based on storm surge flooding, not wind speed. The exception to that is mobile or manufactured homes, which are usually in the first zone called to evacuate.

People who evacuate unnecessarily, or so-called “shadow evacuees,” can cause dangerous and lengthy traffic jams on Florida’s roadways.

"It's also not just talking to people who are new but those who have lived here a long time and haven't had to evacuate before," Brennan said. "You can end up having people clogging the roads and taking up space from people who really do need to evacuate."

But evacuating can be a tricky message to convey. If you are not in an evacuation zone, it asks people to evaluate the safety of their home, consider how long they can withstand having no electricity after the storm and make a decision based on each individual’s situation.

In 2017’s Hurricane Irma, an estimated 6.8 million people evacuated north, causing unanticipated 20-hour treks from South Florida to Georgia. Crushes of people stuck at the border overwhelmed small-town hotels and shelters.

The mass exodus, which included people not in evacuation zones, stressed the gasoline supply, not just in quantity but in manpower, as law enforcement was needed to escort trucks to gas stations, and then escort station employees to safety so they could operate pumps until just before Irma came ashore.

Keyes Co. Realtor John Sholar said out-of-state homebuyers always ask about hurricanes, mostly in the sense of whether a potential home is hurricane-fortified but also about whether they should evacuate during a storm.

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Sholar’s home is in Zone E, the lowest level on the evacuation scale east of Lake Okeechobee. It’s unlikely that evacuations have been called for that area in at least the past two decades.

“Especially people from New York want to know which hurricanes we’ve had and whether we leave,” Sholar said. “They went through (Superstorm) Sandy and that was pretty bad for them. It spooked a lot of people.”

Still, he said the threat of hurricanes have never cost him a sale.

“We know about hurricanes so far in advance. We watch them for days. There’s time to prepare,” Sholar said.

Garcia, of Lake Clarke Shores, is looking to move with her husband to Kentucky where there are fewer natural disasters, she said.

And while putting up shutters at an older age is one of the move’s driving factors, she said storms aren’t really a problem if you are ready for them.

“Be knowledgeable. That reduces the amount of fear you have,” Garcia said.

Here are answers to some of the most basic questions residents and tourists alike should be asking to prepare:

Q. When is hurricane season in Florida?

The Atlantic hurricane season officially runs June 1 through Nov. 30 but storms can form before or after those dates. The peak of hurricane season, when the highest number and strongest storms usually form, is mid-August to mid-October.

Q. What should people be doing now to prepare for hurricane season?

Get to know your neighbors ahead of hurricane season and help educate people who may not be from Florida about what kind of supplies they will need. Recommendations for a hurricane supply kit include 1 gallon of water per person per day for at least 5 days, first-aid items such as tweezers, hydrogen peroxide, bandages, prescription medicine, batteries, and cleaning supplies.

Also, always have at least a half tank of gas in your car or the battery half charged.

Q. What should people know about evacuation zones besides what zone they are in?

Evacuation zones are based on storm surge. The saying is “run from water and hide from wind.” If someone is not in an evacuation zone and has secured their home to mitigate for storm damage, they should not evacuate. The exception to that is mobile or manufactured homes.

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Q. Where can people find their evacuation zone and get a list of shelters?

Statewide hurricane evacuation zone maps can be found at Floridadisaster.org but you may also want to check your local emergency management website for the most current information.

Q. What should people bring to a shelter if they must evacuate?

Shelters should be a last resort, and not all shelters are open for every storm. Items to bring to a shelter include bedding materials such as pillows, blankets and sleeping bags, prescription medicine, a three-day supply of water, collapsible beach chair, flashlight, chargers for electronic devices, toiletries, snacks and at least two changes of clothing. A list of official shelters can be found on county websites like discover.pbcgov.org.

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Register for the Palm Beach Post's 2024 Storm Season Preparation forum

The 2024 hurricane season is forecast to be one of the most active on record with most predictions calling for more than 20 named storms. To help our communities get prepared, The Palm Beach Post is hosting a forum on storm readiness Wednesday, June 5, from 6:15 to 8:30 p.m. at Palm Beach State College's Lake Worth Beach campus. To attend, please scan the QR Code to register or click this link.

Kimberly Miller is a journalist for The Palm Beach Post, part of the USA Today Network of Florida. She covers weather, real estate and how growth affects South Florida's environment. Subscribe to The Dirt for a weekly real estate roundup. If you have news tips, please send them to [email protected]. Help support our local journalism; subscribe today.