By Staff
The National Hurricane Center, the federal government's weather forecasting bureau, has predicted a less severe hurricane season than last year's - but that's not saying much.
Considering that last year even the hurricane center underestimated the record number of major storms that would eventually hit the United States, this year's predictions should give us no reason to ease up on preparations.
Hurricane season begins a week from Thursday, on June 1.
Now is the time to stock up on supplies such as non-perishable food, flashlights and batteries.
We all remember how hard our area was hit by Hurricane Ivan a year and a half ago. That same kind of storm could sweep through our area again - and we need to be prepared for it.
Area agencies have already begun discussions to make preparations smoother this time around. Certainly we've all learned more about how to anticipate - and recover from - a storm the magnitude of an Ivan or Dennis.
But we need to be vigilant in our preparations. We urge the county government and area agencies and municipalities to share their emergency plans with each other, so that everyone is in the loop on how we can handle such disasters.
We hope we won't see an Ivan or Dennis or Katrina here again. But experts are telling us to expect it - we might as well be prepared.