With summer on the horizon, lots of folks looking forward to enjoying time on the shore.
But for others, it means worrying about hurricane season. Hurricane seasons officially starts Saturday.
“NOAA is telling us 13 hurricanes. Out of those 13, we expect to have at least five be Category 3. So I think now’s a good time to start preparing,” said Rick Fontana, the director of Emergency Management Operations in New Haven.
While there’s no way of knowing if those predicted storms will hit our shoreline, just the thought of hurricane season stresses some Connecticut residents out.
“I’m always kind of listening and waiting. You’d have to move your car away and anything on the ground away, so there’s always things you have to do to prepare. That’s the best I can do,” said Holly Goss of Milford.
Goss has seen her share of Mother Nature’s wrath, “Irene gave me about $20,000 in damage, but Hurricane Sandy did $100,000 in damage.”
She’s just settling back into her home years after the hurricane.
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“We finally got it lifted just last year. I just moved back in, in March.”
Now it’s just waiting to see what weather is in store for this summer.
“It’s beautiful here when it’s a nice day,” said Goss smiling.
Emergency management officials suggest checking to see if you have these: a flashlight and batteries, a portable radio, a first aid kit, your personal information, and insurance policies.
They also suggest you sign up for your hometown’s emergency alert system, if they have one.
With the start of the hurricane season, New Haven is expanding their alert system to include all sorts of safety issues in their city.
“We’re trying to be proactive. And really with a lot of things that are going on in the world these days, we want to make sure we have a mechanism that people are notified if something in the area becomes unsafe.”
You can sign up for their text, email, or phone call alerts on New Haven’s website.
You can also receive weather alerts from the NBC Connecticut app.
