Start Getting Ready For Hurricane Season Today

While school children in Texas rush excitedly to leave school, books and teachers behind for the summer months, adults begin to hear the drumbeat about hurricane season as summer nears.

The 2009 Atlantic hurricane season runs from June 1 to November 30. This season concerns many in Texas. No longer do Texans ignore the urgings for hurricane preparedness. Running from hurricanes, recovering from their destruction and caring for victims have affected many Texans of late.

The recent past has brought to Texas scores of evacuees from Hurricane Katrina. Texas also witnessed an evacuation nightmare in the Houston-Galveston area as Hurricane Rita barreled to Texas coast sparing the urban areas and making landfall near Sabine Pass.

In 2008, Hurricane Dolly’s entrance at Padre Island brought flooding and crop damage to the lower Rio Grande Valley. A few months later Hurricane Ike brought devastation to Galveston and communities on Bolivar peninsula, along with millions in property damage in many coastal and adjacent counties.

AARP representatives held hurricane preparedness seminar prior to last season’s run and subsequently spoke to many senior groups about rampant frauds associated with damage recovery efforts.

After these recent experiences, some of us know the drill and know how to prepare. Many of us are wiser after the past several times and plan to do better the next time.

With today’s economy and uncertainties, Texans are more aware of their neighbors. They want to be prepared, but also see the need to help others prepare for disasters that may occur.

If you want to be ready and have time to help your neighbors and friends, AARP has toolkits in English and Spanish for your use. You may download a kit to individually help your friends and neighbors by visiting AARP’s website, Operation Hurricane Prepare. At this site, you will find individual toolkits and group toolkits. The toolkits may be used by volunteer groups as a community outreach project.

The toolkits allow you to prepare for evacuations or for sheltering in place. It includes lists of emergency items and documents that you will need in the aftermath of a disaster. The tool kit includes basic tips and information you will need to put your life back together after a disaster. Most importantly, it helps one to develop a disaster plan and to share your thoughts and plans with neighbors and family members.

So, help yourself plan for any disaster that might arise. Help a friend, family member or neighbors prepare for the worse and plan for recovery.