Emergency Preparedness Information: Hurricanes

Weather systems being tracked

5-Day Outlook

Hurricane Preparedness - Be Ready

National Hurricane Center and Central Pacific Hurricane Center

Hurricanes

Ready.gov

Essentials to pack in a "go bag"

from AARP

A free webinar will review the 2021 U.S. Gulf Coast hurricane season, preparations, and response for cultural institutions presented by the Texas Collections Emergency Resource Alliance (TX-CERA), Houston Arts Alliance (HAA), and the National Center for Preservation Technology and Training (NCPTT).

Dan Reilly, Warning Coordination Meteorologist at National Weather Service Houston/Galveston, will discuss the upcoming hurricane season and hurricane preparedness with content about the specific risks from wind, rain, flooding, and tornadoes that are associated with hurricanes in the U.S. Gulf Coast. Jason Church, Chief of Technical Services at the National Center for Preservation Technology and Training (NCPTT), will discuss preparing buildings and collections in the event of a storm. Richard McAlister, MSSM, Spokesperson & Meteorologist for the American Red Cross of Central and South Texas, will discuss personal safety and resilience. Steve Pine, Senior Conservator of Decorative Arts, The Museum of Fine Arts, Houston and Texas Collections Emergency Resource Alliance (TX-CERA), will moderate this webinar hosted by NCPTT and Houston Art Alliance.

Full announcement is here: https://www.nps.gov/articles/000/2021-hurricane-season-preparations-for-u-s-gulf-coast-cultural-institutions.htm

Registration is required: https://us02web.zoom.us/webinar/register/WN_t-FBT0kcRRypmn_TaSvv2g

Storm names

On March 17, 2021, the World Meteorological Organization (WMO) disconinued the use of Greek letters for storm names.
https://public.wmo.int/en/media/press-release/wmo-hurricane-committee-retires-tropical-cyclone-names-and-ends-use-of-greek

2021 Storm Names

NOAA has not updated its site with the list of alternate names. Below is the list from the WMO. The old link to NOAA is in the strike-through section.

2021 Supplemental Storm Names

Source: https://public.wmo.int/en/media/news/supplemental-list-of-tropical-cyclone-names-rai

Hurricane Resources from NEDCC

Founded in 1973, the Northeast Document Conservation Center [NEDCC] is the first independent conservation laboratory in the United States to specialize exclusively in the conservation and preservation of paper- and film-based collections.

NEDCC Hurricane Resources

Hurricane Preparedness Tips for Cultural Institutions

This is a publication available both as a Word document and a PDF with suggestions and links from the Smithsonian Cultural Rescue Initiative.

Planning, Preparedness, and Mitigation Resources

With an active hurricane season upon us, the safety of your family and your home should be a top priority. And this hurricane season comes with the added stress of prepping for a potential natural disaster in the middle of a pandemic. With that in mind, your planning may be different this year because of the need to protect yourself and others from COVID-19.

• Check out the general Disaster Preparedness page.

• Give yourself more time than usual to prepare your emergency food, water and medicines. Remember to stay safe and mask up when shopping for supplies.

• When you check on friends and neighbors, be sure to follow proper social distancing protocols.

• If you need to evacuate, prepare a kit with personal items you cannot do without during an emergency. Include items that can protect you and others from COVID-19, like hand sanitizer, soap, disinfectant wipes, and two masks per person.

• If you will be staying with anyone outside your household to evacuate from the storm, talk to the people you plan to stay with about how you can all best protect yourselves from COVID-19. Follow preventative actions – including covering coughs and sneezes, washing hands often, and avoid touching eyes, nose and mouth.

As always, follow the guidance from your local public health and emergency management officials.

Thanks to Baton Rouge General Hospital for this information.