My final installment on the Bahamas Weather Conference, held earlier this month on Grand Bahama Island.
Walter Maestri, Director of Emergency Management for Jefferson Parish, Louisiana made a very important statement. We often think that the National Hurricane Center’s role is forecasting and warning, but they are really in a partnership whose real business is education. The partnership between the National Hurricane Center, Emergency Management and the media is critical in educating the public about risks and what to do. Dr. Maestri said that storm surge is the biggest issue that we are dealing with, and seeing the photos from Hurricane Katrina makes you a believer. I can attest to that.
Mr. Mayfield said that he was pretty familiar with the Mississippi Coast from his years at the Center, but that after Katrina he didn’t even recognize it. In giving an overview of the 2005 hurricane season, he said it was difficult to do because there were so many storms. He used that opportunity to set the stage for the future. Max said that track forecasting was good and even storm surge forecasting was on point, so a lot of things went right. He said that it was fairly easy to get people motivated for a Category Three or higher hurricane like the ones that made landfall in the United States last year. His fear is that people will go to bed prepared for a Catrgory One storm was wake up to a Category3/4/5 storm like Katrina or Rita.
Dr. Will Shaffer of NOAA hit one point hard. Many people have still not experienced the max part of a major hurricane. And, Katrina was not really the big catastrophic hurricane that we could have had. We could have had something even worse.
Nanette Lockwood is an expert on building codes. Her stated goal is to impact statewide building codes so that structures are more prepared to withstand hurricane conditions. She says that now is the best time for building reform as we have the attention of consumers in areas that have been affected by the hurricanes. She says that Mississippi, Louisiana and Alabama were the only three states without statewide minimum building codes, Louisiana has adopted an upgraded code. She says that Mississippi is hanging on the edge but may never get there. She says that it is up to residents living these states to demand tougher codes so that they will have a house to come back to after the next hurricane. She asserts that it only takes about an additional $30 per month to make a home more hurricane proof.
Max Mayfield said that the loss of life in Katrina (the largest in 77 years) was unacceptable. He pushed the message that every individual, every family, every business and every community has to have a hurricane plan. Amen.
More on the Bahamas Weather Conference at http://www.bahamaswxconference.com
-Bill