Being prepared as the peak of hurricane season arrives

SAVANNAH, Ga. (WTOC) - Thursday is the first day of National Preparedness Month.

For emergency and disaster preparation experts, like the team at the Chatham Emergency Management Agency (CEMA), being ready for worst case scenarios is always top of mind.

“I was at a meeting just last week with Congressman Buddy Carter, and a representative from the National Weather Service was there talking about how we should not rest on our laurels quite yet, and that hurricane season is about to ramp up,” said Chelsea Sawyer.

Sawyer is the Emergency Management Coordinator for CEMA. She pointed out the peak hurricane season is just days away, and now is the time to make sure you’re paying attention to forecasts and understand what the potential impacts could be on our area should a storm hit.

“Don’t panic, don’t go out and buy all of the milk and bread, and everything in the store. We don’t need to cause a panic. But making sure that you know what you need and figuring that out now is going to make it so much easier if a storm does come our way this season,” Sawyer said.

As far as CEMA goes, their preparations begin months before hurricane season even starts to react to a storm disaster.

“CEMA, honestly, we’ve been ready for a while...not to jinx us. But we know that hurricane season is six months long. So, we started our preparations back in April, back in May, to make sure that we were ready for this hurricane season,” she said.

To make sure that you and your family are ready for the historically more active portion of hurricane season, CEMA is hosting three workshops open to the public on Sept. 10 at Southwest Library.

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