BATON ROUGE — Hurricane experts say this season will be more active than usual.
That’s why WGNO’s Adam Bowles went to Baton Rouge inside a hurricane hunter aircraft as part of the Hurricane Awareness Tour to see what action is taking place and what you should do to stay safe at home this season.
Hurricane season is fast approaching starting on June 1. Hurricane researchers at Colorado State University say this season is looking to be more active than usual. That’s why WGNO went on the Hurricane Awareness tour, and they say it doesn’t even have to be active to be a bad season.
“If there is one hurricane that strikes the southeast Louisiana area, it’s a bad season for us. Preparedness, you got to be prepared that we may get hit, and that’s all year long we’ve got to be prepared,” Kenneth Graham says.
How they prepare is using hurricane hunter air crafts called the C-130 and the G-IV. They have cool flying techniques they use to fly straight into all of that wind and rain with a term called “Crabbing.”
“You see a crab walking across the road or something it turns sideways. So basically that’s what we have to do with the aircraft to get into the storm,” Troy Bickham says.
They are in charge of what to do in the air, but our leaders know what we should we do on land.
“Ninety percent of the casualties come from water, and in Louisiana the biggest percentage of that is people who choose to drive into water that is over the roadway,” Gov. John Bel Edwards says.
“Every day leading up to June 1st will be a focus on homeland security, emergency preparedness, and public safety,” Mayor LaToya Cantrell says.
So trim those trees, have window covers ahead of time, find a safe place for your car, secure outdoor items, and most important of all: be a good neighbor.
FEMA also stresses that being financially ready is the biggest recovery step. That means getting insurance well in advance before a disaster strikes.