Hurricane Season. Are You Ready?

It’s happened to all of us.

Unexpected guests show up and you have nothing to serve them. Suddenly, you remember your hurricane supplies.

Next thing you know, you’re on your hands and knees in a desperate search for emergency snacks.

I know there are crackers in here somewhere. Oh look, peanuts!

Days later, you’re craving a tuna sandwich and remember that big can of Bumblebee. Then one of the grandkids gets a new battery-operated toy and you grab a pack of fresh AAs. 

The electricity blinks off and you fish out a flashlight.

That’s the way raids on your hurricane stash start. Here’s how they inevitably finish:

You turn on the TV one day and find Jim Cantore lashed to a lamp post on the boardwalk as a Cat 3 bears down on Hampton Roads. You’re off to the supermarket with all the other unprepared storm schlumps, filling your cart with an embarrassing amount of toilet paper and instant coffee.

After more than 40 years in hurricane country I’ve finally figured out why this happens.

We’re not savers.

According to the latest statistics, Americans save about 4.4% percent of their after-tax dollars. By contrast, Germans sock away about 10.4% percent and the Irish - my ancestors - hold onto 13.8 percent.

Americans work harder and take fewer vacation days than anyone else on earth. 

So how do we cheer ourselves up? By spending every nickel.

It’s simply not in our nature to stock up on goodies and put them away – literally – for a rainy day.

We like to buy food and eat it – sometimes before we get home.

So all of the well-meaning warnings to buy emergency provisions when hurricane season begins in June are fruitless. As well they should be – fruit doesn’t keep.

As usual, I stocked up my supplies in May, when the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration was predicting a “very active 2025 North Atlantic hurricane season” with 13-18 named storms, 5-9 hurricanes and 2-5 major ‘canes.

I peeked in our emergency box over the weekend and found some clothesline and matches.

Now there’s only clothesline. I used the matches on Sunday to light my son-in-law’s birthday candles.

Not to worry.

This year’s storm season is off to a slow start, although Tropical Storm Erin is expected to be upgraded to a hurricane by Thursday. It’s going to hit the Leeward Islands and then hopefully blow out to sea. It’s definitely too soon for the forecasters to put out their scary cones of doom aimed right at my house.

But the experts warn us not to become complacent.

"No two storms are alike," cautioned NOAA’s National Weather Service Director Ken Graham. “Every storm presents unique, life-threatening hazards that can impact people in both coastal and inland communities. Have a plan in place, and know the actions you should take before, during and after the wide range of hazards that the hurricane season can bring.”    

Have a plan in place? Easy for you to say, Ken. No one down here in the land of congested tunnels can evacuate unless they leave a week in advance. 

We have to stay put, wear lifejackets and play jump rope with our clothesline until help arrives.

If history is any predictor, we’ll be fine this time. After all, the East Coast Surfing Championships start Sunday in Virginia Beach and the surf is notoriously uncooperative for the oldest surfing competition on the East Coast. (It started in 1963.)

Tropical weather systems with their monster waves almost never materialize when we need them.