This Storm Missed Us, So…
As we watched Hurricane Elsa approaching Tampa on the Weather Channel and the local news, we heard about all the problems the hurricane could cause along the west coast of Florida. Heavy rain, storm surge, wind damage, it all could have happened. But for many it didn’t. We got lucky and the storm didn’t deliver the impact it could have. While that’s great news for everyone who was spared damage, it raised the question: how will people react going forward?
Does a near-miss make you take stock and realize you need to be better prepared for the next storm? Or do you breathe a sigh of relief and go about your day, feeling that much more emboldened that it won’t happen to you?
Human nature seems to lean towards option 2. When I was a weather forecaster and we’d sound the alarm early about an approaching storm and it didn’t happen, people seemed less likely to pay attention when the next one came along for both preparing and evacuating. But this question deals with more. It’s about looking at where you live, and what you live in, and knowing how that will hold up in a major weather disaster. Do you really know your vulnerabilities? Are you willing to do something about them?
Here in Tampa, we heard the experts on television talk about how vulnerable this area is to storm surge. In our documentary film The Last House Standing we learned about a study done in 2010 called The Hurricane Phoenix Scenario. It showed that if a major hurricane struck this area, almost half a million homes and ten thousand businesses would be destroyed, and two million people would need medical assistance. The population has exploded since that time so the numbers would be much higher today. Sean Sullivan, the Executive Director of the Tampa Bay Regional Planning Council says, “people have to believe that we are really almost on rented time.”
So, what will it take for people to realize it’s not about if a disaster will find them, but when? Resilience and sustainability expert Aris Papadopoulos says “Most people respond to natural hazards based on their personal experiences or those of people they know. Following that would be impactful films and documentaries. A regular and steady dose of messaging is generally more effective than extreme pre-event alarms. It also promotes preventive rather than reactive actions.”
So, if near misses don’t motivate people to do something, unfortunately, it may take a major disaster. As we learned making The Last House Standing, people’s lives are turned upside down in a disaster, losing things they will never get back. Water Ambassador Henk Ovink summed it up best in the film, “the simple lesson is that preparedness pays, that cleaning up after a disaster, repairing the damage, collecting your losses is a big effort, while a less bigger effort is to prepare better.”
We have great resources available on our website to help you prepare better. If you haven’t seen The Last House Standing, we hope you’ll watch. Don’t be a victim of the next big disaster. There’s a huge price to pay for doing nothing.