S5 E5: Master Your Hurricane Readiness with Erik Heden

How prepared are you for what is shaping up to be an exceptionally active 2024 hurricane season? For this crucial episode, we are joined by Erik Heden from the National Weather Service in the Morehead City area. Erik shares his expert advice on early preparation, assessing personal vulnerabilities, and the essential items for a comprehensive hurricane kit. He also walks us through the sobering statistics and common pitfalls that can make the difference between safety and disaster. This episode is packed with actionable tips that could be lifesaving for you and your loved ones.

We explore reliable sources for the latest updates, such as the National Hurricane Center and the local Morehead City weather office. Whether you're a seasoned resident of hurricane-prone areas or new to the coast, this episode equips you with the knowledge to stay informed and prepared. Tune in and ensure your readiness for this  hurricane season.

Transcript

Speaker 2: 0:08

Welcome listeners to another episode of Flippin' the Switch In preparation for hurricane season. Today's guest shares valuable information on how to stay storm ready, things to consider when preparing and ensuring the weather sources you use are accurate. It's looking like this year will be a pretty active one for East Coast storms, so we hope our members find this episode useful heading into the summer. Stay tuned for the opportunity to win your very own hurricane kit at the end of this episode. And with that let's start Flippin' the Switch.

Speaker 3: 0:42

On this edition of Flippin' the Switch. We are honored to have Eric Hayden from our National Weather Service located in Newport, moorhead City area. Welcome to the podcast, eric. Really appreciate you having us. Well, eric, let's start with a little bit about what you do for the National Weather Service and what your background might be.

Speaker 4: 1:04

Sure do for the National Weather Service and what your background might be. Sure. So my official title for the Weather Service is Warning, coordination and Meteorologist Just a fancy term for liaison between the Weather Service office, which is in Newport, and a community. So I do a lot of community events, ranging from school visits to hurricane talks, really getting out the preparedness aspect in our community, ranging from winter storms to hurricanes, tornadoes and everything in between In our office in Newport we cover 15 counties in eastern North Carolina, so the far southwest part of our area is Onslow and Jones County, even over toward Dupeson County. So places like Jacksonville, maysville and those locations that is part of our area that we cover for those 15 counties.

Speaker 3: 1:47

Well, you are definitely right in our service area, for sure, I would assume that you don't ever have a dull moment, because weather never stops.

Speaker 4: 1:56

That is true, and that's why I like it. I would not want to work at a quiet office. I, like you, know some action, but it really is around each and every Carolina. We're talking hurricane preparedness today, but even the sunny days can turn into thunderstorms because of our proximity to the water and we get a lot of action year round. It's a beautiful place to live, but we certainly get active weather as well.

Speaker 3: 2:18

Well, I'm sure this has been a hot topic. It sounds like you've had several interviews over the past couple of weeks, so we're going to kick it off with the 2024 hurricane season, do you?

Speaker 4: 2:33

guys kind of have what you think the outlook might be for our communities. We do, and specifically for the whole Atlantic Ocean Gulf of Mexico, the official season outlook is for an extremely active season. In fact an 85% chance that it will be above normal. That's one of the highest forecasts that we've ever had from the National Weather Service. So 85% chance it will be above normal season. And most folks listening might say you know, 85% sounds like a pretty high number, which it is. But putting that in perspective, we anticipate 17 to 25 storms and of those, 8 to 13 are expected to become hurricanes. So we do expect an active year.

Speaker 4: 3:14

One thing for the community to remember is that doesn't necessarily mean we'll be active. Here in Eastern North Carolina we usually say each year you should prepare, no matter what. It takes just one storm to make it after our confusing. But we have an active forecast like that that says anywhere along the coastline or higher, you've got more storms out in the ocean. Theoretically you have a higher chance at the coast. So we're really trying to preach preparing it early in the season because it's going to be a busy one.

Speaker 3: 3:46

Yeah, I will not lie that. My stomach didn't turn just a little bit whenever you said that forecast. So I'm with our members. I'm a little nervous.

Speaker 4: 3:55

Yeah, and it's a lot of factors coming together. Our water is exceptionally warm early in the season and warm water drives those hurricanes, and then we have some climate patterns transitioning to a phase that's a little more favorable for hurricanes. So it's something that we're certainly watching and I would say refocus people listening. That's unnerving. A busy season We've had active storms in the past that can, you know, get people fearful in the community. We don't have control over that, but you do have control over preparedness and planning and it is much, much easier to do that when you're not stressed early in the season, on a sunny day, when the shelves are full of supplies, versus waiting until the last minute. So I really wanted to just reemphasize to people we live in an awesome area. We live by the beach. It's a beautiful community, small hometown, great place to live. Our responsibility is to prepare each and every year and then hope it doesn't happen and if it does, we're ready to go with our action plan, whether it's our kit where to evacuate to, or so forth.

Speaker 3: 5:03

Absolutely. That kind of just goes right into what I was thinking. What do you recommend our members as far as hurricane preparedness?

Speaker 4: 5:11

So it's really a three-step process. Before we even talk about a kit, before we even talk about what you should have in terms of evacuation plans, you need to look at your vulnerability. Your vulnerability is where you live. So, weather-wise, do you live in a low-lying area? Have you had water issues before? Is your flood bearing forth? But also beyond the weather, what is your vulnerability at your home? Are you a young person that can pick up and move at a snap of the fingers, or do you have elderly parents live with you? Are they reliant on electricity for something like oxygen or medical? So really addressing the vulnerability is extremely important because that will determine the next two steps. So, are you vulnerable? What are you vulnerable to? And then the next two steps are everybody needs to have a hurricane kit.

Speaker 4: 6:00

At least three days of food, water, medicine, anything you would need for that household to stay put. Trying to push people to seven days, three is the bare minimum. If you can stretch it out to a week, that would be even better, and I know there's a lot of financial impact in the community right now. It's a daunting task for you to go out, maybe and get three to seven days' worth of canned goods or water. Spread it out. That will spread out the financial impact. Get your canned goods this weekend, next month maybe get your water. I can guarantee it's much easier to buy those things now than it will be if a storm is approaching you kind of watch that sales and stuff too, so you can plan exactly you can get the sales and and that'll.

Speaker 4: 6:44

That'll help you budget it out, like you mentioned, and it'll spread that that bill out versus getting it all at once. So having that kit is extremely important. The last step is, uh, have an evacuation plan. If you're extremely vulnerable to the weather, you live in a low-lying area you better have a really good way to evacuate. We don't want you staying here if it's bad, and we always say don't just go to Raleigh, don't just go to Goldsboro or Kinston.

Speaker 4: 7:11

Some storms impact inland areas more than us, just depending on the track. So we like to have at least two plans, maybe a northern or a southern plan. You really want to be away from those storms going the opposite direction, and that's something you think about today. You have pets, you have animals. Is it hotel? Do they take pets? Those family members that visit us every year from Ohio and Pennsylvania, reach out to them and let them return the favor. Go visit them when there's a storm. And I'm saying this because these are things you need to think through well before a storm happens so that when you make the decision to stay, you know that you have up to seven days' worth of food, water and medicine. When you make the decision to leave, you know where to go. You don't have to think about any of these things. These are all good things to talk about now, today, well before a storm gets here.

Speaker 3: 8:05

And do you have? Can you think of, like some common misconceptions that people might have in regards to hurricane preparedness?

Speaker 4: 8:13

I think the biggest misconception with preparedness is not thinking it can happen here and then focusing on the category alone. So we've had some experienced folks in the area that have been through storms. No tree storms are alike, so sometimes people with a lot of experience let their guard down and say, hey, I've been through these storms. I should say for the other ones, but each storm is unique. We saw that with Florence. Some places got damage of water where they had never had that in the past.

Speaker 4: 8:44

And the other one that you asked about misconception would be the category of the storm. While we're doing our preparedness, we've got our kit and our plan on where to go. A lot of people make their decisions based on that category. We all know what it is Category one. Category three that is only based on wind. It has nothing about how much rain is going to fall. It says nothing about how large the storm is. Is it slow moving? Did we have 10 inches of rain the week before? So people should not make their decisions based on the category alone. So a lot of focus on the category.

Speaker 3: 9:20

I think that kind of helps you plan accordingly because you're getting all the aspects of whatever the storm system is that's coming in. Can you share some recent advancements or research in hurricane forecasting? That's kind of benefiting you guys to have more knowledge and also in turn, is benefiting the members and community members in various areas.

Speaker 4: 9:42

Sure. So one of our biggest upgrades in the last couple of years have been to the satellites. These are more than 20,000 miles up in the sky. They're looking down on Earth. Before we had these satellites in the 1960s, we would know about a hurricane until the seas picked up, or the marin of Africa weeks before it arrives here in eastern North Carolina. That's not new, that's not unique. Again, that came about in the 1960s. But over the last course of a few years we've had upgrades to those satellites so they update more frequently. Instead of every 15 or 30 minutes, sometimes they're as frequent as a minute, so that additional data goes into our forecast predictions for the hurricanes. You will have noticed, through the years the accuracy of the forecast has gotten extremely good. The forecast for Florence five days out was only off by five miles.

Speaker 4: 10:37

So, that's very, very good it is. What we're trying to stress more is the communication aspect. Hey, don't just focus on the category. The other thing water, water, water is what kills people. Traditionally in a hurricane, about 85% of the deaths are water related. That could be anywhere from flooding it's amazing Flooding, storm surge or rip currents. And the biggest thing, with most water deaths, they occur in vehicles. So our campaign with that is turn around, don't drown. If you're coming back to the area, you're leaving the area. Anything water related. Never, ever, ever, cross the flooded road. Water is real powerful and you don't know if the road exists underneath that water.

Speaker 3: 11:20

I think all of this together just brings home the point that knowledge is power. This together just brings home the point that knowledge is power. So if you certainly are educated and know what to look for and you're prepared for it whenever it arrives, you can be successful. You know when the storm comes and if you've evacuated and riding it out, what would you encourage our members to? Kind of ways to stay informed? If there are websites, that you would refer them to.

Speaker 4: 11:52

That's a great point. Official sources of information are extremely important. You're going to have plenty of information at your fingertips plenty of information on social media, local news. You really need to follow official sources so you get accurate, clear information.

Speaker 4: 12:03

One good site is the National Hurricane Center. The website for that is easy to remember. It's hurricanes with an S, so plural hurricanesgov. If you go to that website you can find information on the track of the hurricane, watches and warnings, even preparedness information. And then our local office is extremely useful as well. For that it's weathergov, and then you just put slash Morehead City, so weathergov, slash Morehead City. That will give you local watches and warnings and information. We even have a hurricane preparedness section as well and you'll notice a lot during hurricane season. We do talk that, discuss the information we're talking about today, so we call these Hurricane Community Forms. All of that information is on our website weathergov, slash Morehead City. It's a great thing to bookmark prior to the season for preparedness tips, but also when we get a storm we'll have a lot of good local information to Onslow and Jones County, specific to eastern North Carolina for you.

Speaker 3: 13:06

And I would encourage members to visit that website, you know, as a resource for your daily weather forecasting needs. Whether you're a boater or you're looking to make plans outside, you guys have a wealth of knowledge, whether it's for wind, gusts, precipitation, what have you? I know our family uses that on a daily basis.

Speaker 4: 13:25

We appreciate that. And to the local information and since we're talking about hurricane season, before we even get a named storm or we're in a watch or warning or there's a forecast cone showing where it's going, there's something called a Tropical Weather Outlook that's put out four times a day on our local site and Hurricane Center webpage and that will show you the chance of a storm in the next seven days. So as we get into hurricane season, it's a good thing just to check in the morning hey, is it to be active the next week? Is there something I need to pay attention to? Then you move on with your day if there's nothing going on. So, yeah, locally, weathergov slash, Morehead State, really one-stop shop for local current information, like you mentioned, on the water as much as hurricane preparedness and planning.

Speaker 3: 14:10

Well, as we wrap it up, Eric, let's do some rapid-fire reminders to our members. What are the three steps that all members should take heed to do in the near future to get prepared for hurricanes?

Speaker 4: 14:24

Learn about your vulnerability. Are you susceptible to water or wind? Have that hurricane kit at least three days, if you can push it to seven. It includes everybody in the household, whether it's formula for the young ones, medicine, food, water, anything that you would need to survive without electricity. And the last step you've got to have a plan to evacuate. Where would you go if we had a really bad pulmonary?

Speaker 3: 14:49

That all sounds great. Now one other thing for our members. Would you give the website one more time?

Speaker 4: 14:57

Sure. Our local website is weathergov. Slash Moorhead City and you'll find everything. We've got a hurricane preparedness site on there. It'll tell you what you need in your kit and it'll explain everything you need to know for a hurricane season.

Speaker 3: 15:17

Be on the lookout for a social media post with this podcast. It'll have lots of information and URLs for you to follow and, in addition, jones-onse will be giving one lucky member a value pack of a hurricane preparedness kit to get them started for their summer season. So thanks so much, eric, for joining us today.

Speaker 4: 15:39

Thanks again for having us. We really appreciate it.

Speaker 5: 15:55

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Speaker 2: 16:19

It's time for another segment of what's Happening at your Co-op. Let's get started. Jones-onslow's annual charity golf tournament that took place on May 10th was a major success. Thank you to all of our whole sponsors and a big shout out to the teams that participated. You helped us raise money for a fantastic cause. We had a great time at the Jacksonville Country Club. Thank you so much for hosting this event.

Speaker 2: 16:42

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Speaker 1: 17:55

Well, folks, that'll do it for this episode of Flippin' the Switch Until next time. If you don't currently follow us on Facebook, instagram or any of our other social media channels, consider doing so. It's the best way to keep informed about what's going on with your cooperative. Thanks again.