(CNS): With the Atlantic storm season less than one month away the National Hazard Management Council (NHMC) met on Tuesday, afternoon (4 May) for its annual pre-season preparation and hurricane drill. This season has been predicted to be a busy one with some storm experts pointing to 2005 as a comparative year. In readiness for whatever 2010 brings, the team were responding to the threat of ‘Hurricane Dan’ – the subject of this year’s hurricane preparedness exercise. Under the 2010 scenario, ‘Hurricane Dan’ has entered the Caribbean Sea and is a possible threat to the Cayman Islands.
The ‘storm’ scenario will continue throughout today Wednesday when an NEOC tabletop exercise designed to test readiness plans is activated.
Government buildings will also be shuttered and generators tested. The exercise involves senior officials, including Deputy Governor and NHMC Chairman Donovan Ebanks, as well as representatives of HMCI and other essential services.
According to the latest predictions from storm experts the 2010 Atlantic hurricane season may rival some of the worst in history as meteorological conditions mirror 2005, the record-breaking year that spawned New Orleans- wrecking Katrina. Sea temperatures from the Cape Verde Islands to the Caribbean, where the storms usually develop, are above normal and reaching records in some areas.
“We have only seen that in three previous seasons, 2005, 1958 and 1969, and all three of those years had five major hurricanes,” said Jeff Masters, co-founder of Weather Underground Inc. “I am definitely thinking that this is going to be a severe hurricane season.”
Predictions currently stand at 14 to 18 named storms. Each year, the Miami-based National Hurricane Center urges everyone living along the Atlantic and Gulf coasts to prepare for a storm strike. It’s very important to note that a seasonal outlook cannot forecast where and when storms will form, let alone if or where they will make landfall and at what strength,” Dennis Feltgen, a spokesman said.
