SARASOTA COUNTY, Fla. — May is National Hurricane Preparedness Month and the National Weather Service has warned that it will be a busy season.
That's why emergency management officials nationwide are reminding families that now is the best time to start getting ready before the beginning of the season on June 1.
"We live in a ground-level house. We've lived in this house for a long time, but we have no illusions about this house," said Mary Schuh of Sarasota.
Schuh lives on Siesta Key where she and her neighbors are no strangers to hurricanes. In the last 40 years that she has lived in the area, she and her family have had to evacuate nearly a dozen times.
"We've got the drill down pretty good as far as we don't tend to stock up on food and things like that because where we live, we just have to leave, and when they tell us to leave we leave," Schuh said.
Before that time comes, Sarasota County officials want families to know their flood zone levels and put plans in place in case of an evacuation order.
"That plan should include pets and a communication plan. How are you going to stay in touch with family members here locally as well as outside of the area," said Sandra Tapfumaneyi, Sarasota County Emergency Management Chief.
Tapfumaneyi also said people should make plans for their property including moving valuable items, making sure insurance plans are updated and that cars and boats are moved to high ground.
County officials too are reviewing their emergency management plans to make sure they're prepared as well.
"How we actually run our operations here, just to make sure that if we do have a large scale event and we have to welcome teams from all across the country like we saw down south during Ian that we have a good plan in place to be able to work with them," Tapfumaneyi said.
During an emergency event like a hurricane, the command center will have staff from various relevant departments and agencies stationed at different computer systems. They would monitor and respond to the community during a natural disaster and even in the immediate aftermath.
"We are encouraging people to not make decisions or protective decisions based on experiences from the past and what has happened in your neighborhood but to listen for when the emergency operation center is giving information as a storm approaches," Tapfumaneyi said.
As for Schuh, she's confident that a storm would not find her at home this hurricane season and that she would observe the outcome from somewhere far and safe.
"When the big storm hits, it's going to be bad for our house. That's what's in my head, is that when the big one hits, our house is gone. It just is," she said.
Residents can visit the Sarasota County Public Library to pick up a Hurricane Preparedness information packet or download the county's app.