Your Evacuation Plan Shouldn’t Involve A Tesla. Make Smart, Sensible Choices Today To Prevent Problems If A Warning Is Issued.
BY: STAFF REPORT | BocaNewsNow.com
BOCA RATON, FL (BocaNewsNow.com) (Copyright © 2021 MetroDesk Media, LLC) — The Atlantic Hurricane season starts Tuesday, and if you’re new to South Florida, it’s no joke. This is the time to start planning for the catastrophe you hope never happens.
Colorado State University, in its constantly updated and often very accurate forecast, is predicting 17 named storms with 8 hurricanes. Four of the predicted hurricanes are expected to be “major” hurricanes.
Every year, new South Florida residents and homeowners believe they have all the answers and don’t need to prepare. They’re wrong. The worst time to make hurricane preparations is when lines are long at Publix, when Home Depot is out of supplies, and prepackaged food and water are nowhere to be found. The panic dramatically increases once a watch or warning is issued by the National Hurricane Center.
Where Do You Live?
The most important step: figure out where you live. Many new residents moving from New York and New Jersey believe that their high priced homes with Delray Beach and Boca Raton addresses are actually in the City of Delray Beach or the City of Boca Raton. They are not in either city if they are west of roughly Military Trail. That becomes “unincorporated Palm Beach County.” Your services are provided by Palm Beach County, not a city, and it affects what you should do and where you should go if a hurricane is heading our way. Use this link to figure out where you live. It’s an official Palm Beach County website with address and evacuation information. While every storm is different, your likelihood of a mandatory evacuation rises the closer to the ocean you are. The official City of Boca Raton website is here. Use this for the City of Delray Beach. Again, know where you live. An address with “Boca Raton” or “Delray Beach” does not mean you live in either of those cities.
Steps to take now:
Evacuation Plan (Leave the Tesla at home):
Figure out where you are going and how you are going to get there. Have a Tesla? You might want to leave it at home. If 500 Tesla’s are all trying to charge at the same rest stop on Florida’s Turnpike, you’re going nowhere, fast. Most rest stops have gas pumps operated by generators. While gas availability can be a problem, your likelihood of accessing a gas pump is better than accessing an EV charging station for any meaningful amount of time.
Generators:
Permitting can take often take months for a new, in-ground generator connected to your house, so it’s unlikely you’ll have one for the first part of the season. These generators often cost $10,000 or more. Portable generators can be effective, but should never be used in a garage or other enclosed area. There are local deaths every year attributed to Carbon Monoxide emitted from generators too close to a victim’s home.
Gas:
Gas prices are conducive right now to filling up official gas containers that you can store in your garage. While you never want to store too much, four five gallon containers is reasonable to store in a garage — away from anything that could possibly spark a fire.
Water:
Buy it now. Publix currently has water on sale. Cases of water bottles will always be used, so there’s no reason not to buy it and store it. Waiting until a hurricane watch is issued is almost a guarantee that you’ll be stressed out at the supermarket when you try to buy items like water that you can buy right now.
Batteries:
Amazon. Publix. Home Depot. Lowes. Target. It doesn’t matter where you buy them, but just buy them. Same with flashlights, lightbulbs and other essential items.
BocaNewsNow.com is a leading provider of Hurricane news and information. We update storm forecasts and information around the clock when the National Hurricane Center issues watches and warnings.
