The 2006 Hurricane Season Begins Today — Is Everyone Ready?
Thursday, June 1st, 2006 Catastrophe PropertyState and local governments along the Atlantic and Gulf coasts are heeding the alarm of last year’s record onslaught and forecasts of another worse-than-normal hurricane season this year. Mock disaster drills from the Northeast to Texas have tested local and regional response. States and cities have revamped evacuation plans and set up websites to encourage residents to prepare and store extra provisions. The Federal Emergency Management Agency, roundly criticized for its slow response to Katrina, has tripled its stock of relief supplies. According to experts, many people along the USA’s hurricane coasts are not poised for the next tropical storm, let alone for a monster like 2005’s Katrina. The Census Bureau says more than 34.6 million people live in the most at-risk coastal zones, from the Carolinas to Texas. That’s more than triple the population there in 1950.
