Based on the elevated forecast for the 2007 hurricane season, the Atlantic Seaboard can be threatened by a devastating hurricane. People living within the region need to be made aware of the likely forthcoming calamities.
To raise such awareness, the NOAA hurricane experts are taking initiatives. They will be making a five-day, five-city tour of the East Coast aboard a NOAA WP-3 Orion turboprop Hurricane Hunter, beginning today.
Bill Proenza, the new director of the NOAA National Hurricane Center said,
Educating the public is our continuing mission. Even though last season had a below average number of tropical cyclones with no landfalling hurricanes, we remain in an active hurricane cycle likely to last another 10 to 20 years. Preparation through education is less costly than learning through tragedy.
Emergency management officials, non-profit organizations such as the American Red Cross and various local NOAA National Weather Service forecast offices will join the NOAA hurricane expert-team.
A break from seminars, papers and closed-door discussions, which are eventually irrelevant for the general mass, this NOAA team would invite public and media to not only tour the aircraft, but also speak with the delegation one-to-one.
James McFadden, PhD., chief of programs at the NOAA Aircraft Operations Center said,
We spend considerable time talking with children on the aircraft. If any of them take that message home to their parents, many more lives can be saved. This is a great way to teach hurricane awareness.
Though the hurricane season can’t be avoided and it’s devastations inevitable, such tours may help more people rescue or keep themselves away from the hurricane-related devastations.
Photo: NOAA
