By DONALD WITTKOWSKI
Names like Dorian and Humberto have been dominating the news in recent weeks – and with good reason.
Dorian’s devastation in the Bahamas and parts of the Outer Banks in North Carolina and Humberto’s glancing blow to Bermuda show that hurricane season is far from over.
Now, three new tropical storms are spinning in the Atlantic hurricane basin, creating concerns that they could intensify and make landfall.
Ocean City, pummeled by Hurricane Sandy in 2012, along with the rest of the Jersey Shore, is not letting down its guard.
“Even if a hurricane is 100 miles offshore, we’re going to have some effects from it,” said Frank Donato, the city’s emergency management coordinator.
Dorian was 200 miles out to sea from Ocean City while churning up the East Coast and still spawned rough surf and dangerous rip tides in the resort.
With two more months to go in hurricane season – it officially ends Nov. 30 – Donato stressed that the city continues to “keep an eye out.”
Normally, September is the peak hurricane time for the East Coast, but Donato noted that Sandy slammed into New Jersey on Oct. 29, 2012.
Early on Oct. 29, Sandy curved to the west-northwest to make its infamous “left turn” onshore as a post-tropical cyclone with hurricane-force winds.
“It’s definitely the new benchmark for what we can prepare for in Ocean City,” Donato said of Sandy.
During a presentation sponsored by the Ocean City Environmental Commission, Donato met with members of the public on Sept. 18 to discuss what the city is doing to prepare for storms.
He is urging residents and people who own vacation homes to sign up for the city’s storm advisories and emergency alerts. They should visit the city’s website at www.ocnj.us, go to the “Citizen Services” tab and then click on “Signup for Emergency Notifications.”
The city’s preparation for hurricanes and other major storms is “going to start with a lot of alerts and updates to the public” based on forecasts from the National Weather Service, Donato noted.
The alerts will not only help people prepare as the storms approach, but will also tell them what to do if they need to evacuate or seek emergency shelter.
“I’m confident in our ability to help the town successfully recover. The challenge is to get the word out to everyone to take our advice seriously,” Donato said in an interview.
Ocean City uses the high school as a “transitional shelter” to protect people from storms before they can be evacuated off the island. The Upper Township Middle School serves as a full-fledged emergency shelter for Ocean City residents and was used during Hurricane Sandy and Hurricane Irene in 2011, Donato said.
Donato explained that people should prepare an emergency list or kit that has all of the items they would need if they evacuate their homes, including medications, essential supplies, extra clothing and pre-storm photos of their property in case there is damage later and they file an insurance claim. He said they should also make arrangements for their pets.
“You might not get back on the island for a few days, so you have to be prepared for that,” Donato said.
Storm preparations should also include making plans to stay with friends or family members who live offshore or at hotels that are located inland, Donato added.
During storms, the city government will implement its own plans to protect the island and recover afterward, including using heavy equipment to help rescue people or clean up damage.
Overall, Donato expressed confidence that the city is ready for future storms, in part because of the lessons learned from Hurricane Sandy.
“We have a great team assembled here in the city. We’re always ready for something like this,” he said.
