As hurricane season quickly approaches, one particular storm has caught the attention of the entire East Coast as they aim to avoid another potential natural disaster.
According to SILive.com, Congressman Dan Donovan of Staten Island met with disaster relief officials on Wednesday to prepare for a “worst case scenario” from the effects of the upcoming Hurricane Joaquin.
Donovan consulted FEMA officials as well as Joe Esposito, the Commissioner of the Office of Emergency Management in New York City.
Hurricane Joaquin could potentially bring up to a foot of rain over the next week for several states along the East Coast. Donovan is trying to get his ducks in a row before the storm hits, requesting regular updates on the hurricane’s trajectory.
“We’ve been through this before, and the most important actions people can take are to prepare well in advance and to listen to FEMA and the New York City Office of Emergency Management,” he said in the statement.
Staten Island is used to devastating storms; both Hurricane Irene and Hurricane Sandy caused major damage to the area. Since then, homeowners have taken some precautionary measures to limit future repercussions, including installing metal roofs that have up to a 140 MPH wind rating.
According Fox News, Connecticut is taking similar precautions after witnessing the devastation of recent hurricanes. Wayne Sandford, emergency management program adviser at the University of New Haven, took some unfortunate memories from both events.
“In Irene, we lost 27 homes and in Sandy it was another 12 or 13 that fell in,” recalled Sandford, who was also the fire chief in New Haven, CT during both storms.
Milford, CT Mayor Ben Blake said his community has over 17 miles of coastline, making it an even larger potential target for damage.
“We had about 2,000 homes impacted just from Sandy and we have about 4,000 properties in the flood zone,” said Blake.
Despite the harsh realities of these storms, some people manage to maintain a sense of humor. New Haven resident Ron Anderson, who was severely impacted by Hurricane Sandy, is looking on the bright side of things.
“I joke with our neighbors across the street that they have waterfront property practically twice a year.”