Recently, community members gathered at the Palm Valley Community Center to brush up on their preparedness for hurricane season, which technically began on June 1, but historically amps up for Floridians in September.
Though St. Johns County hasn’t seen a direct hit from a hurricane since 1964 with Hurricane Dora, the repercussions from storms that skirt by or sit off the coast can still be devastating.
Hurricanes Matthew, Dorian, Nicole, Milton and Ian each affected parts of St. Johns County in one way or another, despite not being direct hits.
“A lot of people say, ‘St. Johns County can't get hit by a hurricane because of the coastline and the jet stream.’ Well, the jet stream’s the same as it was in 1964 when we got hit, we’ve just been really, really lucky,” said Laura Nelson, a representative from the St. Johns County Emergency Management Department.
At the start of hurricane season, agencies and private companies put out a prediction about named storms, though this prediction tends to change midway through the season.
Colorado State University predicted 17 named storms for the 2025 season, while the Weather Channel predicted nine. What do these predictions actually mean? According to Nelson, not much.
“They honestly pain me,” Nelson said. “It could be that we have 17 named storms and they all go out to sea. It could be that we have 17 named storms that hit Texas. We don't know where they're going to go, we don’t know what they're going to do, we don’t know how bad they're going to be.”
When a hurricane is spotted, even if the storm’s path isn’t predicted to move directly above St. Johns County, Nelson still urges residents to be prepared.
“A lot of people have this problem where they focus on the little black line or the center of the cone and where the center of the cone is, but if you look back at the cone for Hurricane Ian, you can see how small it was. In reality, Ian was a huge storm that covered almost 90% of the state,” Nelson said. “You have to understand that the impacts occur far outside the cone.”
An issue that St. Johns County and other areas of North Florida face during hurricane season is dangerous storm surge and flooding. Between the coastline, the Intracoastal Waterway and the St. Johns River, the area is prime for water collection, whether from the sky or the ocean.
While storm surge was historically tied to the category of a hurricane, the two have since broken apart. It’s entirely possible to have a massive, slow-moving storm pushing catastrophic water onto the coast even if it’s just Category One. On the opposite end, it’s also possible to have a small and fast-moving Category Five that pushes far less water than a Category One.
“These are all things that go into our decisions about who should be evacuated and who shouldn’t, and we try to make that message very clear,” Nelson said. “If we call for an evacuation, it’s going to be a mandatory evacuation, but we’re not coming to arrest you. If we’re calling for it, it’s because we believe it’s in your best interest to go.”
So, what can you do to best prepare yourself for hurricane season, according to an expert?
Before the storm, check your insurance policies. Your homeowner’s insurance policy should be enough to cover the cost of rebuilding your home, if it comes to that. Inspect your property with photo documentation ahead of time, trim unhealthy trees and limbs, and prepare your vehicle insurance policies, as well.
Check that generators are in working condition, stored safely away from your home, and potentially invest in a carbon monoxide detector.
Build an emergency disaster kit, including items such as nonperishable foods and drinks, can openers, flashlights and batteries, first aid supplies, a radio, battery packs and pet supplies. Under a state of emergency, pharmacies will refill prescriptions ahead of refill windows.
Learn your evacuation zones and flood zones. Have a plan in mind about where you’ll go when the time comes. Nelson urges residents to remember “tens of miles, not 100s of miles.”
For more information about what you can do to prepare, go to sjcfl.us/departments/emergency-mgmt.
