Emergency management officials from Forrest and Lamar counties are preparing for hurricane season a little differently this year due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
Hurricane researchers are predicting that the 2020 hurricane season will be 140 percent more active than the average season. As of now, the trend reigns true as the Atlantic has already seen its first tropical storm two weeks before the official start of hurricane season.
The season officially started on June 1 and continues through Nov. 30.
Glen Moore, executive director of the Forrest County Emergency Management Agency, has said that storm shelters will be taking extra precautions due to the pandemic.
“We are putting procedures in place in case we have to shelter,” Moore said. “That involves the amount of square footage per evacuee. It’s kind of the same procedures we had for when we had the tornadoes. We will have someone there that takes temperatures and a complete medical screening. There will be designated areas within the shelter so that they’ll know how to maintain proper social distancing.”
Lamar County has similar plans in place, but according to James Smith, the county’s emergency management director, the pandemic creates the obstacles of not having enough personnel and enough space to hold people under pandemic guidelines.
“It’s a challenge for us in several ways because we have to look at more facilities to house these people, and that creates extra burdens on having extra people to man and run the shelters,” Moore said. “The challenges that come with shelter operations are going to be very tough. We want to keep everyone as safe as possible during both events, so it’s going to be a balancing act.”
Both Moore and Smith recommend residents begin to prepare hurricane kits.
Kits should include bottled water, non-perishable snacks, flashlights, batteries, sanitation items, relevant documents and first aid kits. The kits should also include face masks.
“My advice is to prepare as much as you can now,” Moore said.
Despite shelters taking extra measures to combat the potential for COVID-19 spread, Moore and Smith recommend that people evacuate Hattiesburg this year if needed due to a hurricane.
Moore explained that it is safer to travel and be with extended family or in hotels because it lowers the risks of potentially spreading the virus in shelters.
“What we are really going to recommend to people this year is to travel outside of Hattiesburg,” Moore said. “We are not far enough inland to not see hurricane damage. We are going to recommend that people go stay with their family that lives a greater distance away. This will keep from having to be put into a shelter where you have a large number of people and a limited amount of space.”
The main Forrest County storm shelter is located at 946 Sullivan Drive, and residents can also go to the Forrest County Multipurpose Center.
The Lamar County shelter is located at 109 Central Industrial Row in Purvis.
