# 2256
September is the peak of the Atlantic Hurricane Season, and this year we are expecting an above average number of storms. Today, as of 0800 hrs EDT, here are the areas the forecasters at the National Hurricane Center are watching.
As you can see, we have the remnants of Fay in Alabama, a full fledged Hurricane Gustav (probably headed for the Gulf of Mexico), and three (count'em, three) areas of suspicion in the Atlantic.
While the suspect areas in mid-ocean may never develop into any threat to land, Gustav shows every sign of being a very bad boy.
He is forecast to strike Haiti later today, then skirt the southern coast of Cuba, and emerge into the Gulf of Mexico for the weekend.
After that, where he goes is anyone's guess.
Everyone along the gulf coast, from Florida to Mexico, needs to be watching this one carefully.
As I stated, September is National Preparedness month.
And as this Ready.gov site tells us, we need to be prepared for emergencies. We need to be ready for hurricanes, floods, earthquakes, tornadoes, and yes . . . even pandemics.
National Preparedness Month 2008
Sponsored by the U.S. Department of Homeland Security's (DHS) Ready Campaign
Join the Ready Campaign and our DHS partner Citizen Corps this September for the fifth annual National Preparedness Month (NPM). Register now to be a part of the 2008 NPM Coalition — visit http://ready.adcouncil.org.
This year the focus of NPM is to encourage citizens to take important preparedness steps:
In 2007, NPM had a record number of more than 1,800 NPM Coalition Members who worked to create a culture of emergency preparedness in the United States. We invite you to read the National Preparedness Month 2007 Journal to learn about some of the events and activities that took place across the country last year. In addition, President George W. Bush issued a proclamation declaring September as National Preparedness Month.
We hope your organization will join us in spreading the emergency preparedness message this year - and every year! If you have any questions, please don't hesitate to contact us at Ready@dhs.gov.
