“It doesn't take long for things to change is a big way” is what Connie Baggett said Wednesday after a storm roared through the middle of Brewton taking down trees and snapping utility poles.
Baggett, who serves as director of program management of the city of Brewton, said the storm came and was gone in a matter of 5 minutes leaving destruction in it path.
This past Tuesday severe storms and tornados ripped through Nashville, leaving at least 24 people dead across that area.
Each June or July, we publish a hurricane awareness tab to remind people to get prepared for hurricane season. We were mostly caught flat-footed by Ivan in 2004 and were better prepared for Dennis.
But what happened Wednesday in Brewton and what happened Tuesday in Tennessee shows that dangerous storms don't follow seasons. We normally have plenty of warning when a hurricane is plowing toward the gulf coast. Those warnings are cut short when severe thunderstorms pop up that produce heavy winds and possible tornados.
We don't just need to prepare for hurricane season, we all need to make preparations for severe weather. It could come as a severe thunderstorm, tornado, flooding rain or even an ice storm.
So the question is, are you prepared? While isolated storms don't knock power out like Hurricane Ivan did, they still cause immediate problems.
There are a lot of items on our list to prepare for a hurricane that need to be kept on hand year around, such as batteries and canned goods. We tell people every June to check on their generators and chainsaws to make sure they are working properly. We all need to make sure those items work all the time.
Simple preparations can go a long way in the aftermath of any weather event.
