Osceola County Office of Emergency Management Director Bill Litton has returned from the annual Florida Governor’s Hurricane Conference in West Palm Beach — and he said he came back wide-eyed.
“The Hurricane Center’s event doesn’t compare,” Litton said. “There were international attendees there. Who better to hear hurricane preparedness from than Floridians?”
He said messaging to Osceola County residents has changed little.
“Make plans now, it only takes one storm to impact our family and friends in a bad way.”
Something that’s different this year is that space requirements at evacuation shelters will be back to pre-pandemic levels of 20x20 feet per family, instead of 60x60 for distancing.
Part of the message here is that shelters are designed for those who are in low-lying local areas, mobile homes or lessthan-sturdy houses, along with housing evacuees from Brevard County, and those coming up Florida’s Turnpike in the case of a South Florida major impact.
Litton said Osceola County is in a better preparedness position in the past, with the warehousing of supplies, more capable drone coverage and an improved flood rating, which should help residents get better flood insurance rates.
And, Litton said he expects to be busy when hurricane season starts June 1. Dr. Phil Klotzbach, now the lead research with the Colorado State University hurricane analysis team, was on hand at the Governor’s conference to talk about what kind of storm activity to expect this year.
The message? Next verse, same as the first.
The 2021 Atlantic season featured 21 named storms, exhausting its list of alphabetic names. This year could get close to that, as Litton said Klotzbach’s prediction is for 19 storms, nine hurricanes and four major Category 3 or higher monsters. That exceeds an “average” forecase of 14-7-3, which was recently adjusted up from 12-6-2 based on the aboveaverage activity the basin has seen since 1995.
Any chances of “El Nino” conditions — easterly shearing winds that help blow the tops off Atlantic storm clouds and tamps down storm activity — are going away, and the chances of “La Nina” conditions, which can enhance storm activity, are increasing. Pacific Ocean waters in an area southwest of California, which would be warmer than usual in an El Nino year, are actually about 1.4 degrees Celsius cooler than normal.
The message that never changes is “Be prepared.” All residents are urged to Register for Alert! Osceola to receive alerts about all local emergency situations, not just storms. (Text ALERTOsceola to 888777 to anonymously sign up for only Emergency Notifications, or go to readyosceola.org).
Emergency Operations will hold its annual Hurricane Expo on May 28 at Osceola Heritage Park. The EOC, armed with more information and guidance from the hurricane conference, will hold its multi-organizational tabletop hurricane response exercise on June 2. Those events coincide with the state of Florida’s disaster preparation sales tax holiday, which runs May 28 to June 10.
As for a couple pieces of good news, FEMA announced Osceola County’s Emergency Management has been accepted into the Integrated Emergency Management Course, a March 2023 event at FEMA’s national training center in Virginia. The last time the county was involved was in 2017, when 75 staffers were able to attend.
“We’re real excited to be able to participate in national emergency training,” Litton said.
And, as announced Monday by Osceola County staff, Litton has been recognized by the International Association of Emergency Managers as a Certified Emergency Manager, the highest industry honor. County Manager Don Fisher said only 35 percent of the country’s 6,000 EOC personnel attain the honor.
