In this age of smart phones, Twitter and a 24/7 news media, every tropical wave rolling off faraway Africa is almost as closely monitored as a Kardashian sister shopping on South Beach.
Things were a lot different 20 hurricane seasons ago, when a weak little system named Andrew meandered toward the Bahamas, not getting a whole lot of attention until it morphed overnight into a Category 5 killer, one of the strongest storms on record. South Florida had just two days of high alert to hunker down for what would become one of the costliest natural disasters in United States history, a catastrophe that exposed gaping holes in emergency planning.
The sobering lessons learned from Andrew — which transformed the business of forecasting tropical systems, preparing for them and picking up the pieces afterward — are a major theme at the 26th annual Governor’s Hurricane Conference being held this week in Fort Lauderdale.
The conference, which drew some 1,750 people including emergency managers, rescue workers, forecasters and industry representatives, revolves around dozens of training sessions focused on the latest developments in an array of disaster issues, from the challenges of managing debris to employing social media in public outreach.
