HURRICANE IVAN: FIVE YEARS LATER

Hurricane Ivan was the strongest southern hurricane on record while traversing the Atlantic and Caribbean, reaching Category 5 strength with sustained winds near 160 mph. The storm weakened to a Category 3 before moving onshore, but still devastated Florida’s Panhandle as it felt the brunt of the hurricane. The storm, with its 60-mile-wide eye and 10-15 foot surge, caused $14.2 billion in damage nationwide. The figure makes Ivan the sixth costliest hurricane on record in the U.S.

Looking Back: Hurricane Ivan (video) http://www.fema.gov/medialibrary/media_records/1023 - Link to embed from

http://floridadisaster.org/hurricanes/2004/ - Link to our 2004 page

DID YOU KNOW?

September is the month often described as the height of "Cape Verde Season," and the 10th is considered the peak of the entire hurricane season. Valid data exists to support this claim: Statistically, over the past 100 years, a very clear pattern analyzing number of storms at any given day of the season, and plotting them on a graph, shows September 10 as the "busiest" day of the year. The graph below is provided by the National Hurricane Center:

WELCOME

Welcome to the Florida State Emergency Response Team Information page maintained by the External Affairs Office of the Florida Division of Emergency Management. This page will offer day to day information regarding emergency management activities, statewide hazards and other preparedness events throughout the State of Florida and nation. During disasters this blog will be updated with the most current information on the disaster, related hazards, evacuations and other protective actions being recommended by state and local emergency management agencies. Our goal is to provide clear and concise information to the media and general public daily.

In the right hand column of this blog are twitter feeds from our State Watch Office which operates 24 hours a day, 365 days a year monitoring hazards throughout the State of Florida. Twitter feeds are also available from our State Meteorological Unit and our Office of External Affairs. Please feel free to follow us if you "tweet" regularly as well.

We also welcome any input or suggestions that you may have to improve this blog and the products included in it. Please email suggestions regarding the blog to FLSERTInfo@gmail.com. Thank you for taking the time to follow our blog and we look forward to hearing from you in the near future. As we approach the height of the 2009 Hurricane Season, which is September 10th, please take a minute to watch the following video message from Interim Director Ruben D. Almaguer: