The 2016 Atlantic hurricane season starts in less than two weeks, and emergency management departments across Central Florida are preparing for whatever Mother Nature has in store.
- The hurricane season officially begins June 1 and ends Nov. 30
- Emergency officials in Central Florida are conducting hurricane exercises to get prepared
- Officials are concerned some people might have hurricane amnesia
Several counties are holding hurricane exercises during the next couple of weeks to make sure emergency management leaders and first responders are ready.
Ray Gray, with the American Red Cross, said he undergoes training to ensure he's equipped to handle anything, especially after enduring the hurricanes that hit Central Florida in 2004.
"(I remember) the carnage, the amount of damage that was done, the flooding," Gray said. "People were really left with no place to go."
However, as emergency management officials get prepared, they are concerned most people will suffer from hurricane amnesia.
"People have gotten (relaxed) because nothing has happened," Gray said. "They forget."
A hurricane hasn't hit Florida in more than a decade.
"It was 2004, and we had a good practice out of three hurricanes, but a lot of those folks are gone and we have a lot of new residents here in Orange County and they may have not been through a storm," said Ron Plummer, who is in charge of Orange County's Office of Emergency Management. "So, we want to make sure that they get themselves prepared, that they receive information and they have a kit for their families."
Orange County's Office of Emergency Management is hosting the 2016 Hurricane Expo on June 4 at the Renaissance Senior Center.
"We just try to get the resources out, pamphlets, we have classes and just to show people that they need to take this seriously, especially in Central Florida," Gray said. "Just because we haven't been hit by a storm in over 10 years, it can happen any day."