A wide variety of books and websites are available to help families and businesses better understand hurricanes and aid preparations and recovery. Here are a few Jay recommends:
Online
- www.ready.gov/hurricanes
FEMA’s online guide for developing your own hurricane plan.
- www.nhc.noaa.gov
The National Hurricane Center’s comprehensive website featuring up-to-the-minute information on active storms, historical hurricanes, and many other related topics. Click on “Data Archive” for a series of links to learn about past storms.
- www.aoml.noaa.gov/hrd
One of the Internet’s best hurricane resources is the “Frequently Asked Questions” page found on NOAA’s Hurricane Research Division website. This comprehensive listing (available in multiple languages) provides answers to over 130 common questions about tropical cyclone formation, forecasting and history.
- www.ncdps.gov
From the North Carolina Department of Public Safety’s main website you can navigate to “Emergency Management” and find a variety of features to help you develop your hurricane plan. Among the helpful resources is a listing of websites and phone numbers for Emergency Management Offices in all one hundred North Carolina counties.
- www.wral.com/weather/hurricanes
Many North Carolina television and news agencies have excellent hurricane websites with lots of important local and regional info. This site from WRAL News in Raleigh is one of the best.
- www.floridadisaster.org
Florida’s Division of Emergency Management offers a wealth of timely and important information through its website.
- www.orlandosentinel.com/weather/hurricane/
The Orlando Sentinel provides excellent coverage of all things hurricane in Florida, along with solid reporting in the aftermath of a landfalling storm.
- http://tropics.hamweather.com/
One of Jay’s favorites for keeping up with active tropical storms and hurricanes in the Atlantic and Eastern Pacific.
Recommended Reading
- Hurricane Hazel in the Carolinas (Images of America), by Jay Barnes (Arcadia Publishing)
- Graveyard of the Atlantic, by David Stick (UNC Press)
- The Ash Wednesday Storm, by David Stick (UNC Press)
- Low Country Hurricanes: Three Centuries of Storms at Sea and Ashore, by Walter J. Fraser (University of Georgia Press)
- Isaac’s Storm: A Man, a Time, and the Deadliest Hurricane in History, by Erik Larson (Vintage Press)
- 1 Dead in Attic: After Katrina, by Chris Rose (Simon & Schuster)
- Handbook to Practical Disaster Preparedness for the Family, 3rd Edition, by Arthur T. Bradley (CreateSpace)