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“The first two weeks of October can be very dangerous,” he said. “After that the threat lessens, but since Wilma hit at the end of October you can’t rule out a storm hitting.” Terry Kelley, Lee County emergency management coordinator, concurred that October can be a dangerous month. “We are vulnerable to storms all the way through November,” Kelley said. “But a storm that hit in November probably won’t be as strong as one that hits in October.
“It’s also important to remember that it’s not just hurricanes,” Kelley said. “Tropical storms can be devastating as well because of flooding.” Regardless of the time of year, people should have an emergency plan in place that includes canned goods, bottled water and a plan for what to do if evacuation is necessary, Kelley said. “It’s not just for hurricanes,” he said. “An emergency plan can be used for wild fires that force someone to evacuate their home.” There is always a run on stores like Home Depot when a hurricane is heading toward South Florida, so it’s best for everyone to get their supplies beforehand, Kelley said. Another concern is the water in the Gulf of Mexico. It has cooled from a month or two ago, but the water temperature is still in the 80s, and that can turn a tropical storm into a hurricane. “We’ve been lucky that fewer storms have entered the Gulf of Mexico this year,” Collier’s von Rinteln said. “When (Hurricane) Katrina got into the Gulf it turned into a Category 5 storm almost immediately.” Don’t let your guard down yet, von Rinteln said Written By LARRY HANNAN ...The Associated Press contributed to this story. Originally published: 11:08 p.m., October 2, 2007, Naples News On guard: It’s October and getting cooler, but we’re not out of hurricane season danger yetIt’s human nature for Southwest Florida residents to hope they can exhale and assume hurricane season is over. Though we’re now into October, weather forecasters say it’s still too early to exhale. “The hurricane season ends on Nov. 30 -- you can relax then,” said Dennis Feltgen, a meteorologist and Public Affairs Officer for the National Hurricane Center in Miami. “October is a particularly vulnerable month for South Florida.” Areas where tropical cyclones can form now are situated around Florida, making the state vulnerable, Feltgen said.Hurricane expert William Gray slightly downgraded his forecast for October and November on Tuesday, calling for four named storms, including two hurricanes, one of them major. Gray’s team at Colorado State University had predicted five named storms in its earlier October-November predictions. Hurricane Wilma made landfall in Southwest Florida on Oct. 24, 2005. The path Wilma took, coming eastbound across the Gulf of Mexico, is a fairly common track for a storm in October, Feltgen said. In 1985, Hurricane Kate hit the Florida Panhandle on Nov. 21 as a Category 2 storm, so it can happen well into November, he said. Local emergency management officials agree that it’s not time to relax yet. Collier Emergency Management Coordinator Jim von Rinteln said it’s important to remember that Wilma did a lot of damage at the end of October.
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