Glynn County Police Capt. Jay Wiggins, who heads up the Emergency Management Agency, says now is a good time to be thinking what you and your family, as well as pets, would do if the call came to evacuate the islands and mainland because of a potential strike from a dangerous or killer storm. Prompting him to make that recommendation are the tropical storms now brewing in the Atlantic, including new disturbances spinning off the coast of Africa.
Coastal Georgia residents tend to ignore warnings. They feel they can afford to given the history of scarce hurricane landings along the 100 miles of ocean of this state. This coastline has been missed more often than it's been hit in recorded history.
Hopefully, our luck will continue to hold, but let's not take that chance. It would be foolish to do so. Just ask any community that has been lashed by fierce winds or house-crushing tidal surges in recent decades. They weren't expecting anything either.
In 1989, after Hurricane Hugo ravished Charleston, its islands and much of the rest of the coastline of South Carolina, residents who lived through the natural monstrosity admitted they were not prepared for the kind of damage and destruction a hurricane is capable of inflicting. The day after Hugo, those whose businesses or houses were smashed by pounding waves or beaten by slashing winds were sifting through piles of debris in a frantic search for lost insurance documents and other vital papers. Some were stressing over the loss of prescription drugs and the inability to find - or even pay for - replacements. Some who did leave when told to do so were wondering what had become of their pets when they returned days later.
Brunswick and the Golden Isles can learn from their oversight and their mistakes by making preliminary preparations today. Make sure important papers are in one easily accessible place, as well as irreplaceable keepsakes like family photos. Prescription medicines, telephone numbers of essential contacts and anything else that would be needed if unable to return home or to the community for days should be included on a must-take list.
There are numerous other early preparations that require little time or effort that individuals and families can do. Information is available most anywhere. It includes knowing the evacuation route, where you will go and what you will do with your pets.
Don't wait until the last minute. Do it now.
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