HILLSBOROUGH COUNTY, Fla. -- Attention residents of Hillsborough County.  The county wants to know your plans for this year’s hurricane season.


What You Need To Know

  • What are your hurricane preparations? Hillsborough County wants to know

  • The county has a survey for residents to answer questions

  • Many residents concerned about hurricane shelters during the pandemic

  • More weather news here

Beginning today, June 9, residents can take the county’s preparedness survey.

I checked it out this morning.

Some sample questions include:

  • Do you live in a hurricane evacuation zone?
  • Do you know the difference between a storm surge and a flash flood?
  • Which safety precautions would you like to see county shelters adopt during COVID-19?

You can share your thoughts and ideas on your responses and you can choose to stay anonymous. You can also see other people’s answers.

So far, most people who have answered are concerned about COVID-19 in shelters and as a result, it’s not a place they want to be if they are told to evacuate.

Some brought up concerns about how they will evacuate with their pets.

The results so far also show that for residents who live in an evacuation zone, about a third of them don’t know what zone they live in.

The survey will take about 5 to 10 minutes of your time (depending on how much you write).

As you’ve heard us report, preventing the spread of Coronavirus will cause changes in evacuations and shelters this year.

The county says they want to help keep you safe and your feedback will allow them to plan for the season.

I’ve been in touch with county leaders across the Tampa Bay region. They all say the Coronavirus is changing how they prepare for hurricanes this year.

According to Hillsborough County Emergency Management Director Timothy Dudley, “this is one of the most important hurricane seasons our residents have ever prepared for.

This year, you might want to rethink who you will stay with if you are told to evacuate. If you make plans now, you might not need to go to a shelter.”

Dudley also says plans could include using hotels outside of surge zones as shelters and more schools could be used as shelters too.

To take the survey, visit HCFLGov.net/HCStormPrep.

It’s available in English and Spanish through June 23.