New National Hurricane Center Director Urges People To Plan For The Worst

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MIAMI (CBSMiami) – Hurricane season starts June 1st and with that comes daily outlooks from the National Hurricane Center, along with advisories and forecasts if and when storms form.

Ken Graham is the Director of the National Hurricane Center and is in his first year of the role.

In addition to better forecasts, the hope this year is to improve the way those forecasts are communicated.

"This year we are going to focus on the science getting better and better, but couple that with behavioral science and social science to make sure everything we do is actionable and understood," he said while addressing the media on the first day of the 2018 hurricane season.

One thing he urged everyone to do is to plan for the worst-case scenario, not the scenario that played out with the last storm.

"Every storm is different," said Graham. "Just because it didn't happen with Irma doesn't mean it can't happen."

With the start of hurricane season comes a reminder to stock up on items for your hurricane kit and Home Depot is making that process a little cheaper with their Sales Tax Holiday.

The first week of June select items typically found in a hurricane kit can be purchased with no sales tax added to the final price.

Batteries, generators, flashlights, even water, and coolers all fall under the items sold tax-free.

"We are just letting people know that we are here to help," says Eddie Quintana, a Sales Associate at Home Depot. "We have signage throughout the store letting everyone know about the new tax program which is no sales tax on certain items that are being bought and used for hurricane season."

A perfect opportunity to replace what may have been used last year, or add something you may not have had there before after assessing your risk.

Something that Graham says everyone should be doing with the start of the new season. He urges everyone to remember this.

"Plan for what could happen, not necessarily what's going to happen." He added. "You have to take that worse-case scenario and be ready for it."

List of items that qualify: http://floridarevenue.com/DisasterPrep/Documents/tip17a01-05.pdf