NOAA officials urge hurricane preparedness as 2026 season approaches
SOUTHEASTERN NORTH CAROLINA (WWAY-TV) — As part of Hurricane Preparedness Week, leaders with the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration gathered in Florida for the nation’s largest hurricane conference to discuss the upcoming storm season and the growing risks facing coastal and inland communities.
Michael Brennan, director of NOAA’s National Hurricane Center, said now is the time for residents across North Carolina to prepare for hurricane season.
“We have a huge area of responsibility, and we’re responsible for every storm in the Atlantic, in the Eastern Pacific,” Brennan said.
“This is the time to get ready, everybody in coastal North Carolina, inland areas, has to be ready for hurricane season,” he added.
A recent forecast suggests El Niño conditions — the warming of Pacific Ocean waters — could contribute to a less active Atlantic hurricane season by creating conditions that are less favorable for storm development.
“The way it affects the Atlantic hurricane season, it sort of shifts the overall large-scale circulation in the tropics, and it tends to make the tropical Atlantic generally less favorable for storms to form,” Brennan said.
Still, officials cautioned residents not to let their guard down.
“It takes one hurricane to hit your area for it to be a bad hurricane season,” said NOAA Hurricane Specialist Daniel Brown
Brown said the Cape Fear region continues to face increasing vulnerability as population growth and rising sea levels place more people in storm-prone areas.
“We have seen a sea level rise, putting more people in vulnerable areas as well, so again the preparedness and taking some mitigation, strengthening your home those are the best tools you can do,” Brown said.
Officials also emphasized that hurricane threats are no longer limited to coastal communities.
“We’re seeing a lot of storms, even the heavy rainfall threats that aren’t just at the coast,” said Robbie Berg, NOAA’s warning coordinator.
“Think about Hurricane Helene where we had all that heavy rainfall in western North Carolina, so now we’re talking about not just a lot of stuff on the coast, but even stuff more inland where we can get heavier rain events from hurricanes and tropical storms,” Berg added.
NOAA officials said one of the first steps residents should take is determining whether they live in a storm surge or flood evacuation zone. They also encouraged people to create evacuation plans ahead of time, including where they would go, how they would get there and what they would bring.
“You don’t have to drive all the way to Raleigh to a safe place, you just have to drive outside of that storm surge zone to a shelter, to a hotel, the home of a friend or relative that you can safely ride out the storm in,” Brennan said.
Brennan also encouraged residents to review their insurance coverage and make plans now to protect their homes before a storm threatens the area.
