Obama Readies for the Start of Hurricane Season

From Sunlen Miller:

Preparing for the start of hurricane season on Monday, President Obama attended a hurricane preparedness briefing at FEMA headquarters this afternoon.

“Our top priority is ensuring the public safety. That means appropriate sheltering in place or, if necessary, getting as many people as possible out of harm's way prior to landfall,” President Obama said at the end of the meeting, “Most of the work takes place before a hurricane hits. True preparedness means having federal and state and local governments all coordinating effectively.”

The president was joined by Homeland Security advisor John Brennan, DHS Secretary Napolitano, Treasury Secretary Tim Geithner, National Security Advisor Gen. Jim Jones and Office of Management and Budget Director Peter Orszag for the briefing.

In addition to the government being prepared, the president hawked personal responsibility of families in the path of hurricanes.

“One of the most important things we can do is make sure the families have prepared appropriately,” Obama said, “Those people who have the capacity to plan, they will thereby relieve some of the resources that the government has to provide. And we can stay focused on those folks who are most vulnerable and have the most difficulty dealing with the storm. So I hope that message of personal responsibility sinks in. “

The president directed people to the administration's new Web site set up to help people to prepare:  www.ready.gov.

“It's a matter of having a basic emergency supply kit with items such as water, some non-perishable food, an all-weather radio or flashlight, a first-aid kit, making an emergency family plan, staying informed of developments in your area, and learning about your community's emergency plans,” the president said.

Dr. Louis Uccenelli, director of the National Centers for Environmental Prediction, told reporters in the Brady Briefing Room later in the afternoon that forecasters call for a 50 percent chance of a normal hurricane season, with possibilities that it could either be above or below the normal aspect.

“With respect to coordination and outreach,” Uccenelli said, “I think one of the most important factors to realize is that it only takes one storm — one land-falling storm – to make for a bad season.”

Uccenelli, as President Obama did, played up the coordination between local, state and the federal government at all levels, in addition to personal responsibility people must take beforehand.

During the campaign, then-Sen. Obama regularly used the Bush administration’s handling of Hurricane Katrina and its aftermath of what he called “an incompetent government.”

-Sunlen Miller