Lee The 2010 hurricane season begins Tuesday. Gulf Breeze and Pensacola Beach residents know too well it is time to get prepared with home reinforcements, evacuation plans and stockpiles of water and non-perishable food items.

But local residents have never gone into a hurricane season with a catastrophic oil spill threatening the area’s pristine beaches and shores. The spill could grow exponentially more disastrous if the approaching hurricane season whips up massive, black waves and inundates beaches and coastal areas with oily water and debris.

“Hurricanes are bad,” said Buck Lee, Executive Director of the Santa Rosa Island Authority. “Hurricanes with oil are even worse.”

With just five days remaining until the Atlantic hurricane season, odds are more than 40 percent that a big storm could cross the giant spill spewing from beneath a ruptured well on the floor of the Gulf of Mexico.

Five weeks ago on April 20, a deadly blast rocked the British Petroleum Deepwater Horizon oil rig located about 50 miles southeast of New Orleans, killing 11 workers and leaving its uncontrolled well to gush millions of gallons of oil into the Gulf.

The last thing anyone in this area wants is a hurricane to make landfall here, especially storms as strong as virtual-Category 4 Ivan in 2004 and Category 3 Dennis in 2005. Ivan’s surge six years ago pushed water far inland into the rivers of the two-county Bay area. Water several feet deep covered Pensacola Beach for several hours, and Soundside Drive residences in south Santa Rosa County were swamped as well.

“A direct hit would not only mess up Pensacola Beach, but all of Escambia and Santa Rosa counties,” Lee said. “Remember, folks had water in their homes that lived just off Escambia Bay. Not only would there be water in their homes, there could be a touch of oil in there, too. We don’t know.”

In April, forecasters at Colorado State University said there was a 44 percent chance a hurricane would enter the Gulf of Mexico in the 2010 season, far greater than the 30 percent historic average. Some experts say early conditions are very similar to those that precipitated the terrible 2004 season.

“High winds may distribute oil over a wide area,” National Hurricane Center meteorologist Dennis Feltgen said. “Storm surges might carry oil inland, mixed with hurricane debris.”

Should a hurricane pass to the west of the main oil slick, areas of the Gulf in the right, northeast quadrant of the storm would be most vulnerable to wind and surge. Mix in millions of gallons of oil, and the consequences are almost unfathomable.

“On the flip side,” Lee said, “if a hurricane hit to the east of us, let’s say Fort Walton Beach or Panama City, then the counterclockwise wind would push the oil away from us. So it all depends on which side of the hurricane we’re on, if we have one.”

This year’s hurricane season – June 1 to Nov. 30 – is expected to be above average with 15 tropical storms of which eight could be hurricanes. Forecasters say a season with multiple storms could send oil farther inland.

“To think a storm surge could resuscitate a huge sum of oil (from the deep) and deposit it on land is truly catastrophic,” said Joe Jaworski, Mayor of Galveston, Texas, which was slammed by Hurricane Ike in 2008.

That storm caused coastal flooding on Pensacola Beach and parts of the Fairpoint Peninsula as it passed from east to west about 100 miles south of Pensacola Beach.

Last year, only two named tropical systems – Claudette and Ida – made landfall in the U.S., and both came ashore within 50 miles of Gulf Breeze, doing minimal damage.

Locally, residents should take note that several changes have been made regarding the 2010 hurricane season. These changes include hurricane classifications, evacuation zones and hurricane forecast information.

When it comes to hurricanes, it is important to understand that wind speed is not the only factor. Now, a number of factors will be considered when looking at evacuations; including the size of the storm, speed the storm is moving, wind speed and the overall storm surge.

Evacuation notification is not an exact science, and keeping your safety in mind, evacuation zones have been updated using storm surge information and the latest Light Detection and Ranging or LIDAR data collected during the 2009 hurricane evacuation study. The evacuation zones will now be identified using the letters A through E, instead of the storm category numbers of 1 through 5 that were previously used.

To find out how the evacuation zones will affect you, read pages 25 and 26 of the 2010 Santa Rosa County disaster guide or enter your home or business address on the interactive map found at www.santarosa. fl.gov/gis.

The Saffir-Simpson scale has also been updated for the 2010 hurricane season. In the past, the Saffir-Simpson scale was categorized by wind speed and storm surge; beginning this year, the hurricane categories will only reflect wind speed. This change was made due to the unreliability of predicting surge in relation to wind speed. Familiarize yourself with the new Saffir-Simpson scale as the new classifications might alter your plans.

Additionally, the National Weather Service has implemented a few changes in the way it provides hurricane forecast information. Residents will now be notified of tropical storm and hurricane watches 12 hours earlier than in previous years, within 48 hours of possible hurricane or tropical storm conditions may affect our area. Hurricane or tropical storm warnings are also now issued within 36 hours of a possible storm impact.

Other changes have been implemented as well, and can be viewed at www.srh.noaa. gov/mob.

HURRICANE SEASON PREPARATION

By following these simple steps, citizens can save lives, money, damage and distress:

¦ Make a family plan.

¦ Include in your plan how to care for family or friends with special needs and your pets.

¦ Set up an out-of-town contact for your family members to call in case you are separated.

¦ Evaluate your home and surroundings. Trim hazardous tree limbs and have a plan to secure items that could become deadly missiles in a storm.

¦ Harden and prepare your home with proper bracing and shutters.

¦ Make a disaster kit that has at least three days of drinking water and non-perishable food for each person and pet, vital prescription drugs, and any needed baby supplies.

¦ Also, include a flashlight, radio, extra batteries and cash. Prepare this kit ahead of time, and be sure to check your disaster kits for expired items.

¦ Equip your home and office with a NOAA weather radio. It just might save your life.

Citizens can automatically receive breaking news alerts from Santa Rosa County Emergency Management via e-mail or text message. Residents can sign up for the alert service or make changes in their current subscription online at

www.santarosa.fl.gov/emergency/publicwarning.html.

For more information, pick up the new 2010 disaster guide, which includes a shopping checklist, updated hurricane evacuation zones and the new hurricane classifications. You can find this free guide at county offices, libraries, major retailers in the county, or online at

www.santarosa.fl.gov, under the emergency management button.

– Santa Rosa County Emergency Management

2010 HURRICANE NAMES

This is the same list used in the 2004 season with the exception of Colin, Fiona, Igor and Julia, which replaced the names of the four major hurricanes that made landfall in Florida in 2004: Charley, Frances, Ivan, and Jeanne, respectively.