WHAT'S NEW?
Kenny Chesney Joins Board of PLAN!T NOW» Read More
PLAN!T NOW Launches New Website to Provide Communities with Tools to Survive Hurricanes
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WHAT IS PLAN!T NOW?
PLAN!T NOW advocates empowerment of people through information and connection and provides dialogue between people living in hurricane and severe-storm affected areas and those who should prepare in coastal regions of the United States, Mexico and the Caribbean. Operating with the understanding that no matter where you live, a natural disaster can happen at any time, PLAN!T NOW advocates the power of preparedness.Students of Big Storms - PSA launches June 26, 2008 as Planit Now partners with the Sierra Club with Storm Preparation Messages
For Immediate Release: June 26, 2008
Contacts: Oliver Bernstein, Sierra Club, (512)289-8618
Talin Kalfayan, PLAN!TNOW, (805) 687-8300
Sierra Club and PLAN!TNOW Join Morgan Freeman for
Storm Preparedness Campaign
NEW ORLEANS – With the 2008 hurricane season officially underway, Sierra Club and PLAN!TNOW have teamed up to release the first of two sets of “Get Prepared” public service announcements (PSA’s) on climate change and storm preparedness, featuring Academy Award-winning actor Morgan Freeman.
Freeman is the founder of Plan!tNow, a non-profit storm preparedness organization to provide people and communities in high risk regions the information they need to help protect their families, lives, homes and businesses. The Sierra Club – the nation’s oldest, largest and most influential grassroots environmental organization – is committed to helping communities protect, restore and strengthen their natural line of defense – the wetlands, forests and floodplains that buffer against high winds and absorb high water. This partnership will allow individuals and communities to take immediate and integrated action to get prepared for natural disasters.
» Read MoreAn Interview with Kay Snow on Hurricane Carla of ‘61
Hurricane Carla hit land in September of 1961. At the time, Kay Snow’s family was living in Cedar Creek, Texas, a small town situated on the Gulf of Mexico south of Houston, Texas.
“When you live on the coast, you get hurricane warnings every year,” says Snow. “Hurricanes move fast or they stall in the water…my father just never believed that it was gonna to come.”
But it did come.
It made landfall as a category 4 — which at the time made it the most powerful tropical storm to have hit Texas in 40 years. Wind speeds reached over 150 miles an hour making it a formidable force. It caused a storm surge of 22 feet that penetrated 10 miles inland in some places causing more than $300 million in damages in Texas, and $2 billion in damages overall. The hurricane formed on Sept. 3, 1961, in the western Caribbean Sea and dissipated on Sept. 16, 1961. Snow recalls that Hurricane Carla lasted three days in her hometown.
“I can only imagine what my dad felt when looking at the shambles of what was once his life. He built his house from the ground up. I remember his saying that the house would be so safe,” says Snow. “He built it of concrete block, you see, so that was the safest of all materials for a storm.”
Snow describes the creek that ran behind their house as “not quite a river but more than a creek.” It emptied into the Gulf of Mexico fairly close to where the Snows lived. The flow of the tide determined whether it carried salt water or fresh water. She says their house was fairly typical but she remembers how her father painted the living room walls what he called “sunset gray,” inspired by the muted tones of the dusk sky.
The skies were certainly gray when Hurricane Carla touched ground.
Given the power and size of the hurricane, it is surprising that it claimed only 43 lives — a statistic that likely would have been much higher if not for the fast evacuation of more than 500,000 people from the area.
Kenny Chesney joins PLAN!T NOW Board
Multi-platinum country music recording artist Kenney Chesney has joined the board of directors of PLAN!T NOW. The biggest name in country music, Chesney is the only artist in any genre to sell over one million concert tickets per year since 2002. His broad appeal as an artist and commitment to social issues make Chesney a potent advocate and a perfect fit for PLAN!T NOW’s boardroom.
For the full text of the release, click here.
To learn more about Kenny’s background, click below.
Stepping out of Harm’s Way: Reducing the Risk of Disaster
When we think about natural disasters – hurricanes, earthquakes, drought – it’s their effect on people that grabs our attention. Tragedy, especially for poor people, is often the only outcome. But it doesn’t have to be.
That’s the idea behind a cutting edge approach to natural events that aims to prevent them from becoming catastrophic for people – particularly for those who have no choice but to live in the most hazardous locations such as low-lying coastal areas subject to flooding or steep ravines prone to landslides. Through planning and preparation, communities can greatly reduce their risk in the face of those severe events.
EVENTS CALENDAR
May 9 – September 12, 2008Hard Rock Cafe hosts The Next Big Star to benefit PLAN!T Now at Hard Rock Cafes across the nation. The winner will open for Kenny Chesney on his Poets & Pirates tour.
March 1 – June 30, 2008
Monthly Charity Folks Auctions.
Great items including Broadway show tickets, private driving range lessons with Mr. Morgan Freeman. Auctions run for a month, every month, between March and June.
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2007 STORM INFORMATION
Subtropical Storm AndreaTropical Storm Barry
Tropical Storm Chantal
Hurricane Dean
Hurricane Felix
Tropical Storm Gabrielle
Hurricane Humberto
Tropical Storm Ingrid
Tropical Storm Jerry
Hurricane Karen
Hurricane Lorenzo
Tropical Storm Melissa
Hurricane Noel
Tropical Storm Olga