Hurricane season 2024 is here. Here's how to stay prepared

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Hurricane season 2024 is here. Here's how to stay prepared

2024-07-03 08:46 Last Updated At：08:50

WEST PALM BEACH, Fla. (AP) — Hurricane season is upon us, known for disastrous flooding and high-speed winds in coastal areas of the United States and in the Caribbean and Central America, and emergency management officials are urging people to stay prepared.

Unlike previous hurricane seasons, this summer brings record hot temperatures nationwide and an early onset of storms. Hurricane season runs June 1 to Nov. 30, but usually the most hurricanes occur in September and October, said Jaime Hernandez, the emergency management director for Hollywood, on Florida's Atlantic Coast.

“That’s a little bit different this year because of the reality we’re dealing with with global warming, warmer sea surface temperatures, atmosphere conditions that are more favorable to tropical cyclone development,” Hernandez said. “It could develop at any time.”

Since the start of this week, Hurricane Beryl broke records as the first Category 4 storm to form in the Atlantic Ocean in June — abnormally early compared to past trends.

Here's how to prepare, what to have on hand, and who should evacuate in a hurricane:

Hernandez said his emergency team encourages people to do three key things: make a plan, have an emergency kit and stay informed.

“We trust the people particularly, especially those who live in an evacuation zone, that they need to have a plan because of if an evacuation order is issued ahead of the hurricane," Hernandez said. "You don’t know what the impacts are going to be. You don’t know what the infrastructure disruptions are going to look like.”

Preparing for a hurricane includes getting supplies in advance, including nonperishable foods and water in case power is lost and supplies are low in the community.

Preparedness also includes ensuring all medical items and medications are ready in case people are unable to leave their homes. In this case, it's important to consult a doctor about what to have ready in your home.

Hernandez directed people to look at checklists provided by local or state emergency management departments to ensure they are prepared.

The rule of thumb is to have 1 gallon (3.8 liters) of water per day per person for about seven days, Hernandez said.

In addition, supplies on hand should include nonperishable foods, flashlights, batteries, medications and medical items, sunscreen, mosquito repellent and portable power banks. It's also a good idea to have cash on hand since ATMs may not be working.

Also keep documents such as birth certificates, Social Security cards and other important papers in a go-bag in case you have to leave your home quickly, Hernandez said.

It's always wise to fill up all of your vehicles in case evacuations are ordered.

Hernandez noted that it's also important to think ahead if you have an electric car by parking it in an elevated location or away from the storm area until it is over, since he said electric cars could struggle with flooding and storm surges.

About 20 electric vehicles caught fire after exposure to saltwater from Hurricane Ian. Florida's Hillsborough County has a webpage including guidance for electric vehicle owners, which encourage residents to park the vehicle about 50 feet (15 meters) away from any structure or vehicle due to fire risk.

People who live in low-lying or flood-prone areas should plan on evacuating prior to the storm's arrival. Sometimes officials advise just heading a few miles inland to stay with friends or family or in a hotel or shelter. In any case, officials advise residents listen to their local emergency management officials, who will have the most updated information about evacuation zones.

Evacuation orders may come before a hurricane, and officials will inform residents if they live in an evacuation zone. These orders can come days or hours before a storm.

Visit your local or state emergency management office's website for guides on disaster planning.

Florida residents can find this information at the state’s Division of Emergency Management website.

Former PM Truss loses her parliamentary seat as Labour sweeps to power in historic UK vote

2024-07-05 14:08 Last Updated At：14:11

LONDON (AP) — Liz Truss, Britain’s shortest-serving prime minister, lost her seat in Parliament in another blow to the defeated Conservative Party.

The former prime minister whose premiership lasted just 49 days, lost her Norfolk South West seat to Labour by just several hundred votes.

Labour leader Keir Starmer was slated to become prime minister officially later Friday.

THIS IS A BREAKING NEWS UPDATE. AP’s earlier story follows below.

LONDON (AP) — Britain’s Labour Party swept to power Friday after more than a decade in opposition, as a jaded electorate handed the party a landslide victory — but also a mammoth task of reinvigorating a stagnant economy and dispirited nation.

Labour leader Keir Starmer will officially become prime minister later in the day, leading his party back to government less than five years after it suffered its worst defeat in almost a century. In the merciless choreography of British politics, he will take charge in 10 Downing St. hours after Thursday's votes are counted — as Conservative leader Rishi Sunak is hustled out.

“A mandate like this comes with a great responsibility,” Starmer acknowledged in a speech to supporters, saying that the fight to regain people’s trust after years of disillusionment “is the battle that defines our age."

Speaking as drawn broke in London, he said Labour would offer “the sunlight of hope, pale at first but getting stronger through the day.”

Sunak conceded defeat, saying the voters had delivered a “sobering verdict.”

For Starmer, it's a massive triumph that will bring huge challenges, as he faces a weary electorate impatient for change against a gloomy backdrop of economic malaise, mounting distrust in institutions and a fraying social fabric.

“Nothing has gone well in the last 14 years,” said London voter James Erskine, who was optimistic for change in the hours before polls closed. “I just see this as the potential for a seismic shift, and that’s what I’m hoping for.”

And that's what Starmer promised, saying “change begins now."

Anand Menon, professor of European Politics and Foreign Affairs at King’s College London, said British voters were about to see a marked change in political atmosphere from the tumultuous “politics as pantomime” of the last few years.

“I think we’re going to have to get used again to relatively stable government, with ministers staying in power for quite a long time, and with government being able to think beyond the very short term to medium-term objectives,” he said.

Britain has experienced a run of turbulent years — some of it of the Conservatives’ own making and some of it not — that has left many voters pessimistic about their country’s future. The U.K.’s exit from the European Union followed by the COVID-19 pandemic and Russia’s invasion of Ukraine battered the economy, while lockdown-breaching parties held by then-Prime Minister Boris Johnson and his staff caused widespread anger.

Johnson’s successor, Liz Truss, rocked the economy further with a package of drastic tax cuts and lasted just 49 days in office. Rising poverty, crumbling infrastructure and overstretched National Health Service have led to gripes about “Broken Britain.”

While the result appears to buck recent rightward electoral shifts in Europe, including in France and Italy, many of those same populist undercurrents flow in Britain. Reform UK leader Nigel Farage has roiled the race with his party’s anti-immigrant “take our country back” sentiment and undercut support for the Conservatives and even grabbed some voters from Labour.

The exit poll suggested Labour was on course to win about 410 seats in the 650-seat House of Commons and the Conservatives 131. With a majority of results in, the broad picture of a Labour landslide was borne out, though estimates of the final tally varied.

The result is a catastrophe for the Conservatives as voters punished them for 14 years of presiding over austerity, Brexit, a pandemic, political scandals and internecine conflict.

The historic defeat — on track to be the fewest number of seats in the party's two-century history — leaves it depleted and in disarray and will likely spark an immediate contest to replace Sunak as leader.

In a sign of the volatile public mood and anger at the system, the incoming Parliament will be more fractured and ideologically diverse than any for years. Smaller parties picked up millions of votes, including the centrist Liberal Democrats and Farage’s Reform UK. It won at least four seats, including one for Farage in the seaside town of Clacton-on-Sea, securing a place in Parliament on his eighth attempt.

The Liberal Democrats won more than 60 seats, on a slightly lower share of the vote than Reform because its votes were more efficiently distributed. In Britain's first-past-the-post system, the candidate with the most votes in each constituency wins.

The Green Party have won four seats, up from just one before the election.

One of the biggest losers was the Scottish National Party, which held most of Scotland's 57 seats before the election but looked set to lose all but handful, mostly to Labour.

Labour did not set pulses racing with its pledges to get the sluggish economy growing, invest in infrastructure and make Britain a “clean energy superpower.”

But the party's cautious, safety-first campaign delivered the desired result. The party won the support of large chunks of the business community and endorsements from traditionally conservative newspapers, including the Rupert Murdoch-owned Sun tabloid, which praised Starmer for “dragging his party back to the center ground of British politics.”

The Conservative campaign, meanwhile, was plagued by gaffes. The campaign got off to an inauspicious start when rain drenched Sunak as he made the announcement outside 10 Downing St. Then, Sunak went home early from commemorations in France marking the 80th anniversary of the D-Day invasion.

Several Conservatives close to Sunak are being investigated over suspicions they used inside information to place bets on the date of the election before it was announced.

In Henley-on-Thames, about 40 miles (65 kilometers) west of London, voters like Patricia Mulcahy, who is retired, sensed the nation was looking for something different. The community, which has long voted Conservative, flipped to the Liberal Democrats this time.

“The younger generation are far more interested in change,’’ Mulcahy said ahead of the results. “But whoever gets in, they’ve got a heck of a job ahead of them. It’s not going to be easy.”

Follow AP's coverage of elections around the world: https://apnews.com/hub/global-elections/