Lake County officials urge early hurricane prep as season nears

Added: 2026-05-22

[00:00:00]We are in Lake County talking all things hurricane preparedness as we're just 2 weeks away from the start of hurricane season. I'm News 6's Jenna Mana Hall and we're going to break down what exactly you need to know in order to be prepared.

[00:00:13]>> Don't wait till the storm comes to start thinking about what it is that you're going to do when it actually arrives.

[00:00:18]So, get a kit together, get some extra food, just store it in a pantry or wherever you might have, get some extra water. Officials say staying informed during a storm can be just as important as stocking up on supplies. When an activation takes place, hurricanes, tornadoes, that kind of thing, the activation at the emergency operations center includes ham radio. And while many residents focused on protecting their homes, officials say pets need hurricane plans, too. Pets are family and so you want to prepare for your pets the same way you would for anyone else.

[00:00:49]>> That means packing food, medication, and comfort items ahead of time and making sure pets are microchipped in case they get separated during a storm.

[00:00:58]Emergency crews are also reminding parents to keep kids away from dangerous flood waters after storms roll through.

[00:01:05]Once the storm gets here and the water starts to build up, we don't know what's under the water. There could be a lot of hazards.

[00:01:11]>> The sandbags during hurricane season are kind of like a fire extinguisher at your house. You hope you never, ever use it, but the day you realize you need it and you don't have one, it's a bad day. With hurricane season comes a lot of rain and with a lot of rain comes flooding. Now, the way Lake County is preparing for that flooding is by sandbag filling. So, you take this shovel here with the dirt, pour it right into this tube and fill up those sandbags. Lake County has even put out a demonstration of how to properly protect your doorways and your homes by placing the sandbags on top of each other and putting a plastic covering at the seal of your door. Again, to make sure that flood water does not get in.

[00:01:51]An important note here, Lake County has seven different locations for sandbags.

[00:01:56]These will not open until hurricane season starts and that hurricane is right about to hit. So, we'll have that information over for you on clickorlando.com.

[00:02:05]For now in Lake County, I'm Janae Manahol, News 6.