Local, federal agencies prepare for hurricane season at Miami-Dade County EOC

Hurricane season begins June 1

DORAL, Fla. – It was a very busy hurricane season for South Florida last year, and officials at the Miami-Dade Emergency Operations Center in Doral said they want to make sure they're prepared for any potential storms as hurricane season approaches.

Local and federal agencies met Wednesday in Doral and discussed the necessary protocols they need to take in the event of another active season.

Agencies from across Miami-Dade County went over what each department is required to do in the event of a hurricane.

"What we're doing now is simulating the evacuation of our residents, opening evacuation centers, identifying how to transport them to evacuation centers and identifying additional evacuation centers, if needed, to open," Charles Cyrille said.   

Cyrille, the division director of Emergency Management, said they hold the annual meetings to practice responding to a hurricane.

"Evacuations centers are a last resort. They're a lifeboat, not a cruise ship, so we want to emphasize that utilizing their own plans before they utilize evacuation centers is the key to being prepared," Cyrille said. 

Partnering with the National Weather Service, the EOC relies on their forecast to provide information that precipitates how they make decisions.

"We continue to do outreach. We've already done about 45 outreach events, and we continue to do them throughout the hurricane season to prepare our community and give them advice on what's the best practices to utilize before a storm," Cyrille said. 

Hurricane season begins June 1.

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About the Author:

Nicole Perez is the the primary co-anchor of Local 10 News at 4 p.m., 5 p.m., 6 p.m. and 11 p.m. She first joined Local 10 in July 2016 as the morning traffic reporter.