Keeping South Florida Safe

Statement

Dear Friends,

As you know, the 2015 hurricane season began on June 1. South Floridians have unfortunately gained a great deal of personal experience preparing for and recovering from hurricanes. Devastating storms such as Hurricanes Andrew, Katrina and Wilma are still present in many of our memories and have shown us the sheer devastation and injury leading to loss of life that can be left after these great forces of nature. These life-changing storms have been emotionally and personally devastating and financially crippling to businesses in our community.

In order to help South Florida better prepare for hurricanes, I recently joined my colleagues in Congress to pass the Weather Research and Forecasting Innovation Act, a bill that will improve our early warning systems and will make our community safer before a storm hits our shores.

This bill would accomplish two important goals for South Florida. First, it would empower organizations and agencies such as the National Hurricane Center, the Atlantic Oceanographic and Meteorological Laboratory, and others to carry out cutting edge research that will improve our existing forecast methods to better predict the intensity and path of hurricanes threatening our community. Secondly, it would improve our hurricane forecasting capabilities by bringing together government agencies and leading private researchers under one unified program. Working together, we will be able to develop improved early warning systems that will help us know about a hurricane's path and intensity earlier and with more precision. By improving the accuracy of hurricane prediction mechanisms, we will be able to prevent unnecessary and costly evacuations and will be able to better predict the path of hurricanes in order to focus disaster relief efforts in those areas.

As a longtime resident of South Florida, I know how essential early warning systems can be in protecting our families from the impact of dangerous natural disasters. Better and more accurate early warning information and more in depth research from scientists will allow us to make serious progress in helping prepare our community for any coming hurricanes or dangerous tropical storms. I will continue to work to help ensure that South Florida stays safe during this hurricane season.

Sincerely,

Ileana Ros-Lehtinen
Member of Congress

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