The City of Miami Beach will host a hurricane planning exercise focused on evacuation procedures on Tuesday, June 6 at 9:30 a.m. with representatives from Miami-Dade County as well as nearby communities, including Bal Harbour, Surfside, Key Biscayne, Sunny Isles Beach, Hollywood, City of Miami, Coral Gables among others as the 2023 Atlantic hurricane season gets underway.

“Last year Hurricane Ian proved to be the deadliest Florida hurricane in nearly a century with 149 souls lost,” Miami Beach Mayor Dan Gelber said. “We have to learn every possible lesson from that tragedy because barrier islands need to be especially prepared. I appreciate the efforts of Miami-Dade County Mayor Danielle Levine Cava and her emergency management team for working with our cities so that we may all be hurricane ready.”

The Miami Beach exercise will take place at the Miami Beach Convention Center in room 105, which is located at 1901 Convention Center Drive. The event will include all Miami Beach department heads as well as nearby mayors and emergency personnel.

Media is invited to observe the following training modules with interview opportunities:

Module 1 at 10 a.m.: “Blue Skies” will address actions to be taken before the storm

Module 2 at 11 a.m.: “Hurricane Watch” will focus on the actions taken once a watch is issued.
Module 3 at 12 p.m.: “Hurricane Warning” will deal with scenarios of when a Hurricane Warning is issued.

Hurricane season began on June 1 and runs through Nov. 30.

The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration has predicted there could be 12 to 17 named storms during the 2023 season with winds of 39 mph or higher. Of those, five to nine could become hurricanes with winds of 74 mph or higher and one to four could become major hurricanes with winds of 111 mph or higher. NOAA has 70% confidence in its prediction.

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