- May 30, 2026
Hurricane season officially begins on June 1.
The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration is predicting a below normal Atlantic hurricane season this year with a forecast of 8-14 named storms (winds of 39 mph or higher) with 3-6 becoming hurricanes (winds of 79 mph or higher) and 1-3 becoming major hurricanes (categories 3-5 with winds of 111 mph or higher).
An average season has 14 named storms with seven hurricanes, including three major hurricanes, the NOAA reports. But as Flagler County Emergency Management Director Jonathan Lord reminds residents each year: “It only takes one storm to impact our community.”
Here is what you need to know:
The Flagler County Sheriff’s Office advises residents to build a disaster supply kit that includes such items as flashlights, extra batteries, a battery-powered radio and a portable crank or solar-powered USB charger for cell phones.
You should have enough water, medicine and non-perishable food for each person in your household for a minimum of seven days because electricity and water can be out for an extended period. The Flagler County Emergency Management Office recommends having a gallon of water per person per day for drinking and hygiene.
The FCSO also recommends having extra cash on hand and placing copies of important documents, including insurance and medical records, in a waterproof container.
Sign up for ALERTFlagler at flaglercounty.gov/emergency. The free service provides a variety of emergency notifications based on residents’ addresses.
The system allows you to customize which devices and format that you’d like to receive alerts: Email, SMS/Text, voice mail. You choose which specific weather alerts you want to receive. Emergency Management recommends everyone selects, at minimum, flash flood warnings, severe thunderstorm warnings, tornado warnings and extreme wind warnings.
If you need assistance in signing up for the service, the Emergency Management Office will be glad to assist you. Call 386-313-4200 during normal business hours for help.
Click on Emergency Preparedness on the Emergency Management site to view the Emergency Preparedness guide. Magazine versions of the guide can be picked up at the two county libraries, the Flagler Beach Library, the Palm Coast, Bunnell and Flagler Beach city halls, the Government Services Building and the Emergency Operations Center.
Emergency Management and FCSO also provide updates on all of their social media platforms.
Jamie Rhome, the deputy director of the NOAA’s National Hurricane Center, said on Flagler Radio’s “Free For All Friday” on May 29 that the NHC evacuates because of storm surge. As long as you are not in a flood zone or a storm surge evacuation zone, and your home is up to building codes you can hunker down and wait out the storm safely if not comfortably, Rhome said.
“For most people, it’s quite OK safety wise to stay put,” he said.
For those who are in an evacuation zone, long trips are unnecessary, Rhome added.
“Figure out what you are going to do,” he said. “I don’t need you to go to Tennessee. I need you to drive 5-10 minutes outside the evacuation zone.”
Flagler County no longer uses the alphabetical evacuation zones because they were confusing to Palm Coast residents living in letter-designated sections. The Emergency Management Office now names specific neighborhoods being evacuated, Lord said.
The two potential evacuation areas in the county are the hurricane evacuation zone, which includes the entire barrier island and some areas west of Interstate 95; and the lake flood zone in parts of the southwest portion of the county.
The county has three primary shelters at Rymfire and Bunnell elementary schools and the Buddy Taylor Middle-Wadsworth Elementary school campus. They all have backup power. Flagler Schools provides staff to help run the shelters.
“Not many other counties and school districts do that,” Lord said. “Our school school system is truly a partner.”
The Flagler County Fairgrounds Expo Hall could have its grand opening in a couple of months, Lord said. The new 15,000-square-foot, hurricane-resilient facility will take over as the county’s primary shelter for most emergency events. In “larger events” — primarily hurricanes — it will exclusively become the special needs shelter with the public schools continuing to serve as primary shelters.
The $10 million Expo Hall, which was fully funded by state appropriations, has 10,000 square feet of open space with storage, kitchen and bathrooms with showers occupying the remaining space. It will have backup power and a backup emergency water supply.
Using a calculation of 20 square feet per person, it can shelter about 500 people, Lord said. But if could fit a lot more if needed.
“We don’t turn anybody away,” he said. “If somebody is evacuating, we make sure they can find a place.”
In August, the county will be recognized as a Tsunami Ready Community, Lord said, adding that the only thing left to do is install the signs. The probability of a tsunami hitting Flagler County is very low, There is no probability of a high-impact event, but we are at risk from such things as a volcanic eruption in the Canary Islands off the coast of Africa or earthquakes in the Caribbean, he said.
“We had to exercise all of our partners to walk through the scenario of how we'd react in that kind of scenario,” Lord said. “We have to have a way to emergency message folks to get off the beach, which we already have with the ALERTFlagler system,” Lord said. “The good thing is the tsunami would give us a few hours notice.”
Being a Tsunami Ready Community will also add points to the county’s insurance rating, Lord said, potentially reducing flood insurance rates for residents in unincorporated parts of the county.
Just because Flagler County has not had a direct hit from a major hurricane doesn’t mean it’s not possible, Lord said. A Category 5 hurricane had never impacted the Florida panhandle until Hurricane Michael in 2018. The panhandle even had weaker building codes than other parts of the state because of that history, Lord said.
Misinformation is the National Hurricane Center’s No. 1 challenge, Rhome said. For example, El Nino being a “force field” that will stop hurricanes is hype. Climate change’s major effect on storms is that they have been increasing in strength faster, which is shortening the window of preparedness, he said.
However, forecasting continues to improve. The NHC’s tracking cone previously contained the eye of the hurricane 67% of the time. This year, the cone will be slightly wider and the accuracy will increase to 90%, Lord said.
“This cone has been experimentally available for a few years, and now it will be the cone that they use,” Lord said. “Science has gotten better. They've gotten more experienced. Technology has gotten better to allow them to be more accurate.”
