With its arrival, June brings many of the year’s best moments—longer days, family vacations, and backyard cookouts, to name a few. But alongside the joys of early summer comes something less welcome…

As you may know, the Atlantic Hurricane Season officially begins on June 1. At CHELCO, however, our storm preparations begin long before that date. This month, I’d like to take a few minutes to share how CHELCO prepares for hurricane season—and how you can, too.

CHELCO’s Hurricane Preparedness Plan
CHELCO has a comprehensive hurricane plan that guides our leadership and employees in preparing for and responding to tropical weather that could impact our service area. The plan includes detailed work assignments for each department and employee, defining roles that go beyond day-to-day responsibilities. Every major task is assigned to both a primary coordinator and a backup, ensuring our team always knows who to contact with questions or concerns.

Our plan also outlines specific steps to take at key intervals—five, three, two, and one day before a projected landfall—so that our response is proactive and timely.

Importantly, this plan isn’t something we dust off once a storm is approaching. We review and refine it throughout the year to stay ready for any large-scale event. Even severe thunderstorms can lead to widespread outages in our area, requiring activation of our storm response protocols. These smaller-scale events provide us with valuable opportunities to fine-tune our approach, ensuring smoother operations when larger storms arrive.

In the spirit of Cooperation Among Cooperatives – one of the Seven Cooperative Principles that guide co-ops – CHELCO maintains close relationships with our sister co-ops. In 2024, Hurricanes Helene and Milton left devastation in their paths. While CHELCO’s service area was not impacted by either of these storms, we sent crews to assist where needed to help speed up the restoration process. If the roles were reversed, we could expect similar assistance from our fellow co-ops. In the co-op world, we call this “Mutual Aid.” If you’d like to learn more about our efforts to help our sister cooperatives last year, visit our YouTube page and watch the video, “CHELCO Mutual Aid: Hurricanes Helene & Milton.”

Our overall preparations ensure that our entire team is ready to respond as soon as they are called upon. If you’re interested in learning more about CHELCO’s storm response, I encourage you to check out our podcast episode on hurricane season at CHELCO.com/podcast.

Make a Plan for Your Home and Family
While CHELCO is preparing, it’s just as important for you to have a plan in place for your household. Though our area has been fortunate to avoid direct hits from major hurricanes in recent years, storms like Hurricanes Helene and Milton reminded us just how quickly conditions can change. 

To prepare, I recommend visiting Ready.gov, which offers practical guidance on building emergency kits, planning evacuations, and tailoring your preparations to your unique needs. They even provide a fillable hurricane plan you can email to yourself for safekeeping.

For tracking storms and staying up-to-date with official information, NOAA.gov and the National Hurricane Center are both reliable resources. You can also sign up for alerts from the Walton and Okaloosa counties’ Emergency Operations Centers for more local updates.

Looking Ahead
While we all hope this hurricane season passes us by, I hope this column has helped you feel more confident and prepared. And I hope it reassures you that CHELCO is ready to respond if the need arises.

While we remain prepared for the potential that comes with hurricane season, I hope you and your family get plenty of opportunities to enjoy the good things that summer has to offer.

Hurricane Season Resources

National Resources

• National Hurricane Center
  • www.nhc.noaa.gov
  • Forecasts, maps, advisories, preparedness tips
• Federal Emergency Management Agency
  • www.ready.gov./hurricanes
  • Checklists, evacuation tips, emergency kit tips
• American Red Cross
  • www.redcross.org
  • Emergency shelter finder, first aid info
• National Weather Service
  • www.weather.gov
  • Local weather updates, warnings by region

Statewide Resources

• Florida Division of Emergency Management
  • www.floridadisaster.org
  • Shelter lists, evacuation zones, recovery resources
• Florida 511
  • www.fl511.com
  • Real-time traffic and road closure updates

Local Resources

• Walton County Emergency Management
  • mywaltonfl.gov/1063/Emergency-Management
  • Evacuation routes, shelter info, emergency alerts
• Okaloosa County Emergency Management
  • myokaloosa.com/emergency-management
  • Evacuation routes, shelter info, emergency alerts