Preparations
In Cuba, evacuations were ordered for Nueva Gerona on Isla de la Juventud and for 113,754 people on the mainland. Cattle were moved to a safe location for the storm's passage. Former President Fidel Castro declared a state of emergency in Cuba's four western provinces, due to the threat to the local sugar industry.
Before Alma struck Florida, officials issued hurricane warnings from the Florida Keys through Apalachicola. A hurricane watch and gale warning were issued for the state's eastern coastline, extending to Savannah, Georgia. In Key West, residents boarded up houses, and about 1,000 people evacuated into the region's 11 shelters. The MIM-23 Hawk antiaircraft missiles in the city were moved to higher ground, having been in place since the 1962 Cuban Missile Crisis. Further north, officials ordered the evacuation of Captiva Island and Sanibel Island. The causeways were closed to Sanibel Island, which left the residents that had not evacuated stranded. Ten emergency shelters were opened in Fort Myers and two opened in Naples. About 100,000 people were advised to evacuate, although many of them did not. All Phantom jet fighters left from MacDill Air Force Base in Tampa to Columbus Air Force Base in Mississippi. Similarly, aircraft were evacuated from Homestead Air Reserve Base. Because Alma was initially forecast to cross the central portion of the state, residents along the Florida panhandle were not prepared for the hurricane strike. Hours before the storm moved ashore, officials ordered evacuations for residents in low-lying areas around Apalachicola.
One week before the Kennedy Space Center scheduled a mock test for its hurricane preparations, Alma gave the agency a chance to go through the situation under the threat of a real storm. A full-scale version of a Saturn V rocket was rolled back to the Vehicle Assembly Building on June 8 in less than 11 hours, which was within the anticipated time for such a move and before the expected arrival of 60 mph (97 km/h) wind gusts. Two other rockets were also removed from their pads.
Read more about this topic: Hurricane Alma (1966)
Famous quotes containing the word preparations:
“The most evident difference between man and animals is this: the beast, in as much as it is largely motivated by the senses and with little perception of the past or future, lives only for the present. But man, because he is endowed with reason by which he is able to perceive relationships, sees the causes of things, understands the reciprocal nature of cause and effect, makes analogies, easily surveys the whole course of his life, and makes the necessary preparations for its conduct.”
—Marcus Tullius Cicero (106–43 B.C.)
“At the ramparts on the cliff near the old Parliament House I counted twenty-four thirty-two-pounders in a row, pointed over the harbor, with their balls piled pyramid-wise between them,—there are said to be in all about one hundred and eighty guns mounted at Quebec,—all which were faithfully kept dusted by officials, in accordance with the motto, “In time of peace prepare for war”; but I saw no preparations for peace: she was plainly an uninvited guest.”
—Henry David Thoreau (1817–1862)
“In all the important preparations of the mind she was complete; being prepared for matrimony by an hatred of home, restraint, and tranquillity; by the misery of disappointed affection, and contempt of the man she was to marry. The rest might wait. The preparations of new carriages and furniture might wait for London and the spring, when her own taste could have fairer play.”
—Jane Austen (1775–1817)