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Cape Coral emergency managers urge residents to prepare as hurricane season begins
Summary
City emergency and resilience staff briefed council on hurricane-season preparations, urged residents to use radios and local fire stations for updates if communications fail, and said the city will continue mitigation steps and coordinate county sheltering and recovery efforts.
City emergency-management officials on May 28 outlined Cape Coral's preparations for the 2025 hurricane season and urged residents to make family plans, assemble 72-hour kits and know their evacuation zone.
Merchant Management Resilience Director Ryan Lamb noted that the city tracks storms using an all-hazards approach and prepares for wind, rain and storm surge. He emphasized that storm surge poses the greatest mortality risk: "We run from the water and we hide from the wind," Lamb said, explaining that surge and water-driven waves are the primary danger.
Officials reminded residents the city does not distribute sandbags as a general practice and recommends commercially produced temporary flood barriers for property protection. They also said radio will be a primary backup channel if internet and cellular service fail and that city fire stations and three local radio stations will be points for public information during a major outage.
The city manager and emergency staff said they would convert department operations centers and the Emergency Operations Center to support response and that shelters are coordinated through Lee County; the city currently operates one large shelter capacity and continues to work on resilience hubs and partnerships.
Ending: Officials encouraged residents to review their zone at the Lee County 'Know Your Zone' portal, prepare emergency kits and follow official city channels for accurate, timely updates during storms.
