Juno Beach forum urges island residents to prepare for hurricanes, focus on hazards not category

Kathy Field Lloyd, organizer of the Juno Beach Civic Association forum, opened a community seminar that brought together a local television meteorologist, Town staff and an insurance agent to review hurricane hazards, evacuation planning and insurance steps residents should take ahead of storm season.

The three speakers — Skyler Spindler of WPTV, Town project and risk manager Andrea Dobbins, and insurance agent and attorney Chris Banker — front‑loaded practical actions. "A watch is when those conditions are expected within the next 48 hours; a warning is when the hurricane is approaching within the next 36 hours," Spindler said, urging attendees to shift attention from category numbers to specific hazards such as storm surge and inland flooding.

Dobbins described local alerting and evacuation procedures and encouraged residents to register for AlertPBC reverse‑911 notifications. She said the town's town hall becomes the emergency operations center when activated and is not a public shelter. Banker described insurance basics, including coordinating master association policies with unit owners' coverage, documenting possessions by photo or video and understanding when hurricane deductibles apply.

The forum included a question‑and‑answer period on practical topics — how to get radar if the internet is down, where to park in a condo building with underground parking, and registration for special‑needs assistance through Palm Beach County. Speakers emphasized official sources for forecast updates (National Hurricane Center, local NWS, NOAA and local meteorologists) and warned about misinformation on social media.

Organizers said the forum recording and contact information for the speakers and sponsors will be posted on the Juno Beach Civic Association website and the town's hurricane information page.