Get our Hurricane Survival Guide this Sunday

I promise this isn't turning into a weather blog, but here's a quick tease after taking a few days off:

The Bradenton Herald's annual Hurricane Guide publishes Sunday, on the eve of the official 2009 hurricane season starting June 1.

Even as I blog, the National Hurricane Center says a tropical depression has formed off the mid-Atlantic coast. It's not expected to threaten land, but it is the official first of the season.

President Obama is visiting FEMA headquarters today, as outlined in our story today from our Washington bureau. With studies finding that Americans are less prepared than ever before, it seems appropriate that he designated this National Hurricane Preparedness Week.

Dig into our guide on Sunday, and bookmark this link for Bradenton.com's Hurricane Central. As Capt. Larry Leinhauser, spokesman for the Manatee County Emergency Management Services, told reporter Carl Mario Nudi, “now is the time to put up supplies, get a plan and be ready.”

-- Joan