Emergency chief sends storm reminder

Ed McCrane, Sarasota County’s emergency management chief wants local municipal officials to be prepared this hurricane season, which began June 1.

In an email sent June 12 to local officials, McCrane wrote, “If anyone every asks you why it is important to have your department and family prepared for Hurricane Season … this is what Hurricane Charley (2004) would have been like if it stayed on the original forecast track.”

Attached to McCrane's email was a motion slide showing Hurricane Charley's intial projected path, which shows it passing close to Sarasota. The storm changed course, passed over Captiva Island and made landfall near Port Charlotte.