Hurricane season officially begins today, June 1, and the director of the National Hurricane Center says people should be prepared – not only for the storm, but for what comes after.

“There’s a perception that, you know, the storm has passed me and I’m safe now, and it’s not the case,” said Director Ken Graham.

Graham said weather forecasters and emergency managers have done a good job making people aware of the dangers of storm surge, which has historically been the leading killer from hurricanes.

But, now he said people need to be more aware of the dangers in the storm’s aftermath. He said, “in the last four years we’ve lost more people to carbon monoxide poisoning after the storm than we’ve lost in storm surge.”

Graham was a speaker at a Keys tourism industry workshop last week