Hurricane Michael is on its way

Tropical Storm Micheal

A tropical disturbance centered off the Yucatan peninsula strengthed into a tropical depression early Sunday and has now strengthened into Tropical Storm Michael. The center of the storm is located at 19.2N 86.9W about 90 miles (145 km) south of Cozumel,s Mexico. The National Hurricane Center reports that the storm is currently stationary but expected to resume a slow northward motion later today.

Michael is expected to reach hurricane strength before making landfall on the Gulf Coast later this week. Florida Governor Rick Scott today issued a State of Emergency for 32 counties in the Florida panhandle and Big Bend. On the current forecast track, the storm is expected to make landfall south of Panama City, Florida near Mexico Beach, Florida. Forecasters at the National Hurricane Center said: "The dynamical models generally agree on the overall scenario, but there are still large differences in forward speed." The result is that some models have the storm still over the Gulf of Mexico in 5 days, and others predict the storm will have moved inland as far as southern New England in that same period.

ContactRelief Recommendations for Contact Centers

ContactRelief recommends that contact centers amplify contact into areas within the cone of uncertainty from the coastline to 100 miles inland along the forecast track. Although there is uncertainty in the how quickly the storm will move across the Gulf of Mexico, we estimate that contact centers have at most 36 hours in which to complete contact with consumers in the Florida panhandle and southern Georgia before having to suspend contact in those areas as consumers prepare for the storm's arrival. We recommend that subscribers take advantage of this window to complete contact with consumers in these areas in order to maintain their overall contact efficiency.

To obtain the list of affected ZIP Codes, become a ContactRelief subscriber today.

Don't Delay

The next disaster is on its way. Become a ContactRelief subscriber and keep your company protected from disaster. Our full recommendations consist of the areas to be suspended and the list of zip codes covering these areas. With minimal effort, your company can quickly implement a solution that protects your company and its customers. As we say at ContactRelief, "It's just smart business."

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