Paul Gregory knows what goes into hurricane preparations.
The 61-year-old grew up in South Florida and understands what to expect from a busy hurricane season — the unexpected.
"Preparations are huge," Gregory said. "You never know what's going to happen."
He and some volunteers help manage the more than 140 horses at Mill Creek Farm in Alachua. The farm is a retirement home for horses. His parents — Peter and Mary Gregory — originally bought the 335-acre farm in 1984. Forty-one years later, the farm is still running strong with their son at the helm.
However, one of his biggest tasks is protecting his farm from the upcoming hurricane season. The stormy season lasts from June 1 to November 30 and is a six-month period that ramps up as the season goes along.
The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration projected 17 to 25 named storms last year. There were 11 hurricanes in 2024 — five being major. Two affected North Central Florida — Hurricane Helene in September and Hurricane Milton in October.
READ MORE: NOAA forecast: 2025 will be another busy hurricane season
NOAA is projecting another above-average hurricane season, with 13 to 19 storms. Over the past 10 years, the amount of named storms have been inside or above the projected margin — mostly being in the upper half.
The only cases where the amount was closer to projected low was in 2019, 2022 and 2024. In 2019, there were 18 storms where the projection was from 15 to 22. In 2022, 14 to 21 storms were projected. The low hit at 14. Finally, last year, there were 18 named storms from the 17 to 25 named storms.
Electricity and keeping generators running go into the preparations for the farm. He said the generators are powering the pumps for the water. One of the biggest things that goes into preparations is having clean water for the horses, he said. Mill Creek Farm has more than 140 horses so having clean water for them would be the number one priority.
Managing the horses is also another priority for them. Instead of locking them away in a shelter, they leave the horses outside saying that they are safer being outside. He said, in some cases, the horses know to go under their shelters when it starts to rain.
"We found that the horses have a great sense that they know where to go and they know what to do," Gregory said. "They hear a tree crack and they know to move away. We've never had a horse injured during one of these hurricanes or big storms."
The Santa Fe College Teaching Zoo is gearing up for the season as well. Jonathan Miot, 51, is a professor at Santa Fe College. He also is the director of the zoo.
Instead of just having a plan for hurricane season, they have a plan for the whole year. Not only is it set for the whole year, it dives into specifics — breaking it down by each animal, what time of the day the storm would hit and the severity of the storm.
"We can do different things with the animals," Miot said. "It's different based on different strengths, intensity, location of the storm, proximity and all that stuff."
Across the state, the Humane Society is gearing up for the season as well. Cherie Wachter works at the Humane Society of Broward County and has experienced severe hurricanes. She recalls the events of Hurricane Irma and what they had to do for the animals in that situation.
Before the storm, volunteers came out to help to send 120 animals to the West Coast ahead of the severe storms. In Wachter's 30 years at the Humane Society, this was the only time they evacuated the animals.
"It was like a giant game of Tetris fitting all the pet carriers into the airplane," she said. "I think we left the shelter here at like 5 a.m. to get to the airport to load the animals. Once they arrived in California, we worked with an organization who worked with several other organizations that helped disperse the pets to different shelters up there."
She said the plan for them would be to send them to a safer space out west in California, miles away from the hurricanes. The organization that helped them was Wings of Rescue — a nonprofit that helps fly pets from at-risk shelters to safe havens. According to their website, Wings of Rescue has flown nearly 21,000 pets across the country and gives them a second chance to find a home.
Wachter also mentioned that they were on the receiving end of transfers as well. When Hurricane Helene hit, the Humane Society of North Central Florida delivered animals to South Florida to get away from the storm and give them another chance to be adopted.
According to NBC Miami, a man was arrested on counts of animal cruelty leaving his dog stranded on Interstate 75 tied to a pole during Hurricane Milton. The dog — nicknamed Trooper by the Florida Highway Patrol — was in water up to his chest. Trooper was taken to the Leon County Humane Society to look for a new home.
When the news broke out, people were outraged that someone would abandon an animal in a hurricane. This outcry prompted Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis to sign two bills.
The first was Trooper's Law. The law makes it a felony for owners to abandon animals during a natural disaster or evacuation. If someone did leave their animal, it could result in five years of prison and a $10,000 fine. The second law was Dexter's Law, which created a database to show animal abusers throughout the state.
To prevent this, Wachter says to set yourself and your pet up on social media.
"Say you found a pet," she said. "You can post it on PawBoost or on Nextdoor, which is the app that connects you with your neighbors. Hopefully, by doing that, you'll be able to reunite the pet so it doesn't end up in a shelter.
Wachter said some other tips for keeping your furry friends in check would be to keep ID tags on your animals with two phone numbers, having them microchipped and making sure the chip is registered.
"So many pets get lost and microchips aren't registered," she said. "It's a dead end, so pets can't be reunited."
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