Welcome Mayor…. You are the new mayor of Pensacola Beach, Florida. There is a hurricane heading toward your town. You are in charge. You must decide whether or not to evacuate your town and justify your decision to the public. Your emergency crews have prepared information for you…go meet with them.

Forecasting the Storm… A Tropical Storm is just off Mexico’s coast! The storm is named Olivia Early predictions have the storm making land near the coast of Louisiana on Tuesday The government of Mexico has issued a tropical storm warning

Our Island! Pensacola Beach is on Santa Rosa Island, a strip of sand that lies just off shore from the mainland. This is called a "Barrier Island," because it blocks the Pensacola shoreline. The waves are usually calm. During a hurricane the ocean can rise quickly. We must consider how to get the public off of the island. The whole island may be under water

Gone Fishing… Some residents of a Louisiana Barrier Island have stopped worrying about Tropical Storm Olivia and are going fishing.  But the fish are looking for a place to hide from Tropical Storm Olivia. “Sometimes tropical storms and hurricanes do just what we predict, but this one is tricky" says a Hurricane Forecaster At 5:00 p.m., the storm was near Merida, Mexico and winds are at 50 mph.

OLIVIA TURNS NORTH Olivia has now become a hurricane, turned north,and is heading toward the United States. Olivia now has wind speeds of 80 mph. A hurricane watch is issued. Hurricane conditions could arise within 36 hours. Olivia has already caused extensive flooding in Mexico, and 20 people are missing.

YOUR STAFF.. Life on a Barrier Island Your town staff has prepared some information for your review. Tourism Director: "Don't scare away business!" Mayor's Assistant: "We already weathered one hurricane." Emergency Manager: "Our barrier island is at risk." Police Chief: "I can't rescue people in a hurricane!"

MEMORANDUM City of Pensacola Beach Tourism Center The Tourism Director MEMORANDUM City of Pensacola Beach Tourism Center To:        The Mayor From:      Dean Dungaree - City Tourism Director Regarding: General Island Facts, Hurricane Worries I just wanted to let you know my feelings about this hurricane! I am worried that we will end up frightening our tourists if we make a big deal about this storm. I say we should let people make up their own minds. Our businesses depend upon tourists. This will affect hotels, condos, restaurants, stores, and more. There is still a good chance the storm will miss us. If it does,evacuation would cost us a lot of money for nothing. I say we should let people make up their own minds. Let people know what is happening, but don't force them to leave.

MEMORANDUM City of Pensacola Beach Office of the Mayor ASSISTANT MAYOR MEMORANDUM City of Pensacola Beach Office of the Mayor To:        The Mayor From:      Mary Backer, Assistant to the Mayor Regarding: Hurricane Oliva. If you do decide to order a mandatory evacuation, it must be very soon. The inland roads are already congested with tourists trying to evacuate. If people do not leave immediately, they may be stuck in their cars during the storm---not a safe place to be!

MEMORANDUM City of Pensacola Beach Emergency Manager's Office To:        The Mayor From:      Amy Smith, Emergency Manager Regarding: Barrier Island--We're first to be hit. As you know, our island is an easy target for a hurricane. Since we are first to see a storm's effects, we get them full force. In fact, this island is actually trying to move because of these storms. I don't mean the island is packing up it's bags... instead each of these big storms pushes the island sand a bit closer to the mainland. I recommend evacuating the island. We cannot take the risk of having a bunch of tourists and local residents stranded in the storm surge. Many people might drown.

MEMORANDUM City of Pensacola Beach Police Department To: The Mayor From:  Sam Sterling, Police Chief Regarding: Evacuating the island. I recommend forcing everyone to leave. During the storm, I won't be able to save people who get in trouble. After the storm, there won't be enough police officers to protect against looters

OLIVIA GROWS, HEADING OUR WAY RESIDENTS AWAIT MAYOR'S EVACUATION DECISION Hurricane Olivia has now grown to a category-four hurricane and is headed toward the Pensacola area. If the storm stays at this strength, its winds could tear roofs off and the storm surge could damage or destroy many coastal buildings. Forecasters predict the storm will hit somewhere between Mobile, Alabama and just north of St. Petersburg, Florida. Pensacola Beach and Pensacola are at the center of that area.

Mayor’s Choice! Time to Decide! In your Literary circle you must first discuss and share your ideas Then each of you will act as the mayor and write a persuasive essay telling the reasons why to evacuate or not.

Persuasive Essay Guide Lines Paragraph 1: Introduction: State the problem and your opinion Paragraph 2: The first reason and details to support it Paragraph 3 The second reason and details to support it Paragraph 4 Conclusion Restate your opinion

The Writing Process Step 1 : Planning Make a web, list, or outline of your ideas Step 2: Sloppy Copy Create your rough draft Step 3: Re-read and Revise Does your essay make sense? Do you have enough paragraphs? Did you use good sentence structure? Step 4: Edit Check for spelling, capitalization, punctuation, and grammar. Step 5: Published Copy Look over your published copy for mistakes