While there’s no cause for worry so far, Maine’s hurricane season is under way, and area emergency management officials are advising residents to prepare, plan and not to forget pets.

“If they prepare for hurricanes, they’re preparing for everything else,” said Anne-Marie Brett, deputy director at the Cumberland County Emergency Management Agency.

August through October are the months when a hurricane would be most likely to hit here, said Brett.

Hurricanes Carol and Edna struck back to back on Aug. 31 and Sept. 11 in 1954, according to the Gorham Historical Society website, and Gorham Fire Chief Robert Lefebvre remembers Hurricane Bob in August 1991 as a devastating storm locally.

The Federal Emergency Management Agency has declared September as the National Preparedness Month.

The agency, which regularly meets with community emergency managers, has a satellite telephone to communicate with the Maine Emergency Management Agency and is in constant touch with the National Weather Service in Gray and the National Hurricane Center in Miami.

Last week, Brett was eyeing Hurricane Cristobal that the National Weather Service pinpointed in the Atlantic and moving slowly.

“I started watching it three or four days ago when it came off the coast of Africa,” Brett said on Aug. 25.

To ready for the hurricane season, Lefebvre advised residents to have battery-operated radios and flashlights along with battery smoke and carbon monoxide detectors. Those with generators should have fuel, and Lefebvre said generators should be well away from homes.

A Homeland Security pamphlet advises a basic emergency supply list for homes should include 1 gallon of water per person per day for three days for drinking and sanitation; a three-day supply of non-perishable food; first aid kit; can opener; a whistle to signal for help; tools; and local maps.

Susan Rappold, who landed in Gorham after being driven out of New Orleans by Hurricane Katrina in 2005, has vivid memories of the storm.

“The whole thing was an absolute nightmare,” said Rappold, urging residents here to be prepared and heed any warnings to evacuate.

Brett said the agency works with municipalities to plan for emergencies like hurricanes. The agency employs computers for tracking storms and disseminating information.

Brett said Cumberland County communities also are linked by radio to the county emergency management agency housed in a bunker below the Cumberland County Regional Communications Center in Windham.

In an emergency, the county government can operate from the bunker, built in the 1960s.

“It was Civil Defense back then,” Brett, who lives in Scarborough, said.

Besides natural disasters, emergency management also deals with hazardous materials incidents, terrorism, and cyber security. It has a staff of eight.

The agency has an “old-fashioned” radio system available as a back up and in an emergency situation maintains a status board with each of the county’s towns listed.

“We’re the coordinator,” Brett said. “We don’t respond on site.”

The communities provide emergency responders, but the county agency can request state or federal help if needed.

Lefebvre said residents would receive emergency information about shelters and evacuations by reverse 911 and with radio and TV announcements.

Brett said residents without landline telephone service should call their dispatch center in advance of emergencies so they could get the emergency information on their cell phones.

Lefebvre said emergency shelters in Gorham are in Gorham Middle School, 106 Weeks Road, and in Great Falls Elementary School, 73 Justice Way off Sebago Lake Road (Route 237).

In Buxton, Fire Chief Nathan Schools said the town’s emergency shelter is now located at the Buxton Center Elementary School on Route 22. The shelter would have food, water, toilets and power.

“It has everything it needs,” Schools said. “The necessities.”

Schools has met with York County and state emergency management officials along with the Red Cross. The Buxton school would likely also be designated as a regional shelter, but Schools said a final plan is not in place yet.

In Westbrook, Greg Hamilton, the city’s emergency management director, said on Tuesday that the vocational center at Westbrook High School on Stroudwater Street is the emergency shelter. He said if the Presumpscot River flooded, dividing the city, then Congin School, 410 Bridge St., would also serve as a shelter.

“We coordinate with the (Cumberland) County emergency management and the Red Cross,” Hamilton said.

A regional shelter is located in Scarborough High School, one of a dozen possible regional sites in Cumberland County. Scarborough sheltered 1,200 coastal evacuees at the high school in the wake of Hurricane Bob, the American Journal reported.

In areas being evacuated, Lefebvre said, Gorham emergency personnel would try to go door to door.

In the event of power outages, many people, even if not evacuated, seek shelters to eat, shower or to stay warm.

During Hurricane Bob, voluntary evacuations in Gorham included trailer parks and homes on Tow Path Road where some people left by boats.

To be ready, Brett said, residents should pack go-bags with needed personal items. For those going to shelters, Lefebvre said, items should include medicines, personal supplies, and emergency contact information such as names of doctors in case of a medical emergency.

Brett advised pet owners to even have go-bags for their animals. Pets allowed would include dogs, cats and birds. Brett said Cumberland County has the ability to set up a pet shelter staffed with qualified volunteers.

Pet shelters would be in the same shelter as one for humans. Owners would still be required to care for and feed pets.

In New Orleans, Rappold said pets perished when left behind by people thinking they would soon return home.

Lefebvre warned drivers about dangers of water flooding roads. The American Journal reported on Aug. 21, 1991, that Hurricane Bob floodwaters at one point rose almost knee-deep on William Clarke Drive at Brackett Street in Westbrook. Roads in several towns were damaged, including a section of Montgomery Road in Windham that washed out. The Indian Camp Brook and Stroudwater River in Gorham overflowed Brackett Road, causing extensive damage. “Bob Was A Beast” the American Journal headline read.

“Hurricane Bob was a big one,” Lefebvre said.

Lefebvre said Gorham emergency personnel made three rescues during Hurricane Bob, including one driver who dropped into water on Huston Road and another on Brackett Road who dropped into a crevice. People tried to drive through flooded areas, Lefebvre said.

Warned of a hurricane, Lefebvre said, residents in outlying areas not served by public water should fill bathtubs and pails. During the ice storm in 1998, Lefebvre pointed out some Gorham homes were left without electrical power for 13 days without ability to pump water.

In other precautions, Lefebvre warned about touching a downed wire and said there have been some people moving a line with no way of knowing whether it was alive or dead. “If there’s line down, never touch it,” Lefebvre said, “leave it alone and stay away from it.”

Speaking from experience, Rappold said warnings to evacuate should be heeded.

“Don’t ever take the weather forecast for granted,” she said, adding that many in New Orleans said they had heard warnings before. “I left the day before it really hit,” she added.