For years, residents have relied on shark oil barometers to forecast the weather and predict storms. Today, residents can rely on SharkOil.bm, powered by BF&M Insurance. The website is unique and comprehensive in that it allows users to not only learn about hurricane history and preparedness, but also obtain up-to-date weather information.

According to Glen Gibbons, Senior Vice President at BF&M, the concept for the website was born out of an in-house e-commerce meeting where staff discussed options for expanding the company’s website.

“We decided that BF&M could provide a wonderful real-time information vehicle dedicated to hurricanes,” Mr. Gibbons says of the site. “We felt that many residents had either not experienced a real hurricane or had become too relaxed about the possibility of a direct hit from one.

“Reminding Bermuda residents about the potential damage hurricanes can inflict when they make landfall, what to do before, during and after the storm and to add the local folklore seemed like a logical and interesting project to deliver to our policyholders and the Bermuda public.”

In addition to a plethora of features, site visitors can learn how hurricanes develop and track current storms, thanks to satellite imagery provided by the US National Hurricane Center.

The majority of the information was collected by re-insurer Andrew White, and the site was designed by technical architect Denis Robert and web designer Kevin DeSilva.

“Even though we are a tiny dot in the middle of the Atlantic, it does not hurt to be prepared. There is always the potential for a direct hit, as remote as it may be. Using the information from SharkOil.bm can assist all of us to be ready and know how to act and react. Knowing what to do at the right time could mean the difference between a manageable loss situation and a disaster,” says Mr. Gibbons.

“We encourage Bermuda residents to take hurricane warnings seriously and to have a plan.

“It is difficult to think about this when it is 85 degrees and sunny with a ten-knot breeze outside, but we cannot be lulled into a false sense of security. Be prepared and if you don’t have to activate your plan, that is a bonus.”

He speaks of another great feature on the site: “The real-time tracking proved very popular on Saturday, September 5th, 2003, when we had 416,225 hits to the site as interested parties from afar a field as New Zealand and South Africa to name a few, watched Hurricane Fabian bear down on Bermuda,” he adds. “For a Bermuda website, this was insane traffic,” says BF&M’s vice-president of e-business, Nick Faries. “Between September 2 and September 9, 2003, SharkOil.bm had 1,851,354 hits.”

While Bermuda has fared well in the past, what is the worst hurricane that Mr. Gibbons believes Bermuda could handle?

“...The simple answer is a Category Five because it is the maximum strength hurricane that is measured. Is this possible? Anything is possible, however there are not many of us in the industry that believe that a Category Five Hurricane would ever hit Bermuda. However, I repeat, anything is possible.”