More than 10,000 power outages hit the Coastal Bend Thursday morning, and with hurricane season beginning June 1, emergency management experts and residents say now is the time to prepare not when the storm is already at your d oor.AEP Texas reported outages peaking at about 11,000 customers affected, stretching from Alice to Corpus Christi. Many of those outages were addressed by the afternoon. Coastal Bend power outages serve as a reminder to prepare before hurricane season beginsOmar Lopez of AEP Texas said the utility was ready before the first storm cell arrived."Before this wave of storms hit we had over 250 linemen positioned all over the service territory just knowing we'd have to respond to some of these outages potentially," Lopez said.AEP Texas held a company-wide hurricane drill six weeks ago, and Lopez said that preparation means the utility shifts from planning to execution the moment a storm threatens the region."If a storm is entering the district, we don't prepare anymore, we implement. Our plans are set, our resources are set," Lopez said.Corpus Christi resident Julian Hernandez, who has worked in utilities and power systems for more than 20 years, said he takes a similar approach at home. When storms are in the forecast, he reaches for what he calls his little black book."These storms coming it's just prepping. I have a little black book where you keep notes for where everything's at," Hernandez said.Hernandez keeps a running checklist of essentials batteries, medication and non-perishable food and maintains an emergency bag in case he needs to evacuate quickly."Take a night and just kinda organize stuff. God forbid something happens and you're able to take your stuff and go," Hernandez said.His advice for families: start preparing now, before the season gets underway."June is when hurricane season starts so you want to start preparing at that time because we are a coast city," Hernandez said.That preparation extends to the basics, too."You wanna prepare for it ahead of time. Make sure all your batteries are charged your cell phones are charged," Hernandez said.And Hernandez said emergency readiness is a mindset he instills in his family year-round."I'm the type of dad instead of buying them junk for Christmas I'm buying them jumper cables," Hernandez said.Hurricane season begins June 1.For the latest local news updates, click here, or download the KRIS 6 News App. Catch all the KRIS 6 News stories and more on our YouTube page. Subscribe today! ...read more read less