Fort Lauderdale, Fla. ? More than half of coastal residents from Texas to Maine don’t fear hurricanes and are dangerously unprepared, according to a Mason-Dixon poll to be released today.

Florida residents are better prepared than most because seven hurricanes have walloped the state since 2004. Yet they, too, lack the proper level of preparedness, surveys conducted by Florida emergency managers and state universities have consistently found.

“It seems Americans in coastal states annually need a kick start to get ready for the hurricane season,” said Ron Sachs, coordinator of the National Hurricane Survival Initiative, a public-private project that promotes storm readiness.

The poll, which surveyed 1,100 adults from May 6-11, found 16 percent mistakenly think the government will provide food, water and shelter immediately after a storm.

“That’s a stunning number,” Sachs said. “It’s a minority who believe someone’s going to come and take care of them.”

Government officials say they don’t have the resources to immediately help all those in need. That is why the Federal Emergency Management Agency urges each family to take responsibility for its own survival.

The poll, which has a margin of error of 3 percentage points, found 48 percent of residents don’t have flood insurance and 15 percent are not sure if their policy covers flood damage. More than 1 in 5 homeowners are not sure if they have the right kind of insurance and don’t know how to reach their insurance agent or carrier.