Hurricane News, Safety & Checklists

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Do You Live In The Danger Zone

Hurricanes are mighty tropical storms which form in the Caribbean Sea, southern Atlantic Ocean, eastern Pacific and the Gulf of Mexico. Anyone who lives within a hurricane prone area will probably have noticed by now, and needs to take the appropriate action to safeguard their properties before the next hurricane hits. Protection from hurricanes is all about damage limitation, and there are quite a few different things which you can do to help to protect your property from the full forces of a hurricane tropical storm . . . you can’t stop a hurricane, but you can limit the damage it causes.

Hurricanes can actually cause substantial damage to both coastal and inland properties. Flooding is one of the major problems associated with a tropical hurricane storm, so it’s important to check that your property is covered with flood insurance.  You need to check that be sure to have homeowners or renter’s insurance. More importantly, read the exclusions of your home or rental insurance policy to see if hurricane damage is included. You will very often find that this is not the case and you will need to organize some separate insurance against hurricane damage, but meantime, what can you do to minimize the damage caused by the hurricane?

Hurricane Damage Limitation ideas

1. Cover all of the windows in your property with hurricane shutters or cut some 5/8″ ply ready to install it in a hurry. This will help to protect your windows from the high hurricane winds.
2. Bring in any outdoor furniture, fixtures and fittings, garbage cans, in fact, if it isn’t firmly fastened down . . . bring it in. Make a list of the stuff which needs to be brought in, that will help to make sure that you’ve remembered everything.
3. Make sure that all of the trees and shrubs close to your property are kept neatly trimmed to make them more wind resistant.
4. Turn off all of the utilities in your property as instructed. It is handy to turn the refrigerator to the coldest setting and keep the door firmly closed for the majority of the time to maintain the cool temperature.
5. Turn off any propane tanks which you may have.
6. Have an emergency generator installed – power is often lost for a substantial amount of time during a hurricane.
7. Have your garage doors reinforced – if the wind manages to get into the garage it can cause very dangerous and expensive damage to your property.
8. Don’t forget to keep your larders well stocked with non-perishable foods. You never know how long it will be before “normal services” are resumed.
9. Make sure that you have plenty of water available, fill up bathtubs and any other large containers. You will need water to drink, as well as lots of water for flushing the toilet, washing and other sanitory purposes.
10. Last but not least – stay informed. A hurricane watch means that there is the chance of a hurricane hitting your area, a hurricane warning, however, means that a hurricane is expected to arrive in your area. If the local authorities tell you to get out, get out of your property as quickly as possible. Of course, the more of these hurricane damage limitation ideas you’ve already seen to, the better.