How to Prepare Your Home for a Hurricane
Outside your home:
Step 1- Trim all your trees and shrubbery. Keep them well trimmed throughout the year. Just think of all them branches that can fly around when they are loose or dead. They can cause a lot of damage to your home or to people.
Step 2- If you live in an area where Hurricanes are normal, then you may want to consider elevating your home. You can do this yourself or hire someone to do it for you. Having your home elevated will stop a lot of flooding problems you may have.
Step 3- This is often the step that is forgotten. Clear loose and clogged rain gutters as often as you can. Don’t forget about the downspouts. These can help prevent gutter damage to your home. Imagine if your gutters were already full and you now expect them to with stand a storm. I don’t think your going to get the results you hope for.
Step 4- If you have items that are kept outside, you will need to place them indoors during a hurricane. You may think, it’s okay if something happens to them items. You can easily replace small things like tools and garbage cans. It might be easy to replace them, but how about your neighbors window your lawn chair just flew threw. That’s not such an easy fix. The easiest way to do this is have a ready made list. Write down all the things that are outside and place them on the fridge. When a storm is near, take your list outside and gather everything up. This was there is no room for forgetting things. Lets face it, when you know there is a storm coming, there will be some panic. You may forget things that could lead to big problems.
Step 5- Make sure your roof is able to handle hurricane conditions. You will need to nail down any loose shingles. Rafters should be securely tied to walls with special hurricane connectors. You can even arrange for an inspection and let the pro’s tell you what you can do to help protect your roof from damaging hurricanes. Windows are the most common thing to get broke in a hurricane. They are not made to withstand high winds. You can prevent some of the damage by having pre-cut 1/2 inch plywood boards ready to nail up when needed. If you have extra money, you can invest in hurricane shutters.
Inside your home:
Step 1- Stock up on disaster supplies. You should have water, blankets, sleeping bags, snack food, canned food, can opener, flash lights with extra batteries, small radio or TV that runs on batteries and a first aid kit. You can have these packed up in a bag somewhere ready to go. It’s always nice to be prepared.
Step 2- If you know a hurricane is coming then turn your freezer and your fridge on their coldest setting if you have that option. This will keep your items colder longer if the power goes out.
Step 3- Have a plan. If you have to leave your house, make sure you have a set place to go. All your family members should know this place in case you are split up. They should know to go straight to your designated place.
Step 4- During the hurricane season keep your car filled with gas. There would be nothing worse then a big storm coming in, or you losing power and having no gas in your car to get you any place.
Step 5- If you do end up having to leave your home, remember to unplug all your appliances. If you are able to just shut off all the power to the home. Don’t forget to shut off your main water supply
