Preparing for Hurricane Season
Another thing is day time becomes precious. With the house pitch -black when the sun goes down, you make sure you are enjoying the precious day time hours that you do have. One last thing that really affects you, if like us you do not have a generator, is having to take cold showers; I’m telling you the truth, no matter how hot it gets during the day time without electricity, you probably will not get used to those freezing cold showers: I know we did not. You never realize how much you take for granted until a hurricane comes through and takes away precious resources; and that coming from us, a family who got lucky and only received minor house damage and no electricity.
Considering the aforementioned, I want to urge anyone living in a hurricane area to please stock up on the following items. The best that can happen is you will not need them, but if you do, you will be glad you took the precautions.
First of all, shutters. We were lucky in that we had rolling hurricane shutters for all of the windows and boards for the glass on the doors, but had we not had them, getting them at the last minute, or finding someone to install them for the matter would have proven next to impossible. With so many people not planning for a hurricane until one is imminent, supplies and labor tend to run extremely short or become non-existent.
Second of all, if you do not have one, invest in a generator. You never know how long you will be without power if you lose it and these things are worth their weight in gold (I know because we did not have one).
Third, stock up on light sources. This can include candles, matches, flashlights, batteries, oil lamps and relevant oil, etc. And use them conservatively because again, you never know how long you will have to depend on them.
Fourth, I recommend clean clothes and towels galore. With electric off and stores not open (i.e. laundromats) you will appreciate having your clothes clean and with hurricanes you inevitably get water somewhere and having towels aplenty will only serve you well. In our case the front glass door, although shuttered with metal, leaked during hurricane number two and the third storm took off a part of the roof that left our living room and kitchen soaked. Having a lot of towels to use was imperative (not to mention putting up a clothes line to dry them so they did not spoil after soaking up water from the floors…something that uses a lot of towels in a very short amount of time).
Fifth, stock up on non-perishable food early and do not be sparing in doing so. We had a jar of peanut butter, some crackers, etc., but not nearly enough to sustain us and certainly not enough variety to make things interesting. Standing in lines at grocery stores for three and four hours at a time to get a limited amount of food (availability of non-perishables becomes next to nil after a storm) was a hard lesson to learn, but one I learned and would like to pass on just the same.
Sixth, fill up those gas tanks on your vehicles. The lines that you have to wait in to get gas after a storm has passed are very lengthy and nerve-wracking to be sure, not to mention that realistically finding one if the storm that passed through was a harsh one, will not be an easy task for even the most resourceful of consumers.
Seventh, get a portable radio and/or television set that takes batteries (and do not forget to have a healthy stock of fully charged batteries on hand for them). I did not have either and had to resort to listening to the news in the car to get the latest updates. You will want to know what is going on if and when a storm hits, and what is going on after the storm has passed.
There are some other things you will need to do as well to prepare for the storm that will not cost you a thing. Walk around your house and make sure you have all loose items secured or put away; this includes lawn or outside furniture, swimming pool gear and accessories, garden tools, wheel barrows, garbage cans, television antennae, etc. Flying debris causes a lot of damage during storms that could have been very easily prevented with a little precaution. You will also want to make sure your windows are boarded up if you do not have shutters, or at the very least taped with a masking tape X so that if the glass does break, it might prevent shattering. Make sure your rechargeable batteries are charged to the maximum, especially for items like cell phones or other communication devices that may become imperative to you if your land line telephone lines are knocked out.
Another bit of advice I have is if you own an in-ground swimming pool, get a cover on it. I did not have one and the high amounts of gravel that got into it from the tiles on my own and other people’s roofs really made a mess out of it; one that took months to get straightened out after the storms were long gone (trying to find an open appointment with a pool maintenance person after one, much less three hurricanes have passed through a city is a task I would wish on no one). This could have been prevented or minimized greatly by simply purchasing a pool cover to tie down in the concrete over the pool. This may not sound like a big deal, but trust me, if your impeller gets loaded with miniscule-sized rocks from house roofs, you will know just exactly how big of a deal it can be. Without the pool functioning correctly your water will not last long and then you really have problems to deal with that can get quite extensive and quite expensive to remedy. I would also suggest purchasing a heavy-duty tarp. Again, finding such an item after a storm, or even when one is predicted to come, can prove very difficult and if you are unfortunate to have damage done that allows water in, you will be very grateful that you took the time out to purchase this just-in-case item; especially if after the storm it decides to rain. Another thought is to fill up what you can with clean, fresh water before the storm hits. If you have more than one bathroom, you may want to fill a bathtub up with water; this can prove invaluable if you your water is turned off, especially in the case of using it to fill toilet tanks for flushing. A final suggestion I would make is making sure you locate and waterproof important papers and items (such as insurance papers, bank information, photographs, etc.) prior to the storm and keep them in close reach in case you are forced to leave your home.
In any case, the key to successful recovery can be as easy as thorough preparation. I strongly urge you not to take for granted that just because storms do not usually hit your area that your luck will continue. Take the necessary precautions you need to make your recovery period, should a hurricane hit, as easy as possible on you and your family. You will never regret that you did if the storm indeed does make an appearance.
Above all else, stay inside the house and away from the windows during the storm. Your safety and the safety of your family members (including pets) is the most important thing. Find a safety zone in your home (an area with no windows; we put mattresses down in the corridor), know where every family member is, and stay put during the storm. If you do not feel your home is safe enough to withstand a storm or that someone in your home could be at risk (including needing medical assistance that you may not be able to give if a storm hits) by staying in the home move your family to a hurricane shelter. There are plenty available, but word to the wise, get there early and prepare to stay there long. If you do the latter, make sure you call ahead to get the list of approved items from the shelter so you know what you need to take and what you are not permitted to take. Either way, if you choose to stay at home or in a shelter, you can be smart by being prepared.
