Being Prepared for Hurricane Season Part 2

6/1/2022 (Permalink)

Part 2 in our blog series on Hurricane Preparedness is focusing on getting your home ready for a storm.  You've read our tips on personal readiness, and hope those are helpful.

If you live in a low lying area, or mandatory evacuation zone, or you're just not even sure, these tips can help get your home prepared.

If you have a basement in your home, take a look around on bottom shelves, on the floor etc. for things that are sentimental or that you just cannot lose.   Bring them up to higher shelves, or higher rooms in your home.  Beds, tables, kitchen counters, tops of closets are great places to store some of these things.  

Think of all of the items you have in your house that you keep on the floor.  Shoes, pictures, books, boxes of photos, things you store under your bed, and move them to higher spaces.  

Photos- this was a big one for me.  I lived in mandatory evacuation zone and the first thing that went in the car was 2 totes full of photos. I knew I had to put in a lot of things in my car, but photos always went in first.   I eventually  invested the money to have them all digital.  It was worth every penny.  If you are prone to flooding it is worth the consideration.  Ok, moving on to outside

Preparing the outside.  Move all potted plants, and ornamental things inside.  Whether you have a yard, balcony, deck bring it all in.  Outdoor furniture must come in.   If you are lucky enough to have a pool, you can put the furniture right into the pool. This doesn't apply to all furniture material, but it is so much easier than moving it all in.   You will of course have to shock your pool when it is all over, a small price to pay though.  

Look around the entire outside and take notice of anything that could become air born.   The big yard item that should be taken apart is a trampoline.   Smaller items can become part of the wind and break windows, etc.   The air born trampoline can be dangerous to your home and your neighbors.  

Gutters- ugh the dreaded gutters. We all put this task off for as long as possible.  This is the best time to get up there and clean them out.  If you have gutter screens even better.  Make sure your drain pipes are all connected and direct your ground drainage pipe away from your house. 

Windows- if you are in a direct path of a powerful storm board them up.  Purchase early! We have all seen the lines at the stores for plywood.   Measure and purchase your plywood.  Label each one for easy storage once you take them down.  The X on the window in tape is a waste of time.   It does nothing to protect your windows.   

These tips are super helpful in case you are expected to be impacted by a storm.   Stay tuned for Part 3 on what to do if you are affected by a storm.