How Will This Affect My House?

The National Weather Service announced a new warning system for severe storms.  The three categories are Destructive, Considerable, and Baseline. Destructive is the most damaging, with hail that could be 2.75” in diameter and winds of 80mph. Considerable is 1.75” sized hail and 70mph winds, with Baseline being 1” sized hail and 58mph winds.

This is great for the public to get more information about what is about to hit them. Even with the latest information, the question most people don’t know the answer to is how will this affect their house? It would be great if each house came with its own warning like “Beautiful neighborhood, nice backyard, likely to be destroyed in 70mph winds.” Or, “Lot’s of upgrades, plenty of closet space, but made of wood with no chance of surviving a major storm.”

No matter how great the warning system is, if we don’t know what that storm will do to our homes it isn’t enough. All the National Weather Service can do is tell you their prediction of the severity of the storm, it’s up to every homeowner to do the work and understand what the risks are with the home they are living in. Many of the problems that could potentially save your house can be fixed.

I encourage you to watch our documentary film The Last House Standing and see the stories of people who lost everything in a major disaster.  There is also some great information on our website that directs you to resources where you can learn about local hazards and things you can do to make your home safer.

We can get the greatest warning systems in the world, but all that does is tell us what’s coming. It doesn’t tell us what kind of damage it’s going to end up doing to our homes.