When is the right time to get ready?
In Florida and other gulf coast states, many days in early spring offer us the nicest weather of the year -- sunshine and low humidity. It may also be the best time of year to get ready for hurricane season.
Too often the buzz around Hurricane Season doesn’t begin until May. Here is the information the National Weather Services has posted online for their awareness program: “Hurricane Prep Week 2021 will take place May 9-15. Be ready for hurricane season. Today you can determine your personal hurricane risk, find out if you live in a hurricane evacuation zone, and review/update insurance policies. You can also make a list of items to replenish hurricane emergency supplies and start thinking about how you will prepare your home for the coming hurricane season.”
Hurricane prep week is a great time to replenish emergency supplies and update your insurance policies, but if you live in a house that needs to be beefed up to survive a major storm it might be too late. And, if this is when you discover that you live in a hurricane evacuation zone, then you didn’t do your homework before moving in. That’s a risk you should be aware of before you buy or rent your home.
The slower times of the year are the best times to make improvements to your house, well before storm season arrives. If you wait until May, once again you’ll be doing things that might help you survive better after the storm. But this won’t protect what is likely your most valuable asset, your home.
As our experts point out in the documentary film The Last House Standing, being proactive is a lot less costly than being reactive. The victims in our film have a long road to recovery and this should provide motivation to do everything you can to avoid that happening to you. Get a trusted inspector to go over your home and show where you are vulnerable. The effects the Coronavirus has had on the supply chain makes addressing potential problems early even more important. Those new windows or doors you need might be on backorder. Make sure to thoroughly check out who is going to do the work for you, talk to friends and neighbors and check their references. Don’t just take the first bid. Proposals for repairs are sometimes thousands of dollars apart. “Low bid wins” sounds good but check out the bidder first. If there are things you can do to fix the problems, don’t put them off. When May comes around now you can stock up on supplies. Perhaps the most important thing you can do according to the experts in our film, is make sure you have the right type of insurance.
Every hurricane season we see all the destruction that takes place. While you can’t eliminate the risk, it should give you some peace of mind to know you’ve done things to improve your chances of surviving the next big storm.
We encourage everyone to watch our documentary film. The Last House Standing, and commit to doing something to increase your chances of surviving the next major weather disaster. But don’t wait until it’s too late!