10 Things To prepare your home for the 2016 Hurricane Season

While living in the sunshine state has many advantages, we do have to contend with mother nature and the challenges she sometimes brings.  We have just entered the start of hurricane season, which officially runs from June 1st to November 30th.  During this time, our states on the eastern seaboard have an elevated chance of being affected by a Hurricane or Tropical Storm due to warmer waters and other weather conditions.  While this timeframe is officially the Hurricane season, there is still a chance that a Hurricane or Tropical Depression can form outside of this timeframe.

For Florida, the El Nino effect helped reduce Hurricane activity over the past few years, due to the fact that El Nino creates additional wind shear over the Atlantic, which in turn helps reduce tropical storm formation.  Unfortunately, it looks like El Nino conditions are weakening this year, and will turn to more La Nina like conditions, which include warmer waters and less wind shear –  recipes for increased Tropical storm conditions.  With the transition to La Nina, and the fact that Florida has not had a Hurricane make landfall in quite some time, experts believe we may have increased Hurricane activity this 2016 season.  While there is nothing can do to prevent a Hurricane in your area, there are things you can do to be prepared!  Below we have a list of things you can do to help prepare yourself this 2016 Hurricane season.

1. Check your Insurance:  Double check your policy to make sure you’re covered and up to date.  Keep a copy of your policy with phone numbers and account numbers in a separate file, that way if the power is out and you lose access to your cloud storage, you’ll still have access to your information.
2. Create a box or folder of all your important documents.  In the event you need to evacuate quickly, you will want to make sure you have all of your very important documents easily accessible to take with you.
3. Trim bushes and cut down hazardous trees that might be in danger of falling over during a major storm.
4. If you have hurricane shutters, learn how to put them on your house or hire somebody that you can work with in helping you prepare this is the event of a Hurricane.
5. Clean your yard of debris that might fly away in the chance of a high wind storm to help prevent with things falling on a car or a neighbor’s property.
6. Inspect your roof and gutters to make sure it’s cleared of leaves and debris.  Leaves can tend to build up in certain areas and can hold water leading to future leaks.
7. Make sure you have a reserve supply of drinking water and canned foods in the event you lose power for a prolonged period of time.  Also having extra gas is especially beneficial in the event of an evacuation.
8. In the event of a power outage, having a hand crank radio or battery powered radio is a great tool to ensure you stay up to date with how the storm is progressing, and to be notified if your area is undergoing an evacuation.
9. Educate yourself on your evacuation route and utilize any resources your local government may provide.  For residents in Tampa, you can find information about what to do in a hurricane at the City of Tampa website.
10. Traveling to another country during Hurricane season?  If so, you will want to check out this informative page from the State Department on what you should do if you were to experience a Hurricane while visiting another country. 

For additional information on how to prepare for Hurricane season, the National hurricane center has more info at their website.