Avian Flu Diary: Hurricane Preparedness Week: Day 5

https://www.weather.gov/wrn/hurricane-strengthen-home

If you plan to ride out the storm in your home, make sure it is in good repair and up to local hurricane building code specifications. Many retrofits are not as costly or time consuming as you may think. Have the proper plywood, steel or aluminum panels to board up the windows and doors. Remember, the garage door is the most vulnerable part of the home, so it must be able to withstand the winds.

FLASH: How-To Videos
Protect Your Home From Flooding Video (English/Spanish)

Credit NOAA

#15,959

As we enter the home stretch of NOAA's National Hurricane Preparedness Week, day 5 is all about protecting your house or property from a hurricane's wrath.

Hurricane Andrew 1992

While there are some situations - like inundation by a storm surge or being hit by tornadic or CAT 5 winds (see photo above) - where these steps may not help much, most homeowners won't see the worst conditions, and some preparedness can prevent a lot of damage.

Up until the 1970s, it was common advice for homeowners to tape plate glass windows to keep them from shattering, but that advice was discredited, and has not been part of hurricane prep advice for 30 years.

Not only does taping windows provide a false sense of security, it can bind shards of flying glass into larger, and more dangerous, projectiles. Still, the myth hangs on, and you'll often see people busily taping windows in advance of a storm.

A video that I’ve highlighted in the past, from the Pinellas County Office of Emergency Management demonstrates just how useless masking, or duct taping your your windows really is during a storm (be patient, it can take a minute to load).

Tape Strikes Out

When it comes to taping windows. Just say `no'.

NOAA, in conjunction with FLASH (Federal Alliance for Safe Homes) have put together advice and a number of short videos on how to prepare your home for an approaching hurricane, dividing projects up into 1 hour, 1 day, and a weekend project.

You'll also find a much larger list of videos on the FLASH YouTube channel, covering hurricanes, tornadoes, earthquakes, and other hazards.

Remember, you don't have to live on or near the Gulf or Atlantic coastline to be impacted by a hurricane, and tornadoes, earthquakes, and floods can happen anywhere.

And insured or not, it is a lot easier to prevent damage (if you can), rather than having to repair it amid the chaos after the storm.