9 Crucial Tips to Achieve Year-Round Hurricane Preparedness
Martin Luther, the German priest and scholar, once observed, “How soon ‘not now’ becomes ‘never.’” Indeed, we oftentimes procrastinate instead of performing tasks that we need to do. Our garden needs weeding. The car needs an oil change. We should have done our annual spring-cleaning a year ago. Regardless of what responsibilities we have to do, it is always best to tackle them, one at a time, TODAY. This will significantly get our lives in order, reduce the amount of stress in our lives, and create a sense of accomplishment.
Likewise, preparing for a hurricane should begin long before the National Weather Service warns an area of an approaching hurricane. However, before we get to what actions we should take before a hurricane hits, what exactly is a hurricane? A hurricane is a tropical cyclone, which contains winds over 74 miles (119 km) per hour. However, some hurricanes have winds that are up to 190 miles (289 kilometers) per hour! Hurricanes live for 1-30 days.
Due to a hurricane’s strength and the potential devastation that it can cause, it is thus important for you to prepare for such storms, as early as possible. Here are some helpful tips to prepare you for hurricanes:
YEARROUND HURRICANE TIPS
1. Maintain Hurricane Survival Packs throughout the year
When a hurricane approaches, you will not want to spend time creating a kit. In particular, make sure to include batteries for flashlights and other devices that require a power source. There is a chance that no electric power will be available during and after a hurricane. You could furthermore use the same survival kit for other types of emergencies, such as fires. Emergency kits should include:
bedding (or sleeping bags)
canned food (and can opener)
first-aid kit
infant items (i.e. formula, diapers)
medications
rainwear
three gallons of water for each person
2. Make a “take box”
This box contains everything that you in need in the case that a hurricane destroys all of your possessions. Some items that you should consider including in the take box include:
armed service separation certificates
birth certificates
car title
divorce certificates
house title
insurance policy copies
mortgage information
passports
purchase receipts (for large items)
wedding certificates
family album pictures (scan and burn onto CD/DVD)
The bottom line is that just as First Aid Kits prepare you for medical emergencies, a “take box” ensures that you have the most important things, when it seems that you have lost everything.
5. Handle home insurance matters
It is highly advisable NOT to wait until the hurricane season, to find or buy home insurance policies. As you might guess, it is quite challenging to find home insurance policies during the hurricane season. Thus, it is advisable to purchase, change, or update your policy, long before the hurricane season begins. Furthermore, remember that home insurance typically does not include flood coverage, so you will probably have to secure that separately.
3. Buy battery-operated or self-powered flashlights and radios
While battery-operated radios and flashlights are a good idea, self-powered versions are a great idea. The latter require no batteries and some of the latest models can even keep cellular phones charged.
4. Discuss and practice a hurricane disaster plan Practicing your hurricane disaster plan with all of your family members is just as important as having one. Practice the plan at least twice a year, and include all of the members of your household. In particular, your children should know what to do and who to contact after a hurricane strikes, as part of the Emergency Preparedness Plan.
Speaking of contacts, one of the keys to a hurricane disaster plan involves the case in which communication within the area is impossible. When that happens, it is vital that everyone in your immediate family contacts an out-of-town family member. He or she can then relay important information that will help the family members to reunite.
TIPS FOR THE START OF HURRICANE SEASON
5. Buy a generator
Make sure that the generator is huge enough to power a refrigerator, a few lighting fixtures, and fans. Keep in mind that if you want to power your air conditioner using a generator, the price tag will be sky-high. Also, use generator wattage calculators on the Internet, to select a generator with the appropriate wattage for your needs.
6. Buy an army of 5-gallon gasoline cans
After a hurricane hits an area, fuel is typically very difficult to secure. Thus, purchase several gasoline cans. You should add fuel stabilizer to the gasoline, to increase the life of the gas. Furthermore, you should use this blend to power your generator for about 10 minutes. That will help to prevent the fuel system in the generator, from solidifying while it remains in storage.
7. Check your Hurricane Survival Kits
Verify that the quantity and freshness of the items in your Survival Kits are sufficient. Verify that canned food has not expired. Use a battery tester to check the batteries. Inflate airbeds to check if you need to patch them up, or replace them.
8. Prepare your hot water heater as an emergency water source
Your hot water heater can provide you with about 50-75 gallons of clean drinking water after a hurricane has struck your area. Connect a garden hose to the water heater’s drain valve. Then extract water from the tank, to remove any sediment at the tank’s base. Following a storm, you must open all water faucets in your home and turn off the tank’s electrical breaker, before accessing the heater’s water.
9. Handle transportation issues
As hurricane season starts, make sure to ensure that your vehicle is ready to roll out. Perform routine maintenance on your vehicle. In particular, perform the following tasks as needed:
Change the oil or oil filter
Check how much coolant the car has
Verify that the vehicle has a spare tire
Charge the car battery
Car maintenance at the start of hurricane season can be just as important as securing Survival Kits.
Tags: Emergency Preparedness Plan | Emergency Preparedness Plan | Hurricane Survival Kits | Hurricane Survival Kits | Survival Packs | Survival Packs | First Aid Kits | First Aid Kits | Survival Kits