June 1st was the official beginning of this year's hurricane season. So, it’s time to review your preparedness. Having a disaster plan and supply kit ready will go a long way toward helping you and your family remain safe during any serious incident, hurricane or otherwise.
"First, let's not get crazy about this,' says Cheryl Stimac, a
Tampa real estate expert. "Hurricanes have affected Florida, and Tampa Bay in particular, in any substantial way only very, very, very infrequently, but it is better to be prepared than caught unprepared should it ever happen."
Here are the steps you should take to assure that you and your family are ready for any serious storm or other incident that may occur whether you live in Tampa Bay, Florida or anywhere else.
# 1. Create a Family Disaster Plan and Get Ready
A family disaster plan is a checklist of things to do before and during a hurricane if you live in a vulnerable area. It includes important skills, items, and information that will help you survive the storm in good shape.
Learn about your home. How is your home most vulnerable to flood or wind damage ? Think of ways you can reduce each such risk.
Your standard homeowner’s insurance doesn’t usually cover flood damage, so check your current policy and consider a separate flood policy if you live in a vulnerable area. Even if you are not in a vulnerable area, ask your insurance company what actually is covered if water enters your home from a roof or broken window.
Take a Red Cross or other class on first aid, CPR, and disaster preparedness.
Decide upon the safest room or area in your home. That would normally be an interior room without windows and designate this as your safe room, where your family will go to and stay during a storm.
Choose a location outside but close to your home as a gathering place where all members of your family will meet if you are separated during the storm.
Map out an escape route from your home in case you have to evacuate. This should be a route to a primary emergency location and a secondary one as well. Friends or relatives that live outside your area are best as both primary and secondary locations.
Decide what to do with your pets if you have to evacuate. If possible, make sure your primary and secondary escape locations will allow your pet(s) to stay with you. Your family will do much better in an emergency location if they have their favorite pets with them for comfort.
Designate a friend or a relative who lives somewhere other than in Florida as a contact person, and plan for at least two ways to contact that person.
Make up a disaster supply kit stocked with all the items you may need during a hurricane. (See below).
If a hurricane watch is issued, check your disaster supply kit and make sure it’s well-stocked and in a location where you can get to it before or, even better, even after a storm.
Discuss all of the above with your family and make sure everyone knows what to do during a hurricane or other emergency.
# 2. Check your Disaster Supply Kit
"A disaster supply kit is something you must have while hoping you never have to use it," says Judie Berger, a
Siesta Key real estate agent who claims to have more than a little hurricane experience. She says, "The kit should contain all the critical items you'd need if a storm does enough damage to cut off your electricity or temporarily isolate you and your family from the outside world. That emergency kit may be all you can count on having available to you if the storm hits your area and you either didn't or couldn't evacuate."
It is important to make sure that everything you put into the kit stays there. Don’t be tempted to remove items from the kit and use them for everyday life when you run short of something. It's just too easy to forget to replace items you remove from the kit during non-emergency times
Your kit should include at least the following
•At least one gallon of water per person in your family per day, with enough for at least 4 days (more if you can).
•Enough food for 3 - 7 days in the form of canned, dehydrated, or other non-perishable food items. Don't forget implements including a can opener, plastic utensils and paper plates. If you want to be able to cook food, you’ll also need to include some form of grill or other cooking equipment and a supply of fuel.
•Pet care items for your pets, including food and extra water, a leash and muzzle for dogs, and a cage or carrier for any small pets.
•A good first-aid kit, toiletries, and personal care items. Add any prescription drugs you take regularly to the kit whenever you hear a hurricane watch has been issued.
•Blankets, pillows, and clothing (including cold and wet-weather clothing).
•Battery-operated flashlights and radio, and spare batteries. Remember that things like batteries will need to be replaced periodically to assure that the ones included will work when needed.
•Particularly if you have children, books, toys, and games to keep yourself and them occupied during the storm.
•Store copies of important documents, including insurance policies, social security & bank account numbers, wedding and birth certificates in a waterproof package.
•Tools (battery or hand-operated only), and where practical emergency repair items you may want to have to repair damage done to your home.
Once you’ve assembled the kit items, store them in water-tight bags or boxes in a secure location (preferably in your designated safe room).
Make sure your family knows what the kit is for, where it’s located, and not to remove anything from it under any circumstances without your knowledge.
# 3. When a Hurricane Watch is Issued
If a hurricane watch is issued, you’ll take slightly different actions depending on whether or not you need to evacuate. In either situation, your first priority will be grabbing your disaster supply kit and gathering your family together.
Notify your designated contact person about the hurricane watch and tell them how you'll attempt to contact them if the storm actually hits.
Fill your car’s tank with gas
Get and some cash (ATMs and gas pumps will not work if the electricity is off).
Prepare your pets according to your disaster plan.
Notify the primary and secondary emergency locations you plan to go to if you are evacuated that you may be coming. Make hotel reservations now, if that is appropriate in your case. You can almost always cancel such reservations as late as 6 PM on the night you're expected to arrive, if the storm doesn't strike.
# 4. If you are evacuated
If you are ordered to evacuate, be patient and do things in an orderly fashion, but its better to leave early rather than late when traffic congestion may make escape impossible.
Go to the primary destination you planned in your Disaster Plan. If that’s not possible go to the secondary location you specified in your Disaster Plan hopefully a second friend or relative further away from the affected storm area. If its affordable, your secondary location might be a hotel or motel. Disaster shelters set up by various rescue and recovery teams are usually fairly uncomfortable and many won’t allow pets.
The most importtant thing according to Brian Ward, a
Sarasota real estate agent, is to remain as calm as possible. That will make the process much less stressful on the members of your family.
