If you own a home, business or both, in the keys, now is the time to consider your preparedness for Hurricane Season.
Review your insurance policies. Schedule an appointment with your insurance broker. Make sure you have adequate insurance for your home and/or business. Make sure you have both flood and windstorm insurance. Note: Your windstorm insurance may not cover damage to your home or business due to tidal surges and flooding.
If you have a boat, RV, camper, or Jet-Skis, make sure the trailers are in good condition and road worthy. Make sure the tags and registration are current and all tires, winches etc. are in good working order and ready to be towed at a moments notice.
Decide what to do with your cars The Highway is the highest point on the islands. If you can find a parking lot at a keys business off the main highway, ask the owners if you can park there for the duration of the storm.
If you live in a stilt house with a downstairs enclosure, now is the time to take inventory, purge, clean and organize it. Find a new upstairs home for expensive items like electronics.
If you have appliances plugged in downstairs like refrigerators and freezers, you’ll need to unplug them before you evacuate. Any items plugged into electrical outlets exposed to flooding or tidal surge are potential fire hazards.
Consume and deplete your frozen food stores. Power outages may compromise the safety and edibility of stored frozen foods. If you evacuate, consider the likelihood that power outages may have occurred during your absence. If the power is restored before you return home, tainted food may have re-freezed.
Know where important papers and keepsakes are located. Be prepared to gather them quickly. You’ll need your insurance policies, financial documents, check books, car and boat titles, birth certificates, passports, social security cards, priceless photos, heirlooms and jewelry if you are forced to evacuate suddenly.
Have a family/business hurricane plan. Provide family, friends and/or employees with a current hand-written list of contact phone numbers and email addresses.
Make sure you have functioning hurricane shutters.
If you don’t have hurricane resistant windows or shutters, purchase the plywood and hardware you’ll need to cover your windows and doors now. When a storm threatens, there will be a run on local lumber, hardware and home improvement stores. There are lots of on-line videos and resources you can refer to for information about creating home-made storm shutters.
At the first mention of an impending storm, fill your car with a full tank of gas. Panic will quickly lead to long lines at gas stations and fuel shortages.
Contact friends or relatives on the mainland and ask if you can stay with them until the storm passes. Hotels will fill up up fast and you may be forced to travel further and further north in search of a place to stay. Trust us: if you can stay close to home in Miami or Fort Lauderdale, that’s what you’ll want to do. As soon as the storm passes, you’ll be eager to get back to the keys to secure your property and assess damage.
