Hurricane Resources
- Know your zone: Do you live near the Gulf or Atlantic coasts? Find out if you live in a hurricane evacuation area by contacting your local government/emergency management office or by checking the evacuation website.
- Put together a basic emergency kit. Check emergency equipment, such as flashlights, generators, and storm shutters.
- Write or review your Family Emergency Plan: Before an emergency happens, sit down with your family or close friends and decide how you will get in contact with each other, where you will go, and what you will do in an emergency. Keep a copy of this plan in your emergency supplies kit or another safe place where you can access it in the event of a disaster. Start at the Ready.Gov emergency plan webpage.
- Review Your Insurance Policies: Review your insurance policies to ensure that you have adequate coverage for your home and personal property.
- Understand National Weather Service forecast products, especially the meaning of NWS watches and warnings.
- Preparation tips for your home from the Federal Alliance for Safe Homes.
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Secure your home: Cover all of your home's windows. Permanent storm shutters offer the best protection for windows. A second option is to board up windows with 5/8 inch exterior grade or marine plywood, built to fit, and ready to install. Buy supplies before the hurricane season rather than waiting for the pre-storm rush.
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Stayed tuned in: Check the websites of your local National Weather Service <office and localgovernment/emergency management
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Follow instructions issued by local officials. Leave immediately if ordered! If not ordered to evacuate:<
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Take refuge in a small interior room, closet, or hallway on the lowest level during the storm. Put as many walls between you and the outside as you can.
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Stay away from windows, skylights, and glass doors.
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If the eye of the storm passes over your area, there will be a short period of calm, but on the other side of the eye, the wind speed rapidly increases to hurricane-force winds coming from the opposite direction.
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CDC - Stay Safe After a Hurricane or Other Tropical Storm.
Ready.gov - Returning Home After a Hurricane.
Volunteer Florida - Statewide Volunteer Opportunities.
Florida Disaster Fund - The Florida Disaster Fund is the State of Florida’sofficial private fund established to assist Florida’s communities as they respond to and recover during times of emergency or disaster. In. partnership with the public sector, private sector, and other non-governmental organizations, the Florida Disaster Fund supports response and recovery activities.
● Red Cross - Post Hurricane Safety.
● One can contact the Red Cross Disaster Distress Helpline for free if you need to talk to someone at 1-800-985-5990 or text “TalkWithUs’ to 66746.
● Applications for Individual Federal Disaster Assistance.
● The Florida Department of Economic Opportunity has launched the Business Damage Assessment Survey. Completing the survey will help expedite aide to affected businesses.
● Tips to filing a homeowners' insurance claim:
● Make a home inventory. Use your smartphone to take photos or videos of your belongings, including furniture, appliances, clothes, jewelry, and art. Save your inventory in a location you can easily retrieve it, such as the cloud, or email a copy to yourself. Many insurers also offer specialized apps to help policyholders create their own home inventory.
● Gather copies of your insurance policies. Keep copies of your insurance policies (home, flood, and auto) in a safe, dry, and accessible location.
● Save your insurer’s contact information. Save your insurer’s toll-free claims number to your phone’s contacts so you can easily start the claims process if your home is damaged or destroyed in a storm.
For additional resources and statewide emergency information, please visit FloridaDisaster.org.
- Continue listening to a NOAA Weather Radio or the local news for the latest updates.
- If you evacuated, return home only when officials say it is safe.
- Once home, drive only if necessary and avoid flooded roads and washed-out bridges. If you must go out, watch for fallen objects in the road, downed electrical wires, and weakened walls, bridges, roads, and sidewalks that might collapse.
- Walk carefully around the outside of your home to check for loose power lines, gas leaks, and structural damage.
- Stay out of any building if you smell gas, if floodwaters remain around the building, and if the building or home was damaged by fire, or if the authorities have not declared it safe.
- Carbon monoxide poisoning is one of the leading causes of death after storms in areas dealing with power outages. Never use a portable generator inside your home or garage. Review generator safety.
- Use battery-powered flashlights. Do not use candles. Turn on your flashlight before entering a vacated building. The battery could produce a spark that could ignite leaking gas, if present.