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Before The Storm
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Published: June 6, 2007
Getting Ready | Flood Insurance | Mobile Home Anchors | Water Protection | What Not To Do
Getting Ready
- Turn your refrigerator and freezer to the coldest settings before the storm.
- Fill your vehicles with gasoline because gas stations may not have electricity for the pumps.
- Have cash because ATMs and credit card machines won't work without power.
- Do the laundry and run the dishwasher.
- Charge your cell phone and have a cell phone charger that runs off the car's cigarette lighter.
- Fill bathtubs with water.
- Generator FAQs
- Tips On Boarding Up
Flood Insurance
- Homeowners insurance does not cover flood damage. And there is no such thing as a "hurricane policy."
- There's a 30-day waiting period. So, if you don't have flood insurance now, sign up for it immediately because if there is a flood, a moratorium goes into effect until the waters recede.
- Even homeowners in low-risk areas with no history of flooding have policies available to them.
- Apartment dwellers, especially those who live on the first floor, and businesses also need to consider flood insurance. Renters insurance may not cover this type of damage.
Mobile Home Anchors
- A mobile home's main defenses against the wind are proper tie-downs or anchors.
- Steel anchors should go 4 or 5 feet into the ground and be braced by steel plates. The type of soil determines how deep the anchors are set.
- Some states have requirements for the number and location of anchors for single and double-wide mobile homes; check your state's building codes for more information.
- Straps tightened with bolts hold the mobile home to the anchors. They run under double-wide mobile homes and over single-wide homes. They will not prevent wind from damaging the walls or roof.
Water Protection
- Sandbags can help prevent water from seeping under doorways.
- Place the plastic against the door and on the ground in front of the door. Extend the plastic beyond the edges of the doorway. You can use duct tape to help keep it attached to the door and wall.
- Pile sandbags against the door and over the plastic on the ground, extending the bags slightly beyond both sides of the doorway. Put the next row of bags on top with the center of the bags over the gap in the first row similar to the way bricks overlap. Place the third row in line with the bottom row. This will give you some protection for about a foot of water.
What Not To Do
- Don't tape windows. Tape does almost no good - and it's a mess to remove.
- Don't open a window away from the wind direction. Any opening can allow wind inside the home, and the wind can shift.
- Don't empty an in-ground pool. The water table can rise from the rain and force the pool up, perhaps out of the ground.
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