Once the April showers pass and the May flowers bloom, it’s time to get ready for hurricane season. Hurricane season lasts 5 solid months; beginning in June and lasting until the end of November. Before the season is upon us, the time to prepare for hurricanes it is now.
Make a plan. Those who suffered the most during and after a hurricane were the least prepared. Develop a plan with your family that includes evacuation routes, lists of important phone numbers, what to do with family pets, and preparing emergency food and medical kits.
Protect your property against hurricane damage. Purchase hurricane shutters or boards for your windows. Plan for water to enter your home: move important or valuable items to an attic or the second level of a building.
Know how to recover after a hurricane. Even though they may feel eternal, storms eventually die-out. Know ahead of time what you are going to do to recover your home, business and personal items after the storm.
Act now to be hurricane-ready. Doing so will allow you to focus on keeping you and your family safe instead of having to push through grocery and hardware store crowds because you waited until the last minute.
“Turn around, don’t drown.” This is a sign many residents of Manatee County and Tampa Bay residents come upon if they are driving and the roads flood. Flooding of the roads is not an uncommon sight in Florida, especially during hurricane season.
Officials are warned residents this weekend about high water levels and poor drainage. These conditions could last through Tuesday.
Earlier in the month, Tampa Bay residents had already dealt with more than their share of rainfall and flooding.
A complaint was filed recently stating there were “unfair” and “deceptive” practices and claims were handled in “bad faith”. Since Hurricane Ike, 724 complaints have been made against the Texas Windstorm Association.
Customers that filed complaints are upset their claims were denied unfairly. Others filed complaints stating their claim was under-paid and a proper investigation of damages was lacking. One complaint, for example, is about how a claim was treated regarding loose shingles on a residential roof after Hurricane Ike. An engineer, hired by the state of Texas, inspected a customer’s roof and determined it needed to be replaced, stating (emphasis added): “It is my opinion that the shingles will not perform as designed under high winds and may fail causing moisture related damage to the interior portion of the residence. In my opinion, the roof should be replaced to prevent any future moisture related damage to the residence.”
However, when the claim’s representative sought guidance on the issue from a senior staff person, he was told the damage probably occurred before Hurricane Ike hit and there is no point to replace the roof when some tar could stick the shingles back on. Plus, if they replace this roof because of a few loose shingles, they would have to replace a lot more. The agent looking for guidance reports the shingles will not re-adhere.
Many of us have already heard of putting “ICE” in our cell phones, address books, PDA’s, etc. ICE stands for: In Case of Emergency. Next to “ICE”, one is to place the name and phone number of an emergency contact. This is useful for emergency service workers, doctors, civil servants, etc. should they need to call an emergency contact person and one is not able to communicate this information.
There is also a free tool that helps with this type of service; it’s the Next of Kin Registry(NOKR). NOKR’s website states:
“NOKR is the central depository for Emergency Contact information in the United States.
…NOKR provides the public a free proactive service to store your emergency contacts, next of kin and vital medical information that would be critical to emergency response agencies. Stored information is only accessible via a secure area that is only accessible by emergency public trust agencies that have registered with NOKR.”
NOKR has registration forms that can be filled and submitted via fax, US mail, or online. They also provide free decals for ID cards, driver’s licenses, passports, etc. that let others know your emergency contact information can be found with NOKR.
