Preparing Your Home for Hurricanes | SERVPRO of Sanibel/Captiva/Ft. Myers Beach

5/14/2024 (Permalink)

SERVPRO of Sanibel/Captiva Island/Ft. Myers is here for you when disaster strikes.

Living in the Fort Myers community and surrounding area is a blessing in many ways, but we certainly have some more challenging weather to deal with than other parts of the country. We experience rain, wind and thunderstorms just like everyone else, but we also have to prepare for hurricane season.

Hurricane season starts in June and lasts through the end of November, and another destructive hurricane could make landfall this year.

Preparing for this possibility is crucial in not only your safety, but also in protecting your home from suffering as much damage as possible. Follow our tips below so you can start preparing for this possibility now.

Understanding Our Hurricane Risk

It seems like only yesterday when we emerged from under Hurricane Ian, and many of us are still rebuilding and recovering from that incredibly destructive storm. Since our area is prone to strong storms like this, it is vital that you listen to news outlets and stay current on the forecasts.

Thankfully, hurricanes often appear on radar weeks to days in advance, which gives us all more time to prepare and make action plans. Regardless if you plan to stay put or get out, you need to start making lists and gathering supplies, as well as preparing your home to withstand the rain and wind.

Preparing Your Home

Even though you cannot control Mother Nature, you can still try to hold her off for as long as possible. If you haven’t already, invest in hurricane shutters and strap down your roof with clips or straps to prevent severe weather. This is also the time to purge your yard of unnecessary clutter that could turn into a projectile in hurricane-force winds. Bring in garbage cans, lawn furniture, outdoor equipment and anything else that you can’t secure to the ground.

You also need to prepare your family for either staying put or evacuating. If you are choosing to leave, pack up everything you will need for an extended time away from home. We all know that hurricanes can make returning home really difficult, so plan for a few extra days away.

If you are choosing to stay home, pack up your emergency kit with nonperishable food, safe drinking water, medication, batteries and anything else your family needs to stay safe and comfortable. Move any valuables and important documents up to a higher level of your home and set up a camp to ride out the storm together.

The Recovery Process

Hurricanes are known to cause widespread devastation, usually in the form of wind damage and flooding issues. Standing water can be troublesome to your home as it not only degrades your walls, beams and floors but can also cause extensive mold issues if it is not cleaned up properly.

SERVPRO of Sanibel/Captiva/Ft. Myers Beach is here to help! Our team is trained in large-loss recovery and flood restoration, and we have firsthand knowledge of how to help people recover from hurricane damage. If we are in the eye of another hurricane again this year, remember that we are here when the storm passes.

Flood damage and storm damage can be extensive. SERVPRO of Sanibel/Captiva/Ft. Myers Beach can help.