The 2017 Hurricane Season is Here – What You Should Know
Hurricane season in Florida has arrived. The season takes place between June 1 and November 30th for those states that border the Atlantic.
Florida and our neighboring Southeastern states are affected by hurricanes which are ranked according to Category one through five.
With Category One, sustained winds are 74 to 95 miles per hour; Category Two, 96 to110 mph; Category Three, 111 to 129 mph; Category Four, 130 to 156 mph; and Category Five, winds of 157 miles per hour and higher.
There are a few things you can do to be prepared. First, make sure your insurance policy has not lapsed.
Take pictures of the condition of your property before the hurricane. After the hurricane take another series of pictures of the same items and same places, preferably from the same angles. You will also want to have a written inventory of your valuables.
Even if you don’t require flood insurance, it may be a good idea to purchase especially when the debate ensues whether your damage came from wind or floods. Big insurance companies will try to avoid paying blaming some other cause of your damage. To bypass any questions about your coverage, you may want to obtain flood insurance.
In your own home you will want to have water, at least a gallon per person set aside for a couple of days.
Surging flood waters can carry disease, contamination and the risk of an electric shock from downed power lines or an active storm. Please stay inside if you have that option, and out of flood waters.
If you rely on a generator during or after a storm make sure they are properly vented so you do not become a victim of carbon monoxide poisoning.
Even running a generator in a garage can cause poisoning which you may not realize. Often victims simply go to sleep and never wake up.
Hurricane Matthew last year killed over one-thousand people and still has residents in our area cleaning up and repairing from the damage.
The World Meteorological Organization names hurricanes and alternates between men and women’s names. Hurricanes used to be named only after females because they were considered unpredictable.
Men’s names were added in 1980.
