Hurricanes for 2006

[TooFarTampa]

Shelly, it is in the insurance company's best interest for all people to adequately protect their homes. I must tell you that our insurance claim after Ivan was excellent---paid in full and a check in hand before the charges came through on our charge card. And our agent handled everything beautifully. I know there are differing stories. But the key to working with insurance companies is to be thorough and straightforward at the time the claim is filed and to follow instructions.

Even if you are thorough and communicative and calm, it may not help. We had a claim from Ivan that was a nightmare to process. Thanks to Citizens, we had to wait FOUR months just to get an adjuster out to even LOOK at the house. Ultimately they paid everything but our deductable, but it was a really stressful situation. Apparently the original adjuster assigned to us just decided not to worry about our case, and Citizens couldn't do anything because the guy had taken off. When I tell you I called these people two or three times a week for four months, it is not an exaggeration.

The problem is that in major hurricane landfall areas, there are not enough qualified people working for the insurance companies. We got very unlucky in that regard.

 

[SGB]

Still trying to figure out the plywood thing. We have no storage at our Seacrest house (no garage), so whoever put up plywood for us would have to purchase it, cut it to fit and then hang it. I'd rather have it figured out beforehand and have someone store it for us just in case. Any ideas on that front?

If you don't have too many windows, you might want to consider getting accordian style hurricane shutters installed on your house. They are easy to close and lock and there is no storage required. We had these installed on our 3 story beach house a year ago and we're very glad we did. They can be expensive, but they paid for themselves after a couple of hurricanes. It was physically impossible for us to board up the top 2 stories of our house and had to hire someone to do it for Ivan. Expensive to put plywood boards up, expensive to get them down. Never again.

 

[Paula]

How much do they cost and where does one get them?

 

[SGB]

How much do they cost and where does one get them?

We used Charlie of Panhandle Hurricane Shutters. His cell is 850-596-7861. He lives in Seagrove and is very knowledgeable. Charlie's prices were better than the other shutter place we talked with. I've seen several new places advertise lately in the paper. We thought the shutters would be very ugly on the house, but you don't really notice them. If I find the invoice, I'll post the price of a standard window.

 

[DBOldford]

We had a quote from Charlie for the Plantation-style shutters for our house and it came to about $45,000.

 

[yippie]

No one has mentioned things like garbage cans, gas grilles and little trinkets on your porch.

I know through the hurricane season of 2005, the home next door to mine which is a rental, never had anyone take care of the "small" things.

I found myself going over and taking the things that could become propelling missles down and securing them. But my biggest delima was their garbage cans and gas grilles. What was I to do to protect my home?

I purchased extra bungee cords and tied all their gas grilles and garbage cans together after I moved them to the east side of their house to prevent them from "blowing" into my yard and pool. Then secured them to their porch railings on that side of the house.

Bungee cords can be so useful. And they can be used to secure outdoor furniture to trees, etc.

 

[iwishiwasthere]

A suggestion I saw from the tv was to put your important documents and photos on a flash drive. Then when you have to leave a place due to weather, they are with you. I thought it would be good for anyone to have since you never know whether fire or tornado will be a problem. The jump drive could be stored in a bank box or kept somewhere safe. May the predicitions be overstated and the gulf have a calm season.

 

[ecopal]

I am just glad that we live on 30A which has the highest elevation coastal property south of Maine including all the east coast and Gulf coast.

The Atlantic coast from New York south is all primarily low lands and extremely vulnerable to storm surge and tsunamis. In addition, most structures there have not been built to hurricane standards.

In comparison to south Florida not only do we have higher elevation here but a greater proportion of our structures are newer and thus built to the updated hurricane codes.

Also, we have somewhere to run to when a hurricane comes. The problem with living in south Florida is ?where do you go?? and? how do you get out through the grid lock?? if a ?big one? is coming.

Hooray we are on 30A!

 

[30A Skunkape]

Here are some tips from a Katrina refugee (displaced 5 months):

Prior to the storm:Stay calm. Radar and satellites give us plenty of time to do what we need to do. Fill the cars up with gas and fill a suitcase with clean clothes for at least four or five days. Make sure all your prescriptions are filled;if not, call your doctor's office and let them know you want three or more refills phoned in to the pharmacy. Keep a list of your meds in your wallet at ALL TIMES! (As a doctor in post Katrina NOLA I am telling you that "the little pink one for my pressure" is NOT good enough-physicians generally have NO CLUE what your pills look like)! Get plenty of pet food for your pets. I have a portable file for my important documents; they are therefore always at my side and I never forget to copy anything, pack anything, etc. Pay attention to what Max Mayfield is saying-he is the real deal and not prone to start rumors or predict doom like the local networks/Fox/CNN/MSNBC tend to do(unless he REALLY thinks you ought to move!). Charge your cell phones. If you do not have text messaging on your phone, get one that does. I remained in contact with people in NOLA via texts when voice capacity was weeks away from being normal. Let people know where you are going. One cool thing to do is to start a Yahoo or Google group and get as many people in your community or family to join-this is a GREAT way to stay up to date on what everyone is doing. Also-PLEASE HEED THIS ADVICE-EMPTY YOUR REFRIGERATOR! Anything in there will spoil, and I do mean everything. The resulting rot is unimaginable-flies, maggots, the awful oozing humor of decomposition-if you want to save your fridge-EMPTY IT!

During the Exodus-Stay calm, be patient and remember that everyone is in the same boat. In thick traffic courtesy is contagious! You ought to have brought a little ice chest with drinks and snacks as well as antacids, pepto, tylenol...whatever you might need.

After the storm-Give the people who stayed behind a chance to regroup. Everyone has a natural instinct to flock back home after the skies clear, but this is a mistake. Wait. Relax. Return only after the local authorities say it is OK. Even then, realize everybody will be jamming the roads trying to get in;cars overheat and gas lines are inevitable. Don't attempt to drive back in until you are certain you can pass on the roads and fill your car with gas once you get there. One thing I have come to learn-if all your stuff was demolished, the debris field will be waiting for you. You might as well wait until you know you can get a good look and then BE ABLE TO DRIVE AWAY and not be stuck with an empty gas tank. If you need to deal with FEMA or your insurance, get a small notebook and document, document and document further who told you what when and what the proper follow-up is.

I really do hope we have a quiet season this year :roll:

 

[Paula]

These are all such useful suggestions. Another piece of advice I heard was to have your prescriptions filled at places like Walgreens or CVS or other chains that would keep your prescriptions online so you can refill them anywhere you go.