Hurricane Tips for Homeowners
You’re thinking about buying a home in Myrtle Beach, but you’re worried about hurricanes. We’ve spoken before about home features you should consider for hurricanes such as: impact windows, hurricane resistant shingles and ICF construction. Once you make your move to a coastal area, you need to be prepared in the worst-case scenario that a hurricane hits.
Here are some tips for homeowners in a hurricane prone area:
- Make sure you are insured properly. Low premiums may be attractive, but in a disaster, you want to have reasonable coverage if you need replacement. Also, make sure you have flood insurance – standard homeowner’s insurance does not cover flood water
- Have an emergency kit including batteries, water, non-refrigerated food, radio and flashlights/candles
- Consider getting a generator – in bad storms you may find power outages lasting weeks
- Have hazardous trees reviewed by a professional. Falling branches and dead trees can cause serious damage to your home in a storm
- Get a home inspection and take pictures. This ideally would be in two parts:
- Prior-to-a storm inspection: Be sure to take pictures of your property to show your home’s condition prior to a storm in case you need to make a claim
- After-storm inspection: Have a professional check out your home afterwards. Some storms create damage that may not be obvious from ground level (for example, shingle damage).
- Know your storm evacuation zone, evacuation route and storm shelter locations. Don’t wait until it’s too late to know how to get out of town. There are valuable web resources for this such as www.horrycountysc.gov.
- Raise valuable items well above ground level. Flood waters cause some of the most expensive damage during a hurricane
- For a final point, be safe always. It’s tempting to try to “ride out” a storm at home, but anyone who has been through a high-wind storm knows how scary it is. Take care of yourself, your family and your pets. Be safe!
For more, contact us!
