Your life can change in the blink of an eye.
Downed, falling, and damaged trees account for most major wind-related house damage in hurricanes. More than 30 years ago, Hurricane Andrew toppled 38% of the trees in its path. Hurricane Charley knocked down 10,000 trees in Central Florida in 2004, and Hurricane Katrina’s 120 mph-plus wind speeds took down approximately 20% of urban trees in 2005. In October 2018, Hurricane Michael devastated 26 square miles of the tree canopy, an area equal to the size of Pensacola, Florida, plus four additional square miles. The Hurricane Michael tree losses introduced a multi-year wildfire threat as the downed trees decayed across the affected forests.
Tree damage is a dangerous problem in tornadoes as well. Beyond wind intensity; factors influencing tree damage include:
While you cannot build a home strong enough to withstand the weight and impact of a large tree, you can plan and maintain your landscape to reduce the risk of trees falling on your home. Certain species are more vulnerable to wind damage, such as southern pine, pecan, red oak, and water oak. Species with shorter life spans are more susceptible to storm damage as well.
Consider three factors when evaluating your yard: species, tree health, and location. Place trees far enough from your home that they could fall without causing damage. Maintain the space between your home and any nearby tree to ensure it exceeds the fully grown tree height.
In addition to trees, you should evaluate your hardscape and other elements that might cause damage in high winds. Secure or remove barbeque grills, fences, flag poles, garden decorations, lawn furniture, outdoor lights, and swing sets. Anchor building components, such as gutters, downspouts, and exterior air conditioning or pool equipment.
Check your yard for weakened trees that could fall or lose limbs during high winds. Look for:
Call and text or email a picture to your local home improvement garden center, nursery, or government extension office if you have questions about your trees.
Some tree species are more prone to storm damage. A tree more likely to survive storms is compact, with a low center of gravity; a strong, sturdy trunk; and a deep, symmetrical root system. City foresters, government extension offices, home improvement garden centers, nurseries, and landscape firms can advise on smart tree selection for your area and soil conditions.
Rock and gravel landscaping swiftly become projectiles in high-wind events. Consider replacing these landscaping materials with fire-treated mulch to reduce the risk of damage when severe weather begins.
Electrical strikes and lightning surges can damage and destroy appliances, electronic devices, and cause devastating house fires. Reduce or prevent lightning damage by installing a professional lightning protection system, whole house surge protection, or a series of point-of-use appliance and electronics protective devices.
No lightning protection device or system can guarantee 100% damage prevention from a direct lightning strike or lightning that enters through unprotected telephone, cable, or power lines to the house. However, you can avoid dangerous and expensive damage to your home.
The most comprehensive home lightning protection system is a lightning protection system. Lightning protection systems installed on your home provide a direct path for lightning to follow to the ground while bypassing your house structure, wiring, telephone, and cable lines. The system includes: strike termination devices, conductors, ground terminals, interconnecting bonding, and surge protection devices to prevent harmful electrical surges.
If you have trees taller than 10 feet, you may need to install lightning protection on those as well.
If you cannot afford a professionally-installed lightning protection system, consider a whole house surge protection system, multiple point-of-use protection devices for your cable system, computer, phone, televisions, and other electronic appliances. A whole-house surge protection system can be installed on the electric meter or the electrical panel to help protect the appliances and electronic equipment in your home, such as computers, TVs, and DVD players.
The Lightning Protection Institute has information about lightning protection in homes, including details on a Lightning Protection System.
According to the Insurance Information Institute, flooding is the most common and costly natural disaster in the United States, causing billions in economic losses each year. The National Flood Insurance Program states that 90 percent of all United States natural disasters involve flooding, making it essential to do all you can to prevent damage. Your yard and landscape are the best places to start.
Where it rains, it can flood. However, you can design your yard to help prevent damage by directing water away from your home and foundation with berms and culverts, planting suitable species to absorb water, and using landscape materials that allow water to flow through to the ground.
Maintaining energy efficiency in your home is always important but especially during extreme heat. Ensuring your home can maintain cooler temperatures inside is crucial to remaining safe during hot summer weather.
Because most gas and water lines are rigid, they can be torn from their connection points during an earthquake. Damaged gas and water lines can injure you and others and damage your property. A broken gas line is especially serious because of its potential to start a fire or cause an explosion.
Equipment such as heating, air conditioning, satellite dishes, or solar collectors mounted on the roof of a home or other elevated areas pose a risk during an earthquake due to their weight and mass. Preventing these elements from breaking loose can avoid damage and injury, and also help with recovery after an earthquake as these systems can remain operational. Additionally, anchoring these items makes them more resistant to high winds.
High wind events like hurricanes and tornadoes as well as fast-moving floodwaters or tsunamis can move or dislodge fuel tanks causing a threat to you, your family, and others. Take action today to keep your fuel tank in place.
Earthquakes may move fuel tanks. When a fuel tank falls, fire or an explosion is possible. Even when a tank remains on its legs, the shaking of an earthquake can break the supply line connection and escaping gas can cause a fire. Similar risks exist with smaller, compressed gas cylinders, which are often stored inside a house or garage.
Anchor your fuel tank to avoid serious threats to you, others, your property, public safety, and the environment.
The contents of your home can be as dangerous as the structure itself during an earthquake, or even more prone to cause you or your family injury. This is especially true of items that hang on the walls such as artwork or other interior decorations.
During an earthquake the following household items can become dangerous:
The contents of your home can be as dangerous as the structure itself during an earthquake, and may be even more prone to cause harm to you or your family. Any unsecured objects that can move, break, or fall as an earthquake shakes your home are potential safety hazards and property losses. During an earthquake, large pieces of furniture can fall on you or others and block exits which could prevent you from escaping. Anchoring furniture so that it remains in place can prevent injuries and protect your home and its contents.
During an earthquake the following household items can become dangerous:
In a high-wind event such as a hurricane or tornado, keeping the roof on your home is a top priority as is protecting it from wind-borne debris and hail. A resilient roof system will provide wind-resistance and impact-resistance when it counts the most.
The roof is the primary structural element of the house, transferring the loads that act on the walls facing the wind into the walls that are parallel to the wind. The roof structure includes framing and roof sheathing, which is covered by a roof covering that serves as a barrier to weather and keeps water from entering the structure.
Roof framing can be composed of either rafters cut from dimensional lumber, often called “conventional framing,” or engineered trusses. Either can provide a strong and secure means of framing a roof. Proper design and installation of roof framing is critical, including the connections of any roof elements by a mechanical means such as metal connectors.
The main structural components of the roof assembly include:
The connections between the roof and walls are crucial, including:
Ensure the same strong roof design and connections are made throughout the house, including other areas such as porches, lanais, carports, and breezeways.
When windows break and allow wind to enter your home, the pressure can build until it eventually causes the weakest part of your home to rupture. Think of it like blowing up a balloon. Once the internal pressure reaches a certain level, it pops. Often, the first thing to “pop” in your home is your roof, so that is why it is critical to protect all your home’s openings with hurricane shutters, panels, or plywood.
When you protect your openings, they can resist impacts from windborne debris like flying missiles, tree limbs, or roofing materials that can break windows and breach doors and allow pressurization to occur. Protecting your openings and keeping them intact can also prevent wind-driven rain and moisture from entering your home.
Tested and approved, permanently mounted hurricane shutters, as well as temporary panels made from metal or other materials, can all serve as adequate protection for home’s openings. If you do not have a shutter system for your home and a hurricane threat is imminent, you can use emergency panels made with ⅝ inch thick plywood.
Begin by identifying all the openings on your home and evaluate any that are already wind- or impact-rated. Review shutter and opening protection options, and remember that you can mix and match different options so long as whatever you select is tested, approved, and certified to the relevant standards. For example, you may want to choose permanently mounted, motor-operated protection for the second story or hard to reach windows to avoid using ladders as a hurricane approaches.
Temporary, emergency plywood panels do not carry any testing or approval. However, you should still learn and plan for how to use them correctly if they are your only option.
FLASH recommends that you install certified, tested, and code-approved, wind- and impact-resistant opening protection to achieve the highest level of protection from windborne debris. However, in an emergency where a temporary measure is the only option, properly cut and mounted ⅝” plywood can provide adequate protection for exposed openings.
Consider hiring a contractor or handyman to create the temporary plywood covers, and do so before hurricanes threaten. If you plan, your local home improvement store may also be willing to cut each panel to fit and help you pre-drill the holes.
Having someone help you with this project will make things a lot easier. Form a team with neighbors and work together to make the project more manageable.
When wind forces enter your home, the pressure can build up until it eventually causes the weakest part of your home to rupture. Think of it like blowing up a balloon. Once the internal pressure reaches a certain level, it pops. That is why it is essential to protect all your home’s openings (windows, entry doors, garage doors, skylights, sliding doors, gable end vents, etc.) to keep the wind and pressure out.
When you protect your openings, they can resist impacts from hail or windborne debris like flying missiles, tree limbs, or roofing material that break windows and breach doors and allow pressurization to occur. Protecting your openings and keeping them intact can prevent wind-driven rain and moisture from entering your home as well.
One of the most effective opening protection options is to install impact-resistant windows.
Pipes can freeze in winter’s low temperatures. This freezing can cause major damage to your home if a pipe ruptures and leaks once it thaws.
For as little as $1 per 6’ of insulation, you can stop pipes from freezing during winter, even when the power goes out.
Here are more ways to protect your home:
Attachments to your home, such as decks, porches, fences or sheds, can act as fuses or fuel bridges for a wildfire, particularly if constructed from flammable materials.
Exterior window fire-rated shutters can protect windows and sliding glass doors in a wildfire. Reduce your home’s risk of fire by keeping the windows from breaking and preventing burning embers and firebrands from entering your home.
The garage door is usually the largest opening in your home. Protecting that opening is crucial to preventing a wildfire from breaching the building envelope and spreading to the interior.
In a wildfire, exterior doors experience the same types of exposure as exterior walls. However, exterior doors are usually much thinner and less fire-resistant than exterior walls and can burn much faster. It’s critical that the exterior doors remain intact to prevent a fire from entering your home. Consider purchasing and installing exterior doors made from fire-rated materials to better protect your home from the dangers of a wildfire.
Windblown embers from a wildfire can travel up to two miles. They can enter through your fireplace chimney flue, land on ignitable surfaces, and start a structure fire inside your home. If you have a fireplace, you could cause a wildfire in your neighborhood if embers fly from your chimney and collect on vegetation or ignitable surfaces like wood decks or roofs. The good news is that you can help prevent embers from entering or escaping your chimney by installing a simple, affordable fix.
Installing a welded wire, or woven wire mesh spark arrestor with openings less than 1/4 inch wide will prevent embers from entering or leaving your chimney.
Verify that you have working spark arrestors in all chimneys and stovepipes in your home. Have a professional inspection and cleaning at least once per year and twice per year if you reside in a high wildfire risk area.
Utilities that penetrate your home can be a threat in a wildfire, and exterior equipment (ex: solar panels and receiver dishes) can be damaged by the high temperatures from a wildfire.