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USA Today: How to harden your home against natural disasters, from wind to water

10/03/2025

News • Floods | Hurricanes | Tornadoes

Among the many things you know you’re supposed to do – write a will, understand your taxes, finally master Monday mornings – hardening your home against natural disasters may be one of the more distasteful parts of adulting.

There's nothing fun about the worst-case scenarios like floods, fires, damaged property, injured or displaced family members. There's also the question of how much money you want to spend to prepare for something that might never happen – an especially easy trap to fall into if you've never lived through a natural disaster.

“People still have a confidence bias. They think, 'I see that happening in Hawaii or Colorado or Florida, but it’s not going to happen to me,'” said Leslie Chapman-Henderson, the president and CEO of the Federal Alliance for Safe Homes, or FLASH, a nonprofit consumer advocacy group focused on fortifying homes against disasters.

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