10 Hacks to Help You Survive Hurricane Season

By Catherine Powell

Image courtesy pxhere

Even though it's only the second week in June and Hurricane Season has only just begun, we've already had our first named storm of the year.  Tropical Storm Arlene kicked off the season with more of a whimper than a bang as it spawned just north of Cuba in the Gulf of Mexico before moving east and turning into a tropical depression a couple of days later.  Still, there's a long way to go until November 1 when Hurricane Season officially ends.  In the meantime, the National Hurricane Center is predicting 15 named storms to make landfall this year.  To help you maximize your protection and minimize the damage that a tropical storm or hurricane can do to your property, I've come up with 10 hacks that can help you deal with Mother Nature when she turns ugly.

How to Protect Your Tech During a Hurricane

 By Catherine Powell

Image courtesy Pixabay

You wouldn't know that we're well into hurricane season by looking at the weather in the Atlantic.  This year's Atlantic hurricanes have been few and far between so far.  While that may make everyone who lives on the Atlantic and Gulf coasts breathe a sigh of relief, remember we're not out of the woods yet.  We still have a long way to go between now and November 30.  Since prime time for hurricane season starts in just a couple of weeks, I thought I'd take the time to give you a few tips on how to protect your tech.  Since we live in a wired world, most of us have lots of technology that is all too vulnerable to things like lightning strikes and power outages.  What can be especially problematic to both homeowners and business owners is if the power remains out for more than a day or so.  With that in mind, I've come up with ten ways you can bolster your connectivity and protect your expensive technology from the wrath of Mother Nature.

10 Ways to Prepare Your Home for a Flood

 By Catherine Powell

Image courtesy Pixabay

Most everyone in north Florida breathed a sigh of relief after Tropical Storm Elsa blew through town last week.  While there were some downed trees and powerlines, it wasn’t nearly as hair raising a storm as Hurricane Irma was a few years back.  While the high wind and torrential rain that comes along with a named storm leave many people quaking in their boots when the weatherman tells them one is headed their way, what most homeowners don’t realize is that when it comes to severe damage, there’s another peril that can be unleashed whenever severe weather rears its ugly head.  I’m talking about flooding.  We insurance agents know that when it comes to damage claims, flood damage trumps wind and rain damage by far.  To help you get prepared for the next named storm, I thought I’d give you ten was to prepare your property for a potential flood.

How to Avoid the Top-10 Hurricane Hazards

By Catherine Powell

If you’ve taken a look at weather.com lately, you’ll notice that not only is there a tropical depression forming off the East coast, but nine tropical storms have already formed in the Atlantic so far this year.  Since Hurricane Season doesn’t officially end until November 30, I thought it best that I gave my readers a few helpful hints on what they need to beware of should a named storm head their way.

Building a Hurricane Bug-out Bag

By Catherine Powell

Image courtesy flickr

Now that hurricane season is here it comes with the added peril of being ordered to evacuate your home as a named storm bears down on northeast Florida.  Having bugged out in the past when a hurricane loomed large, I’ve come to realize that while most Floridians know what to do when it comes to battening down the hatches at home, few understand what it takes when you are ordered to make a run for it.

Are You Ready for Hurricane Season?

By Catherine Powell

Image courtesy of Wikipedia

It’s that time of year again when the specter of tropical storms and hurricanes hangs over all our heads here in northeast Florida.  After a 10-year hiatus, the past two years has seen hurricanes Matthew and Irma do unprecedented damage locally.  This year the predictions are for the 2018 hurricane season to be as busy as last year with up to 16 named storms, 7 of which are predicted to become hurricanes.