Severe Weather Awareness Tip 3: Reduce Your Damage - Mitigate

These past couple of days we have talked about preparing your family, determining where you and your family will take shelter, and how you and your family will get warning information when a storm is approaching. Today we will talk about a few steps you can take to mitigate or reduce the damage to your property should severe weather hit.

Mitigating Wind Damage

• Bring Outdoor Items In – by bringing furniture, outdoor equipment, trash cans, toys, potted plants, etc.. in when strong weather threatens can keep these objects from becoming flying debris and damaging your home or vehicles when high winds hit.

• Secure Your Garage Door – Your home is one big sealed building envelope. Once the wind enters, it’s got to find a way out, causing damage to your home. Garage doors are often the first things to fail when strong winds hit due to the long span of opening they cover and the weak materials they are build with. Replace or reinforce your garage door with a more resistant material, ideally with steel bracing.

• Live in a Manufactured Home? - People in manufactured homes are vulnerable to high winds because winds flow under the home, often causing the home to overturn. Install a longitudinal tie-down system at the front and rear of your home. Check for loose straps, proper number of tie-downs, and more importantly proper installation. When severe thunderstorms threaten, be prepared to go to a nearby pre-identified safe structure.

• Choose the Right Trees – not all trees are right for the soil in our region. Strong winds can topple shallow rooted trees in soft soil. Also trim off dead branches or limbs because when it gets windy, these will be the first to come down.

Mitigating Actions Against Lightning

• Install Surge Protection – electrical surges due to a lightning strike can destroy electronic devices in your home. Install surge protection devices or even consider a whole house surge device.

Mitigating Actions Against Hail Damage

• Impact Resistant Roofing – Minimize hail damage by installing impact resistant roofing (Class 3 or 4 rating)