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Hurricanes: Plan for the worst, hope for the best
Editor's Notes
By Bob Bouyea
I am going to give you the understatement of the year. Are you ready? It has been an active hurricane season already this year.
We have had five named storms, two of which become major hurricanes, since June. Hurricane Dennis hit the area of Pensacola, Fla., and Emily was moving toward the Texas/Mexico border at the time I write this.
After last year, I have become a hurricane watcher. I check the radar from the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration. I check the three-day and five-day projected paths, and I check the probabilities of landfall.
What spurred this was not morbid curiosity; it was experience. When I lived in West Palm Beach, Fla., last year, the area suffered hits from hurricanes Frances and Jeanne.
But until last year, we were virtually spared from the wrath of a major storm, and Andrew, a Category 5 hurricane that hit south of Miami in 1992, was a distant memory for most.
It was easy to become lax with preparation because hurricanes didn’t hit us; they move to the north and hit the Carolinas, right? Well, that was the thinking, anyway.
Each year, our preparation waned. We did not keep enough water or batteries on hand. We did not keep enough nonperishable food and propane for the grill to get through the days or weeks of no power. Not to mention the lack of a plan for protecting the house, such as making sure we had plywood to protect our window.
Then the news came that Frances was bearing down on us.
Conversations went something like this:
“Do you think it will hit us?”
“I don’t know; they tend to turn to the north, you know.”
“Are you going to board up?”
“It’s such a hassle. I think I’m just going to wait.”
With a high-pressure system sitting over Bermuda, the storms did not turn. Frances continued to churn in the Atlantic. It slowed down, traveling at around 8 mph, and grew to a Category 4 hurricane with 130+ mph winds.
The question then became “Are you leaving?” But that question usually comes too late.
The worst place to get stuck during a hurricane is in your car. Since we did not live in a mandatory evacuation zone, we decided to stay. Most homes in Florida are built from concrete block, and if there is any breach, it is through broken windows and/or through roofs.
As the storm approached, my friends gathered, and we helped each other board up. We scavenged for plywood to make sure we had enough. Finally, we were ready, and each of us hunkered down in our homes and waited. Frances did not disappoint.
While the hurricane weakened as it came ashore to only around 100 mph, its movement slowed to 2 mph. It battered us for roughly 12 hours. We were lucky. We lost only a handful of shingles. Other neighbors were not as lucky. Many homes had to be gutted because of water damage.
About four weeks later, Jeanne, a Category 3 hurricane, started for us. The question wasn’t “Are you going to board up?” Rather, it was “When are you going to board up?”
Frances got everyone’s attention. People started preparing earlier for Jeanne. While it moved more quickly, it still did plenty of damage.
The four hurricanes that hit Florida last year (the other two being Charley and Ivan) caused $22.9 billion in damages to residential and business properties, according to Affiliated FM, a commercial property insurance company located in Johnston, R.I.
Affiliated FM offers the following tips to help your business weather a hurricane:
Before a storm
• Form an emergency response team and arrange backup communications. If you have employees onsite during the storm, provide two-way radio communications with employees offsite.
• Shut down operations that depend on outside power sources
• Prepare for storm-related leakage and flooding by protecting computers and machinery with tarps and stocking sandbags, squeegees and absorbents.
• Shut off gas and possible flame sources, and remove flammable liquids from critical areas to prevent fire.
• Turn off all electrical switches to prevent a surge upon reactivation.
• Monitor weather conditions so onsite ERT members can retreat to a designated safe area during the height of the storm.
After the storm
• Survey for safety hazards, such as live wires, leaking gas, flammable liquids and damage to foundations
• Begin salvaging efforts in and around the facility as soon as possible to prevent further damage.
• Visually check the integrity of large current circuit boards before restarting main electrical systems.
These are a few things you will need to do to prepare for the storm and for a return to work. But the key is to prepare your building and your employees for the possibility of a direct hit.
As the old adage goes: “Prepare for the worst, and hope for the best.”
Bob Bouyea is the executive editor of the Business Journal. E-mail him at bbouyea@crbj.com.
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