Prepare Your Home for a Hurricane

Yesterday, where I live, we had an earthquake, centered in Virginia but felt all the way up and down the Eastern Seaboard. Tomorrow, this same area of the country will begin feeling the effects of Hurricane Irene as she makes her way up the East Coast.

The forecast says that my area will get damaging winds and rain starting on Saturday night. That's why I'm spending most of today preparing for the hurricane. This preparedness will be for both inside and outside of my home.

In case you're also in the path of Hurricane Irene or may feel some of her lingering effects in the coming days, here are 5 ways that you should prepare for a hurricane, too.

1. Create an emergency kit. I'm sure I'm not going to be the only one heading to the supermarket today to load up on bottled water, non-perishable foods, and batteries—three must-have items in any emergency kit.
2. Protect your perishable food. I'm going to fill reusable plastic containers with water and pop them in the freezer of our main refrigerator as well as our overflow fridge today. This way those containers will become de facto freezer packs, should we lose power. They will help my perishable and frozen food stay fresher longer if the refrigerator isn't working.
3. Prepare my landscape for the onslaught of wind and rain. Today and tomorrow will be great days for my husband and me to walk around our yard, searching for dead tree limbs and other loose debris that could come down or cause damage once the winds pick up. We will snip, cut, or secure any of the above if we feel it might become a problem during the storm.
4. Check downspouts and gutters. I'll probably have to borrow my neighbor's extension ladder to clean out my gutters, but that's another priority on our hurricane preparedness list. (Don't forget ladder safety when cleaning gutters.) Full gutters cannot work properly to direct water off of your house. Similarly, I'll make sure that all downspouts are clear and set up to flow water away from the base of my home so my basement doesn't flood.
5. Fill up my wallet, my car, and my bathtub. If the power goes out, then there will be no way to get cash out of an ATM or fill my car with gas. Similarly, the well pump may not work without power so a bathtub filled with water makes it easier to flush toilets.

At this point I think we've got our hurricane preparedness plan well enough in place to cover everything we need to do before Hurricane Irene gets here. Of course, if you think we've left anything out, please post a comment to share your advice.