5 Easy Ways To Prepare Your Home For Storm Season

Atlantic hurricane season falls between the months of June and November with winter storm season following closely behind from November to April… and while the weather can be pretty unpredictable for a majority of the year, being ready for any storm season doesn’t have to be a guessing game. For someone like me who lives close to the coast, I always make sure our home is prepped with a few key essentials for hurricane season. So, I’m sharing a few easy tips for how to prepare your home for storm season with you all today with the help of my friends at Energizer®!

How To Prepare Your Home For Storm Season

This post is sponsored by Energizer® and may include affiliate links. For my full disclosure policy, click here.

1. Trim Trees

One of the most common ways in which houses sustain damage in storms is from fallen trees & limbs. While there’s no way to predict which trees mother nature may want to knock off on her path, an easy way to prepare for high winds and heavy rains are to inspect the trees that are on your property and trim and limbs that are overgrown or look like they my break with high winds.

2. Clean Gutters & Check The Roof

Clogged gutters can be a huge headache during storm season. If you don’t remove leaves and debris from your gutters, rain water can backup and pour down the side of your house, or even make its way under your roof line. Sometimes the most simple way to avoid water damage is to take some time to make sure your gutters are clear.

3. Prepare an Emergency Kit

Emergency disaster kits can literally be a life saver if you happen to lose power during a storm. While the contents of this kit may differ depending on where you live or if you have access to a generator (which, we’ll tackle next), there are a few essential items that are highly recommended to keep in your kit according to the Red Cross and the FEMA (you can check out their disaster supply checklist here).

Here are some of the essential items we keep in our home to prepare for storm season:

• Battery Operated Flashlights & Headlights: One of the things I’ve found to help most during a storm has been to collect long-lasting, easy-to-use battery-operated lights. In fact, during Hurricane Sandy in 2010, our neighborhood lost power for over three weeks, and having long-lasting mobile lighting options was essential. One of the lighting products I was stoked I had on hand during our most recent storm-related power outage was my Energizer® Headlamp. I recently got a chance to try it out before adding it to our toolkit permanently and it’s honestly awesome. The battery is long-lasting, the light is super bright, and it’s totally reliable (so no worrying if it will work or not when the power goes out)! You can snag yours on Amazon for speedy delivery.

• Candles & Matches: Candles are a great way to save juice for battery powered items, especially if you are trying to light a room in your home.
• Battery Operated Radio: No power means no Wi-Fi… and for areas where service may not be the best to begin with, this can cause a major issue when trying to obtain information about what is going on. While I have a battery-operated job site radio that I love to keep on hand, there are a ton of awesome radio options online to invest in for a small emergency kit.

• Emergency Cash: No power means no access to ATMs or credit purchases when shopping local. So, we make sure to keep some cash on hand in case we need to purchase anything while the power is out. This seriously helped so much during Hurricane Sandy when our neighborhood was without power for over a week.
• First Aid Kit: A first aid kit can be a literal life saver during a storm. We keep a standard kit with band-aids, ointment, pain relievers, and gauze, but also make sure to create room for medications as well when prepping for a major storm.

• Medications: When we catch wind of a large storm headed our way, we make sure to set aside a few days worth of medications in an easy-to-reach are for family members who rely on them. This makes it easier to find what we need when we need it.
• Three-Day Supply of Food & Water: While we don’t necessarily keep water and food in our actual supply kit, we do make sure to dedicate the same shelf where our kit lives to some non-perishable food items and extra water bottles.
• Batteries: With all of those battery powered items in your kit, this one seems self explanatory. You can honestly never have enough!

4. Invest In A Generator

If you live in an area that is prone to storms, it may be worthwhile to invest in a generator for your home. The gas-powered generators we have in our family home have paid for themselves many times over during storm season (and during winter snow season as well).

While I can’t tell you which generator is best for your home, Popular Mechanics recently released their 2020 list of best generators and I highly recommend you check it out of you are interested!

5. Familiarize Yourself With An Evacuation Plan

In worst case scenarios, you may be asked to evacuate your home. During Hurricane Sandy, many areas surrounding us were asked to evacuate. It is so important to be familiar with local evacuation routes in case you are asked to leave your home. It also doesn’t hurt to have a family plan as well! Make a list of neighbors and loved ones who you can rely on if you need to leave  your home. Make sure to include their phone numbers and addresses as well in case you can’t access these details on your phone!

When it comes to getting ready for a storm, you can never be too prepared! Forecasts can change rapidly, so taking some time at the beginning of each season to prepare can make things so much easier in the future!

If you live in a storm-prone area, what do you do to get your home ready for hurricane season? Let me know in the comments below!

In the meantime, want to save this post for later? Make sure to Pin It!