Southwest Florida has been fortunate in the first month of this 2016 hurricane season, but if a hurricane crops up next week, is your association prepared?
Here are a few suggestions for protecting yourselves and your association members this hurricane season:
- Keep residents up to date on local shelters – how to contact them, where they are located, and what they provide.
- Review the building’s zoning and evacuation requirements.
- Post evacuation routes in conspicuous locations throughout the property, such as stairwells and hallways.
- Make sure to provide support for disabled or special needs residents.
- Ensure all insurance policies are up to date.
- Have current video or photographs of the property for insurance related damage assessment purposes.
- Be sure that computer data is being backed up regularly and that the backup storage component won’t be damaged by the same event that might harm the computer.
- Keep landscaping sufficiently trimmed to minimize hazards from flying plant debris.
- Consider coordinating probable recovery scenarios with staff and board members.
By putting these nine tips into action, you can feel confident that your association is adequately prepared should the eye of the next big storm set its sights on Southwest Florida.
Photo courtesy of NASA Goddard Space Flight Center
under Flickr Creative Commons License