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City Life

How to best prepare for a hurricane? Skip town!

By SANDRA THOMPSON
Published August 27, 2005

The Hamlin Avenue Bed and Breakfast (sometimes lunch) is unable (or is unwilling) to accept or honor reservation requests from Florida residents for the balance of the hurricane season.

Thank you for your past patronage.

The Staff

My husband and I received this e-mail on the morning of July 9, when Hurricane Dennis was heaving into Florida and maybe into us.

It was a joke sent by our friend John, who doesn't really run a bed and breakfast. He was well out of the hurricane's path in suburban Chicago, but he had reason to be afraid, very afraid.

Last summer, my husband and I were guests at the gracious home of John and his wife, Diane, high school friends of mine. We were booked for a two-night stay when Hurricane Frances hit. Tampa International Airport closed down; our return flight was canceled. Flights got canceled and rebooked and canceled, two nights ran into three, then four.

Hmmmm. We haven't heard from John, Re: Katrina. When I read the hurricane preparedness list in this newspaper Thursday, I felt powerless. You should do the things on the list, you really should. And so should I, but they require talents I seem to lack.

Like,

Make your evacuation plans.

This is always first on any list. I've been in Florida for only 23 hurricane seasons, so I haven't got a handle on this one yet. A few years ago I wrote down the names of three hotels in my Roledex and filed it under "Hurricane? Hotels? Evacuation?"

Prepare window coverings.

We're supposed to buy plywood, cut it to size and drill holes in it.

Buying plywood - that part is easy. But how do I get sheets of plywood to my house? Do I rent a U-Haul? Or does Home Depot deliver?

Cutting it to size - how does that happen? I have a rule against buzz saws in my house. Drill holes? My husband probably has 10 drills out in the garage; there's not enough time left in the hurricane season to find even one.

Prepare to repair.

We are advised to have batteries for cordless tools (oh, really, like cordless phones?), tarps(!), nails, 2 by 4s and duct tape. Okay, we're covered on the duct tape. Except I think it's in the garage.

Get your grill ready.

It's probably illegal in Florida, but we do not own a grill.

Check your phones.

Land line phones? We got 'em! My husband buys phones at yard sales for a buck. There's tons of static, but they'll work in an emergency. And, yes, we do have car cell phone chargers, so at least we can reach people to tell them how clueless we were.

We're supposed to write down everything we own, the purchase date and price, then take photos of all of it. Let's see, that pitcher I bought at the little antique store in Brooksville or maybe someplace else, it was in an old gas station building, I think, that was how many years ago? Actually, I have taken photos of the rooms in our house, and I may even remember where I put them for safekeeping.

Review your insurance policies.

Conveniently, we just received our new homeowners insurance policy in the mail. It's 56 pages long. On Page 3, I gave up on reading for comprehension and skimmed the rest. Half of those pages appear to tell us what's covered and the other half tell us under what circumstances all the things that are covered aren't covered. Also, the title page says in giant bold type: THIS POLICY CONTAINS A SEPARATE DEDUCTIBLE FOR HURRICANE LOSSES, WHICH MAY RESULT IN HIGH OUT-OF-POCKET EXPENSES TO YOU.

So, basically, if a hurricane hits, we're toast.

They're predicting 10 or so more this year.

So I think the best preparation is to just pack up that insurance policy and those photos and fly to Chicago. John, we assume by your silence that you have rescinded your recent policy and your home is open to us again. We will plan to stay only until the end of hurricane season, Nov. 30.

And, really, you don't have to fold our laundry.

Sandra Thompson, a Tampa writer, can be reached at sandrathompson1@mac.com City Life appears on Saturdays.

[Last modified August 27, 2005, 01:13:13]