Print

Email story

Comment

Email editor

Hurricane Guide 2006	Hurricane Preparation Guide 2006

If you can stay home

By Times Staff
Published April 16, 2006

If you can remain in your home - you are outside an evacuation area and do not live in manufactured housing - do so. Take these precautions:

-- Protect your windows with shutters or plywood.

-- Prepare clean containers for drinking water. Plan on 3 gallons per person per day for drinking and washing. Fill your bathtub and use the water for washing and flushing.

-- Plan to take care of yourself and your family without outside assistance for a minimum of seven days.

-- Don't plan to ride out the storm in a room with sliding glass doors. That can be the most dangerous place in the house. Instead, stay in an interior room such as a bathroom or walk-in closet. Stay away from windows, skylights and glass doors.

-- If you have double-entry doors, protect them as you would a window with shutters or plywood, or nail 2 by 4's across them on the inside on storm day to prevent them from blowing in.

-- Wait for official word that the danger is over. Don't be fooled when the storm's calm eye passes over.

-- If the power goes out, turn off the stove and appliances. That will avoid a fire hazard when the power comes back on.

-- Know where to shut off power and water.

-- Don't use candles or other open flames inside the house.

[Last modified April 13, 2006, 16:03:42]