Experts say it’s time to prep your home for storm season

PANAMA CITY, Fla. (WJHG/WECP) -This week is Florida Severe Weather Awareness Week. The purpose is to make sure Floridians are ready and educated on how to stay safe this storm season. A vital way of doing so is by ensuring your home is ready for anything blown your way.

Severe weather ramps up in the spring for Northwest Florida and the Insurance Institute for Business and Home Safety wants to remind homeowners to get their homes storm-ready.

Severe thunderstorms can produce winds of more than 57 miles per hour, hail, and tornadoes. Storms of this caliber could lead to expensive damage to homes.

“It all starts with roofs. We have high winds whether it’s a tornado or just straight-line wind events you can see damage to your shingles,” said Ian Giammanco, lead research meteorologist for IBHS.

“Take a walk around your house take a look at those trees and those overhanging limbs and try to get those trimmed and taken care of. In a high-wind storm, whether it’s a tornado or just straight-line winds, those limbs don’t get blown down on your roofs. Also, take a look at your windows and doors and make sure they’re all sealed up nice and neat. So get a tube of that silicon calking from your big box stores or your neighborhood hardware store and just make sure you don’t see any gaps and cracks,” said Giammanco.

The experts at IBHS shared some other tips: make sure you have a storm plan, when there is a threat of severe weather shut all of your interior doors, and take pictures of your house and valuable items just in case there’s damage it’ll make filing your claim easier.

Copyright 2022 WJHG. All rights reserved.