If severe weather―including tornadoes, hail, or high winds―has been forecast for your area, follow these last-minute steps to help reduce damage to your home.
1. Close your garage door and all interior doors
Cost: $0
Time: 10 minutes
Give your roof a fighting chance.
In addition to closing exterior doors and windows, closing your garage door all the way and closing all interior doors can give your roof a fighting chance in high winds. If a window is broken by flying debris or a door has blown open, your house will rapidly fill with air. This will cause a dangerous increase in the forces pushing on your roof―imagine a balloon inflating inside your house.
Rigorous scientific wind testing on a full-scale 1,400-square-foot single-story home at the IBHS Research Center reveals that closing interior doors helps compartmentalize the pressure inside a home into smaller areas, reducing the force on the roof by as much as 30%. That gives the roof a better chance of staying intact.
2. Tidy up outdoors
Cost: $0
Time: 1-3 Hours
Items on the lawn or patio could become flying debris and damage your home.
Move items like patio furniture, plant pots, bicycles, grills, garbage cans, and children’s toys into a garage or storage building before you leave home for the day.
3. Organize your garage
Cost: $0
Time: 1-3 Hours
Parking in your garage is an easy way to prevent damage to your vehicle.
Organize your garage so you can easily park your car under cover when severe weather, especially hail, is in the forecast.
4. Locate and prepare a safe place
Cost: $0
Time: 10 minutes
Being prepared will keep you safer in an emergency.
Designate a safe room and then clean and organize to make it easily accessible. Choose an interior room with no windows on the lowest floor of your home, such as a basement, storm cellar, bathroom, or closet.
For more information on the best place in your home or business to shelter, visit the National Weather Service page on Tornado Safety.
5. Set up 3 ways to get weather alerts
Cost: $0-$40
Time: 1-3 Hours
Having a system in place helps you react quickly in an emergency. Do NOT rely on sirens.
- Find a reliable source for severe weather information. Pay attention to severe weather outlooks from NOAA’s Storm Prediction Center (SPC). Follow the SPC on Facebook or Twitter, and tune in to local news often when severe weather is forecast.
- Enable wireless emergency alerts on your cell phone.
- Purchase a weather alert radio that broadcasts emergency alerts from the National Weather Service, preferably one with a hand crank. These radios can alert you when you are sleeping and don’t rely on electricity or cell service.
Note: Maps are used to communicate critical weather information. Know where you are on a map and know your county name.
6. Create a home inventory
Cost: $0
Time: 1-3 Hours
Documenting your belongings is easier before a storm.
Create a detailed list or video of your belongings in case an insurance claim is needed. Learn more about how to create a home inventory from the Insurance Information Institute.
7. Review your insurance policy
and assess your risks
Cost: $0
Time: 1 Hour
Know what your insurance policy covers—and what it doesn’t.
Review your insurance policy and store your insurance agent’s contact information in your phone. If you think you have damage from a thunderstorm, call your insurance agent first!
