10 Ways To Prepare Your Home for Natural Disasters
Natural disasters cause enormous destruction in communities and cost homeowners billions in damages every year. Taking action beforehand to protect your family and home can save you from massive losses.
Hurricanes, earthquakes, floods, and other natural disasters decimate communities across the country every year. In 2024, the United States suffered 27 natural disasters and over $1 billion in damages, resulting in 568 fatalities and countless injuries. Disaster preparedness is critical as these events become more destructive and more commonplace.
This guide offers practical, comprehensive resources to prepare your home for natural disasters. These 10 tips can make the difference in keeping you, your home, and your family safe from catastrophic damage.
1. Prepare Your Roof Against High Winds
Wind storms and falling debris can cause massive damage to your home. If your roof is damaged, you risk further destruction to the interior of your house.
You can prepare your roof against high winds by:
- Installing hurricane straps.
- Repairing any loose gutters.
- Checking shingles to make sure none are loose or in poor condition.
- Trimming any trees around the house that could fall into the roof.
2. Reinforce Your Windows and Doors
Reinforcing your doors and windows protects the inside of your home from the impacts of flooding, wind storms, and similar natural disasters. Prepare before a storm hits by:
- Covering your windows with storm shutters or plywood.
- Adding support weights to your garage door to prevent it from flying open.
- Replacing existing screws in door frames with longer screws.
- Installing deadbolts on doors for extra security against the wind.
3. Install Flood Barriers to Prevent Water Damage
To prevent flooding inside the home, create a temporary flood barrier. You can set up sandbag barriers around all entrances to the home to soak up water intrusions and defend your home from rising water levels. Installing a flood barrier around the outside perimeter of your home also helps stop floodwater from entering the home.
4. Store Valuable Documents and Items in a Watertight Safe
It’s vital to protect all your important documents, such as birth certificates, Social Security cards, passports, property deeds, and similar items that will be difficult to replace. When critical identifying documents are destroyed in a natural disaster, people have to spend time and money going through the process to replace them, on top of everything else they must do to deal with the aftermath.
Store important documents in a waterproof, fireproof container, such as a safe. Similarly, securely storing jewelry and other valuable items helps prevent the loss of expensive or sentimental items.
5. Trim Trees and Remove Dead Foliage
Trees are a major source of property damage during natural disasters. If a tree falls on your home, it can tear straight through your roof and walls, opening up your home to further property damage. You can mitigate the risk of falling trees and tree limbs in high winds by trimming all trees near your home regularly and carefully removing dead limbs and foliage.
6. Secure Heavy Appliances and Furniture
In addition to being expensive to replace, large appliances and furniture can cause serious injuries and property damage if they come loose during a natural disaster. Strong winds can throw heavy items into people and walls, crushing anything in the object’s path. You can minimize the risk of property damage and injury in a natural disaster by tying heavy appliances and furniture in place to keep them secure.
7. Turn Off Gas and Electricity
Always turn off the gas and electricity in your home during a natural disaster. If your home experiences damage, breaks in the gas or electric system can result in serious hazards such as electrical fires, natural gas leaks, and other dangerous circumstances.
8. Secure Outdoor Items
If storm winds are strong enough, outdoor items can go flying and rapidly become dangerous projectiles capable of significant harm to people and property. Outdoor decor such as patio furniture, grills, outdoor toys, and landscaping ornaments like fountains and birdbaths can seriously damage your or your neighbor’s home. Before a storm, make sure any such items are secured or move them inside.
9. Create an Emergency Kit
It can be difficult to keep your family safe and meet basic needs for things like food and clean water after a natural disaster. Put together an emergency kit and keep it on hand to help your family deal with the problems that often arise in the aftermath of a natural disaster, such as food and water scarcity, lack of electricity, and hazards such as fires.
Include necessary items such as:
- Flashlights and extra batteries
- First aid items
- Non-perishable foods
- Clean drinking water
- A fire extinguisher
- Blankets
- A generator
- A hurricane radio
Always have an emergency and evacuation plan in place, including setting a meeting point if family members become separated. In the event that disaster strikes, it’s important that everyone knows in advance what to do.
10. Ensure You Have Adequate Insurance Coverage
Natural disasters cause major damage, and many people lose everything when their homes are destroyed during a storm, earthquake, or other event. It’s important to have homeowner’s or renter’s insurance in place prior to a natural disaster to help recover from any resulting losses. An adequate insurance policy can cover some of the costs associated with replacing your home and destroyed property, so you don’t have to start over from square one.
What To Do Immediately After a Natural Disaster
There are crucial steps to take after losing your home or suffering property damage in a natural disaster.
Seek Medical Help for Your Injuries
Immediately seek medical help for any injuries you and your family have suffered. The most important thing is to make sure everyone is safe and healthy. Try to find a medical facility in your area that's still in operation, and seek medical attention for any injuries as soon as you're safely able to do so.
Document the Damage and Loss With Photos and Video
Once the event is over, it's important to have evidence of how severe the damage to your home and property is. Record all damage to your home and personal items by taking photos and video of the scene. Make sure to have any available proof of ownership in hand so you can prove the damaged home and property are yours.
Report the Damage to Your Insurance Carrier
Reporting all damage and loss resulting from the natural disaster to your insurance carrier is a top priority as soon as your basic needs are met and you can safely begin the process of filing a claim. The sooner you file an insurance claim for the damage and loss you experienced, the sooner you will be compensated for the damage according to your insurance policy. Having compensation available will make it easier to repair your home, replace your belongings, or move to a new area if necessary.
Seek Legal Help for Your Claim
When filing an insurance claim for losses you experienced, it's always in your best interest to have the help of an attorney. Insurers may try to convince you to accept lower settlements than you deserve, such as by offering faster processing times for payouts. However, settling for less compensation than is fair means you'll have a harder time down the line meeting the costs of everything you have to replace.
An experienced property and casualty attorney has the knowledge to assist you with the process of filing an insurance claim after a natural disaster. Your lawyer can handle the heavy lifting of the legal process, including negotiating with your insurer for just compensation while you focus on rebuilding. Insurers will always have attorneys on their side, so it's in your best interest to have an attorney as well to make sure your rights are respected throughout the legal process.
Who Is Most at Risk for Natural Disasters?
Certain regions are at greater risk for natural disasters due to geographical, socioeconomic, and infrastructural factors.
Geographical Risks
Locations more vulnerable to natural disasters due to geographical factors include:
- Coastal areas
- Flood-prone regions
- Earthquake zones
- Tornado-prone areas
- Regions with lake effect snow patterns
- Areas with wildfire risks
Socioeconomic Risks
Living below the poverty line is a major socioeconomic risk factor for communities hit by natural disasters. Low-income families are unable to afford many of the prevention measures and post-disaster costs that can help a household recover. This includes problems such as:
- Inability to evacuate because of lack of money or transportation.
- Unaffordable disaster supplies for low-income households.
- Lack of home or renter’s insurance due to high premium costs.
- Long-term homelessness caused by an inability to afford repairs or a new home.
Infrastructural Risks
Communities with outdated and underfunded infrastructure are generally less equipped to deal with natural disasters than communities with updated infrastructure. Infrastructure issues that can exacerbate a disaster’s impact on a community include:
- Old pipes and water mains, which can burst and cause further flooding.
- Broken-down roads that can wash away or crumble.
- Fallen power lines and power outages.
- Gas leaks from broken natural gas lines.
- Collapse of medical services due to inadequate local healthcare systems.
- Difficulty receiving storm aid due to the destruction of roads and other travel infrastructure.
If your community has any of these additional risk factors, it’s especially important to be vigilant about storm preparation and make sure you have emergency resources and plans in place.
Sources of Loss From Natural Disasters
Natural disasters can cause many types of loss:
- Financial loss from destruction of homes or personal property.
- Repair costs associated with fixing storm damage to a house.
- Medical expenses from severe injuries.
- Devastation of families due to storm fatalities.
- Mental health issues like PTSD due to the trauma of destruction.
You can seek compensation for all of these types of damages. Economic damages cover financial losses such as property damage and medical expenses. Non-economic damages cover losses such as pain and suffering or loss of enjoyment of life.
While natural disasters typically aren’t the fault of any one person or organization, it may also be possible to file a wrongful death suit for compensation if another party’s negligence led to the loss of a close family member in the storm.
Time Limits for Filing a Damage Claim After a Natural Disaster
Time limits for filing a claim with your insurance company and filing a lawsuit against your insurance company are most often set in your insurance policy. Make sure to carefully review your policy to comply with all requirements.
Most policies require you notify the insurance company of damage as soon as practically possible and have penalties, including possible claim denial, for failure to timely notify the insurance company of a covered loss. Most policies also require that they have an opportunity to inspect all damage, so with the exception of emergency mitigation that may be necessary to stop damage from getting worse, notify your insurance company before doing any permanent repairs.
If you intend to file a lawsuit against your insurance company, most policies contain provisions that limit your time to file a suit. Most residential policies in Ohio and Kentucky provide one year from the date of loss to file suit, and most commercial and farm policies limit you to two years from the date of loss. However, this can vary, so it is always best to check your policy.
An Emergency Safety Plan for Your Family | Free Download
Having an emergency plan for your family before disaster strikes is vital, but it can be difficult to make one from scratch. Download this free emergency safety plan to create an evacuation plan with your family and have quick access to important information and phone numbers in an emergency.
Take Action To Protect Your Property and Your Loved Ones
Natural disasters are not only terrifying but can be life-altering events for families. Destruction of homes and property is among the most serious impacts. It’s important to be prepared for any situation that may arise. Reinforcing your house, maintaining an emergency kit, carefully storing important documents, and taking other safety measures help you protect your home and family.
Filing an insurance claim is also a critical part of rebuilding your life after a natural disaster. Our knowledgeable property and casualty lawyers are here to answer your questions. To schedule your free consultation, call (513) 434-6698 in Ohio and (859) 251-3591 in Kentucky. You can also contact us online. Para servir mejor a todos los miembros de nuestra comunidad, ofrecemos servicios en español.