6 Things to Do if You Get Hit By a Natural Disaster

Natural disasters can be devastating, but if you prepare and respond quickly, you can minimize the damage.

Hurricanes, floods, earthquakes, or even blizzards can create destruction and chaos. Knowing how to react and stay safe ahead of time is key to staying intact during a natural disaster. 

Read on for six tips on what to do if your area is hit by a natural disaster.

Create an Emergency Plan

It's important to know what to do before a natural disaster strikes. Have an emergency plan in place that outlines where you would go in case of evacuation and what supplies you need in case of emergency. 

Ensure all family members know the plan so they know where they should go when danger is imminent.

Have an Emergency Kit on Hand

Having an emergency kit ready with basic supplies like water, food, flashlights and batteries will help keep your family safe during the storm or other natural disasters. 

Remember medicine and first aid kits as well! Having these items ready will make responding quickly to the situation much easier.

Stay Informed

Pay attention to news reports about the weather or other warnings from local authorities for updates on the situation and safety measures being taken in advance of a storm or other natural disaster approaching your area. 

This will help keep you informed about evacuation routes or shelters available in case of emergency so you can act quickly if necessary.

Secure Your Home

Before a storm comes through your area, make sure all windows are secured with shutters or boards, doors are locked tight, outdoor furniture is secured and stored away safely, car keys are accounted for, and all outdoor toys are put away safely inside the home. 

Doing this will help minimize potential damage caused by flying debris during windy storms like hurricanes or tornadoes. 

The same goes for floods; make sure items that could be damaged by rising water levels are moved off the ground level into higher parts of your home as much as possible before flooding occurs.

Avoid Going Outside During a Storm

No matter how tempting it may be, try not to go outside during any major storms unless absolutely necessary. Flying debris and downed power lines can be incredibly dangerous, even fatal, during extreme weather conditions. 

Keep yourself safe by staying inside whenever possible until it has been deemed safe enough to venture out again.

Contact Professional Help Immediately After the Storm

Once it has been determined that it is safe enough to venture outside, contact local professionals like roofers, plumbers, or electricians immediately after the storm has passed. 

Waiting too long could lead to more serious issues down the line, so get professional assistance fast! If there’s been significant damage done due to flooding or high winds such as shingles being ripped off roofs then contacting roofers from a company, like Hurricane Roofer, can help assist with repairs needed post-storm as soon as possible.

Natural disasters can cause major destruction if not taken seriously enough ahead of time or if they’re responded to too late afterward, which is why preparation beforehand is essential no matter what kind of natural disaster might occur near you. 

Following these six steps above on preparing for a natural disaster before it hits, responding quickly once it passes through your area, staying informed throughout its duration, and calling professional help immediately following its aftermath helps ensure that everyone stays safe while minimizing potential damages. 

Taking these steps seriously ahead of time when preparing for any type of severe weather event can help give peace of mind knowing that every precaution was taken beforehand should anything happen.

Should We Live in Fear of Natural Disasters?

We live in a great country, which has afforded many people the opportunity to excel and to make goals which have a realistic chance of becoming reality. On the flipside, so to speak, we in live in a country that appears to have more than its share of natural disasters. It seems that every few months, if it's not an avalanche in one of the mountainous regions in the West, it is tornadoes wreaking havoc in the Plains; add to that wildfires out in the West and, somehow without exception, hurricanes hitting the Eastern seaboard, often targeting Florida and the rest the Gulf States. It's almost as if the calendar is set up so that every few months, we get hit with some unpleasant natural phenomena.

How Have We Been Doing?

Perhaps not surprising for a country which prides itself on law and order, as well as statistics, there have been those that have been keeping track of the types of disasters that we have been subject to, how many people been involved in even the economic cost related to them. Everyone recoils in horror when they see on the news the latest information about a hurricane or a tornado. But the numbers are actually quite startling when one starts to compile the big picture, so to speak. Ready?

A Quick Tour through the Last 30 Years

It is worth bearing in mind that sometimes, the damage and suffering caused from events such as hurricanes are not just the initial impact of the winds themselves, which can obviously level entire buildings. The ensuing flooding takes its additional toll that can often be far worse than the initial event itself. One comprehensive study identifies 640 individual events in the last 30 years. Of these, almost 400 of them were related to storms. The next most frequent disasters are floods, which occurred over 130 different times. In third place, perhaps somewhat surprisingly, are wildfires, with only 24 major recorded occurrences. What's really surprising is the fourth-place contestant: earthquakes. Earthquakes? One hardly ever hears about them on the news these days. It would be interesting to know exactly where they are occurring, and who is affected by them.

The Real Cost

Understandably, the main concern is loss of human life. The same study indicates that over 12,000 people were killed by natural disasters during the last three decades, which is a shockingly large number. Perhaps also surprisingly is the number of people affected by these disasters: 27 million! The other metric which many would find relevant is the economic cost to the US economy. Here the numbers really start to jump off the charts, with the total economic impact estimated at over $540 trillion. No wonder we pay ever greater attention to the weather reports: there's real danger lurking out there.

Keeping Your Home Protected

It's worth bearing in mind that a closer look at the statistics above indicate that over 70% of the damage caused over the last 30 years has been related to storms or floods. This is why it is very important that residents in Florida have the very best Florida homeowners insurance coverage possible. Unfortunately, it's not really a question of if, but more of when the next natural disaster will strike. A responsible homeowner will want to make sure that their insurance adequately covers their property and all their possessions at their full replacement value.

In the best case scenario, such an insurance policy will not have to go into effect, but given the statistics, chances are it will at some point. It's better to be prepared than sorry.