Natural disasters may not occur often, but when they do, several lives become vulnerable to heart-shattering events.
Many of us are aware of the seemingly perennial hurricanes making their way through different states along the United States border throughout the summers of the last couple years. Social media was a pool of heart-breaking videos of some affected victims, including animals.
A hurricane can destroy the homes of thousands. In fact, a hurricane can wipe out an entire city in just one day. Lives are lost and the most special personal belongings are forever ruined in the blink of an eye. For example, the 2017 disaster, Hurricane Irma, resulted in almost $90 billion worth of damage.
Many people fantasize about life on the beach, and this fantasy often becomes reality for many retired folks. The thought of stepping outside into the soft sand and listening to the ocean waves every morning sounds like the perfect life. But many don’t consider the negatives, and others have a personal fable that causes them to believe that nothing bad will happen to them because they’re special and unique.
Choosing a location of residency requires taking several aspects into account. Hurricanes can happen in any state where there is an ocean, and can affect areas of over 100 miles of inland. The damage is not worth the risks. I’m not writing to tell you that you can’t live near an ocean because your life could get swept away in a hurricane. Instead, I have some insight on how you can live in your dream home while protecting your home from storm damage.
Of course, the surest way of knowing you have a hurricane safe home is by choosing the design of your home from scratch. Many can’t always afford this, but new construction homes are probably the best bet rather than historic homes due to advanced modern technology. If you love the style of older homes, you can always add modern updates to historic homes.
The most crucial additions required to effectively hurricane prep a house are hurricane-proof windows and glass doors. During a hurricane, winds are dangerously strong and can easily shatter basic windows and glass doors. Hurricane-proof windows may cost you anywhere in the range of $40 to $55 per square foot, but keep in mind that you never know if or when a hurricane may strike your city, so you could be saving yourself hundreds of thousands of dollars in damage repairs by investing in some more-protective windows.
Again, living on the ocean is a dream for many people, but every great thing in life has its risks. Although you face the risk of your neighborhood getting hit with a hurricane, there are actions you can take to significantly reduce the costs of any damage and keep you and your family safe…including your beloved pets!