Hurricane Season Home Checklist

Before June 1: the pre-season list

Do this list in spring, while stores are calm and contractors have time. The National Hurricane Center puts the Atlantic season at June 1 to November 30, and the work below is hard to finish once a storm has a name.

• Look up your zone with the county's My Evacuation Zone locator.
• Sign up for Alert St. Johns, the county's emergency notification system.
• Write a household plan, including where you would go and who needs extra help.
• Pre-register for a Special Medical Needs shelter if someone at home needs one. The county requires it.
• Build a kit. The Florida Division of Emergency Management says to plan for up to seven days of food, water and medications.
• Ask your agent about your hurricane deductible and any flood policy.
• Save insurance policies and ID in a secure digital folder, as Ready.gov advises.
• Repair loose soffits, failed window seals and gaps around exterior penetrations.
• Stock tarps, batteries and small fuel cans. A 2025 Florida tax law made these exempt from sales tax, with limits on size.

Do not leave the flood question for later. FloodSmart says National Flood Insurance Program coverage typically starts 30 days after purchase, so buying it after a storm forms is usually too late. Your agent and your policy wording will settle what you have.

A hurricane preparation checklist by the calendar

Tie each job to a date, because the National Hurricane Center's own climatology shows when the risk builds. Set these as phone reminders once and repeat them every year.

Do not stand down in October here. Matthew came through in October 2016, and Nicole's surge in November 2022 inundated places the National Weather Service lists by name, Butler Beach among them. The City of St. Augustine also posts king tide dates for the fall, so a late storm can arrive on water that is already high.

When a storm is in the forecast

Start this list as soon as officials begin talking about your area. If you live near the water, such as Butler Beach, your window to leave may close earlier than the wind suggests.

• Follow local officials, and leave promptly if they order an evacuation.
• Clear gutters and drains, and bring in outdoor furniture.
• Install shutters or panels on openings facing the weather.
• Charge phones and backup power banks.
• Fill prescriptions and vehicle fuel tanks, and keep some cash on hand.
• Check on older neighbors, as Ready.gov suggests.
• Move rugs, boxes and electronics up off the ground floor.

Watch, warning and the last safe hour

Your deadline is the arrival of tropical storm-force winds, not landfall. The National Weather Service says it may not be safe to prepare once those winds reach you, and it times its alerts from that point.

St. Johns County calls evacuations by zone, and it says to evacuate early if your home might be unsafe in a hurricane. It also prefers that you stay with a friend or relative inland, or at a hotel, over a shelter. Shelter openings are announced once an order goes out, and the school that opens may not be your nearest one.

Photograph the house before the storm

A pre-storm photo record is worth twenty minutes, because it shows the condition of the home before anything went wrong. Take dated video, walking slowly, and store it somewhere away from the house.

Existing stains belong in the record too. They separate an old mark from a new one.

If you leave home

Take five minutes on the way out to reduce what water can do while you are gone. Do these only if you have time and officials have not told you to go immediately.

• Close the main water shutoff if nothing in the home depends on it.
• Turn off the breaker for the water heater, as its label directs.
• Unplug electronics, and lift what you can up off the floor.
• Tell someone where you are going, as St. Johns County advises.
• Take your documents, your medications and your phone charger.

Coming home after the storm

Wait until officials say your area is safe, and treat the house as a hazard until you have looked it over. Ready.gov warns against floodwater, which may contain pathogens, debris, chemicals or downed power lines.

1. Stay out of standing water and away from wet electrical equipment.
2. Turn off power at the main breaker only if it is safe to reach.
3. Run any generator outdoors. The CDC says to keep it more than 20 feet from windows, doors and vents.
4. Photograph all damage before you move or clean anything.
5. Contact your insurer. Florida Statute 627.70132 sets a one-year notice deadline, and for hurricanes the date of loss is landfall. Your policy and adjuster decide the rest.
6. Keep damaged items for your adjuster unless they are a hazard, and photograph anything that has to go.

Floodwater is Category 3 water. Do not mop it up, and do not walk it through the rest of the house.

Our rules for keeping storm water out of the structure

Water rarely enters a house through one big opening. It tends to come through small gaps pushed by wind, so these are the rules we would add to any plan:

• Watch the windward side first, since wind-driven rain gets past seals that hold in normal rain.
• Treat a wet ceiling as a sign of water above it, and keep people out from under it.
• Cover an opening as soon as conditions are safe, because each rain adds to the job.
• Pull wet rugs and furniture away from walls, so air can reach the base of the wall.
• Start drying early. The outdoor air after a storm is wet, so closed rooms and LGR dehumidifiers matter more than open windows.

If time runs short, work in this order

Nobody finishes the whole list with a storm closing in. We would rank the remaining jobs by how much water each one keeps out of the structure:

1. Cover the openings on the weather side, because one failed window lets rain and wind into the ceilings.
2. Close the main water shutoff if you are leaving and nothing depends on it.
3. Lift papers, electronics and rugs, since those are what floor-level water ruins first.
4. Clear the drains and gutters you can reach from the ground.

Each of these has a limit. Sandbags slow water at a door and do not seal it, and surge or flood water can still come up through the slab edge and low walls. Shutters protect glass, and they do nothing for a soffit vent. Leave the ladder alone once the wind has started, because a clogged gutter is cheaper than a fall.

Run the list by the calendar, and call if water gets in

Most of this work costs a few hours spread across the months before the peak, and that is the whole trade. Dated reminders, your zone, a current photo record and a shutoff you have tested will carry you through most of what a season asks of a house. Official orders outrank every line here.

We handle emergency tarping and board-up, then storm water cleanup and interior drying. If the storm has left water inside your home, call us about hurricane damage cleanup once it is safe to return. The call goes straight to the owner, and we will come assess the damage and give you an estimate.