Preparing your home for summer weather

AccuWeather

Paul Hope with Consumer Reports shares some best practices for getting your home summer-ready ahead of any extreme weather.

Transcript

00:00We have Paul Hope, Senior Home and Appliance Writer with Consumer Reports.

00:04Paul, thank you so much for joining us.

00:06It's so cliche, but fail to plan, plan to fail.

00:10And we want to get people prepared and make those plans now ahead of the storms.

00:15Absolutely.

00:16One of the best things you can do to prepare is to just do it early and do it often.

00:22We like to say that the absolute worst thing you can do is to try to make some of these plans

00:27in the immediate run-up to a storm or, of course, after it's already hit.

00:31You're going to have a really difficult time doing things that are really quite easy right now.

00:36And what are some of those things that you can be doing around your house

00:39just kind of to upkeep things that may already be in place?

00:43Absolutely.

00:44So the first thing you want to look at are the sort of big-picture things you can do,

00:47things like hurricane and storm-resistant roofing shingles,

00:51a whole house generator or even a portable generator equipped with a transfer switch

00:55to let it power whole circuits in your home,

00:57and things like hurricane shutters, storm-resistant windows.

01:00They're all great, logical home upgrades,

01:03especially for people who live in the areas that are typically hit by hurricanes.

01:08All right, so you've got the outside of your house all prepared,

01:10but a lot of people, if they're sheltering inside,

01:12how can you help people and your family be ready for things inside your home?

01:18Sure.

01:19So one of the easiest things that you can do is pack a go bag.

01:21That's literally just a backpack or any easy-to-carry bag that has the kinds of essentials

01:26that you might need in the event of a prolonged power outage

01:29or in the event that somebody might not be able to reach you and take you to safety.

01:32So look to pack things like flashlights, drinking water,

01:36portable chargers for cell phones and other devices,

01:39and a weather radio, ideally one that can either be charged independently

01:43or that doesn't even need to be charged,

01:45just so you can stay abreast of what's going on with the weather systems.

01:49And also look to pack really important documents in that,

01:52things like photo ID, maybe even birth certificates, passports,

01:56things that you might need or that might get damaged if you have to leave your home.

02:00Paul, I have a question.

02:01How often do you advise people to kind of refresh these pack bags?

02:06Because maybe someone packed it last year and luckily didn't maybe need to use it.

02:10How often would you say that you should either restock or check to make sure nothing's expired?

02:15That's a great question.

02:17At the bare minimum, you want to do it at least annually.

02:19And in the run-up to hurricane season is a great place to start.

02:23It's sort of a, you know, it's a good time of year to be thinking about it.

02:27Typically speaking, most canned goods will last a really long time,

02:31even past the best by date if they have one.

02:33Obviously, if you have any canned goods that you're saving for the event of a prolonged outage,

02:37you want to throw it out or get rid of it.

02:39Otherwise, after it's past the use by date.

02:42Same thing goes for standing water.

02:44If it's sealed in its original container, you have at least a year of life there.

02:48But there's no reason to use old water.

02:50You can obviously just go ahead and drink that, replace it with a new stock,

02:54test your flashlights and their batteries,

02:56maybe even pack an extra set of batteries in your go-bag

02:58if you're unsure about the age of the batteries in your flashlights.

03:01And of course, give a charge to any portable chargers.

03:04Paul, I lived in North Carolina for several years,

03:06and I have what I called our hurricane water.

03:08And then hurricane season passed, we were good.

03:10And I told my husband, I was like, okay, you can drink it now.

03:12Because it's like, don't touch it, don't touch it until we need it.

03:14So good reminders there.

03:16Exactly. Exactly.

03:18Well, we appreciate it. Home Appliances writer Paul Hope.

03:20Thank you again so much for joining us and help keeping us safe.

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