Professional and Career Topics

For those living in regions exposed to tropical storms how do you manage the risk to your loved ones and property and what tradeoffs have you made and why? For perspective, what are the circumstances of your exposure? This is an opportunity to share best practices and prompt thinking/action around preparedness.

My own input

Circumstances: Single Family Residence. Houston, TX, 76 ft property elevation and ~60 miles inland from the Gulf of Mexico. Two adults and one dog.

Threats: Wind damage to structure and roof, falling trees, localized street flooding, loss of power for up to one week

Mitigations:

1. Federal flood insurance. We live outside the 500-year flood zone and flood insurance is our personal choice. 
2. Relatively new roof. We replaced our roof after 15 years to lower home insurance premium. Plus, the new roof benefits from improved materials and installation practices.
3. Honda 2200-watt inverter generator. This is enough to power our small refrigerator, lamps, fans, and charge phones. Many in our area have installed whole house generators. We are willing to put up with some deprivation. Houston has experienced four storm related outages since 1981 that have caused multiday-week(s) long outages: Alicia (1982), Ike (2008), Yuri (2021), Derecho (2024), Beryl (2024).  Readers can figure out the return period. It's long enough for us to feel comfortable with our approach.
4. Our stove is gas fueled and can be ignited by matches.
5. Other: weather radio, battery powered lantern, food, water, full tank gas, full charge on EV. We also have an abundance of cold weather gear.
6. We would shelter in place.

My own experience is based on 32 years of living in Houston, TX and 10 years of living in River Ridge, LA (where we did evacuate three times).

------------------------------
Mitch Winkler P.E.(inactive), M.ASCE
Houston, TX
------------------------------

Good summary, Mitch.

Circumstances: Single family house 250 miles from the Gulf coast. Two adults (with electric-powered medical equipment) and an aquarium full of fish.

Threats: Far enough inland to avoid hurricane surge but close enough to get high winds, torrential rainfall, and spun-off tornadoes. We're also far enough north to get ice storms that take out power. We've had up to 5-day power-outages and some nearby locations have experienced weeks-long outages. Creek behind house hasn't been rated for flood hazard and upstream residential dams make me nervous.

1. Federal flood insurance. No requirement but buying flood insurance is our personal choice. Our HOA harassed the city until it cleared the creek of thick growth impeding flow. Armored the bankline to prevent erosion.
2. Generac 26 kw natural gas-powered generator powers the whole house, including AC.
3. Our range is gas fueled and can be ignited by matches.
4. Other: weather radio and bicycle helmets. 
5. We shelter in place without fearing death.

Bill Mc

------------------------------
William McAnally Ph.D., P.E., BC.CE, BC.NE, F.ASCE
ENGINEER
Columbus MS
------------------------------

Single family home:  Near Charleston, SC (20 miles from the Atlantic coast).

Having lived in the SC coastal region almost all of my life, most hurricanes / tropical storms are a near miss (for any given location).  Winds up to, say, 50 MPH are common for a near miss... not too much damage up to that speed.  Starting at about 50 MPH flying debris and tree damage start becoming an increasing problem.  Only one direct hit from a major hurricane... so far (Hugo, 1989).  Can say first hand, it is calm in the eye of a well formed hurricane.

Mitigation:

1. Zero flooding risk (house is at the very top of a small hill).  No issues at all during (heavy rainfall) 1000 year flood in 2015.
2. For us:  Tropical storms, Cat 1 and 2 hurricanes... shelter in place.  Cat 4 and 5 hurricanes... evacuate (pick the location to go to well in advance).  Cat 3 hurricane... depends of the storm's details.
3. 16 KW Generac propane-fueled generator.
4. Canned food, drinking water, weather radio, etc. on hand.
5. Depending on your property, damage from downed trees and tree limbs can be a major concern.  When sheltering in place give though to  where in the house to shelter so that a falling tree will not "take YOU out" along with your house.  During Hugo, my next door neighbor's house was literally cut in half (both back-to-front and roof-through-foundation) by a falling mature 3 ft. diameter oak tree.

Recommendation:  Get plenty of cash on hand before a hurricane hits.  Much has changed since Hugo, but if electric power is out for an extended time (many  days to weeks) access to credit cards, banks, etc. may be (was) limited to non-existent.

------------------------------
Robert Higgins P.E., Life Member ASCE, Life Member ASME, Retired Member AISC
------------------------------

Mitch – great topic. Personal choices vs mandatory (not versus really; but rather complementary as we all know instinctively, and are always recommended by insurance vendors) regulations dictating what one can and cannot do to handle/minimize risk – in this case for tropical storm.

I was once in a party in a university department chairman's beach-front house. The elderly sweet couple had a beautiful retirement house on Florida Barrier Island on the north-south coastal road. At one time, I asked the chairman's wife about the home insurance. She replied, as if I was kidding. The fact is that the storm-protection insurance cost of home properties in designated vulnerable areas is enormously high – many just do not have option other than to forego buying insurance.

We all know about the insurance matters – it buys peace of mind, as the vendors say – but dealing with the aftermath insurance processes is another gruelling story. Even if one does not have claim, insurance premium goes up because others in the zone have claims. Upon inquiry insurance clerks would spill out a ready-made answer – that's how insurance works.

In the end, we all do – what we can do on personal basis to minimize risk – as you, Bill and all have pointed out.

--------------------

Dr. Dilip K Barua, PhD

Website Links and Profile

Dilip, your post raises another great question about the value of property insurance. With premiums heading to the stratosphere, homeowners have two ways to control costs: accept a higher deductible or drop their policies except for liability coverage. A higher deductible, e.g., 5% or more, means the policy only comes into play when there is catastrophic damage. One needs to look at the statistics, but self-insuring is looking better and better for those with means.

------------------------------
Mitch Winkler P.E.(inactive), M.ASCE
Houston, TX
------------------------------

Original Message:
Sent: 06-25-2026 02:42 PM
From: Dilip Barua
Subject: Tropical Storm Personal Risk Management

Mitch – great topic. Personal choices vs mandatory (not versus really; but rather complementary as we all know instinctively, and are always recommended by insurance vendors) regulations dictating what one can and cannot do to handle/minimize risk – in this case for tropical storm.

I was once in a party in a university department chairman's beach-front house. The elderly sweet couple had a beautiful retirement house on Florida Barrier Island on the north-south coastal road. At one time, I asked the chairman's wife about the home insurance. She replied, as if I was kidding. The fact is that the storm-protection insurance cost of home properties in designated vulnerable areas is enormously high – many just do not have option other than to forego buying insurance.

We all know about the insurance matters – it buys peace of mind, as the vendors say – but dealing with the aftermath insurance processes is another gruelling story. Even if one does not have claim, insurance premium goes up because others in the zone have claims. Upon inquiry insurance clerks would spill out a ready-made answer – that's how insurance works.

In the end, we all do – what we can do on personal basis to minimize risk – as you, Bill and all have pointed out.

--------------------

Dr. Dilip K Barua, PhD

Website Links and Profile