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).

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

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