Preparing for Hurricane Season

Do you manage a commercial property in a hurricane-prone area? If yes, you should note that the property and occupants face increased risk of issues during hurricane season. These issues could include flying debris, floods, storms, strong winds, mudslides, heavy rainfall, and tornadoes.

As a commercial property manager, consider taking the following steps to prepare your property for hurricane season:

• Make a concrete plan

Before a hurricane is on the horizon get started by creating a concrete plan targeted at coping with the issues. Make sure that all tenants and employees know the precautionary measures for dealing with hurricanes before they are needed. Consider appointing an internal contact located outside of the storm zone who can help coordinate anything the facility needs if damaged.  Services can be spotty inside the affected area and someone may need to coordinate with insurance, your remediation contractor, supply houses and possibly even media.  Some jurisdictions may require paperwork identifying key personnel who should have access to the property. Know what the requirements are for your area. 

• Determine your risk levels

Tornadoes, high wind speeds, torrential rains, and storm surges are often associated with a hurricane in most places in the country. However, the risk of these factors differ from one region to another. To understand the susceptibility of your commercial property to these factors, FEMA does provide some resources. 

It’s important to do a complete walkthrough of your facility and look for specific hazards. Items that are not attached to your building or only loosely adhered may become projectiles during high winds. Areas with poor draining may have higher risk of flooding. Consider hiring a licensed professional to inspect your property. This professional will help you to evaluate the risk levels that your property may be exposed to.

• Check the property insurance

Property insurance comes in numerous forms and has varying coverage. Some policies cover hurricanes and other conditions that come after them whereas others may exclude hurricanes. To avoid using out-of-pocket funds to repair any damage to the property, be certain that the policy covers storms, floods, and other things associated with the hurricane.

• Keep and maintain emergency supplies

Studs, extension cords, tarp, plywood, tape, pumps, sheeting, and other emergency supplies are often useful during an emergency. So, you need to keep and maintain these emergency supplies in.        as the hurricane season is coming close.

In addition, let the occupants of the property know where the supplies are kept. This ensures that they can use them when necessary. Looking for a full list of emergency supplies to have on hand? Let me know in the comments and I’ll provide my recommended list!

• Let everyone know where to go during an emergency

As a property manager, you should be concerned about the safety of the tenants of your property. Therefore, you must identify all emergency exits that can help people to get out of the property during an emergency. Furthermore, you should note various safety zones that will probably be free of the effects of the hurricane. It is important to notify the property occupants of these emergency exits and safety zones.

• Check all leaks

Walls, windows, doors, and other areas within a property can be susceptible to leaks. Building penetrations from pipes and cables can also enable water to leak into the building.  All penetrations should be inspected regularly to ensure they are water tight. 

• Prepare the building for long-term outages

After encountering  hurricanes, storms, etc., there may be power outages for an extended period.  Consider whether the facility has critical equipment that needs continuous power such as refrigerators in Physician offices. Emergency lighting can also be connected to a generator. This generator can play a key role in increasing the safety of the property occupants during an emergency.

• Evaluate your landscaping

Trees and tree branches around your property can increase the severity of the effects of hurricanes. For instance, high winds could easily blow big branches, dead trees, etc. into the building. Apart from destroying your property, trees and tree branches could injure tenants, employees, and others.

To avoid any problem, don’t hesitate to trim or get rid of unhealthy trees and trees branches around your property.  Avoid using lava rock or similar rock finishes that can become projectiles. 

• Maintain Good Emergency Contacts

When a hurricane hits a facility, office main lines may be down for an extended period of time and cell phone coverages may be spotty. It’s recommended to have two or three good cell numbers for tenant contacts who are able to make decisions in the event of an emergency. During the last storm I dealt with, we had to have tenants remove critical items from their suites quickly so that we could deal with the building damage.

So, follow the steps above to prepare your property for hurricane season.