Florida Storm Prep Checklist

Updated 2026 hurricane season. The same checklist our crews use on pre-storm walkthroughs.

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1. Before the season (do once, by June 1)

• Find your main water shutoff. Usually street-side of the house near the meter, or behind the wall by the laundry. Open and close it once. Tag it with red tape so anyone in the house can find it in the dark.
• Find your gas shutoff (if applicable). Same tag treatment.
• Locate your electrical main breaker. Open the panel. Confirm the main labeled correctly. If you do not know which breaker controls what, label them now – not in a flooded basement at 2 AM.
• Photograph every room, every closet, every cabinet. Phone camera, wide shots + close-ups of valuables. Email the album to yourself so it lives in the cloud. This is your insurance claim insurance.
• Inventory in writing. A bullet list of items over $500 with model numbers and approximate value. Same email as the photos.
• Insurance policy declarations. Save a PDF of your homeowners + flood policies to your phone. Confirm your deductible. Confirm your wind/hurricane sublimit (often a separate, higher deductible).
• Save (941) 379-8669 in your phone as “WrightWay” for 24/7 emergency restoration response.
• Save your insurance carrier’s claims line. Pin it next to the WrightWay number.

2. Property hardening (do once)

• Check your roof from the ground with binoculars: lifted shingles, loose flashing, missing ridge cap, anything that shifted in the last storm. Repair before the next event.
• Trim back trees within striking distance of the house. Florida coastal trees fall in 70-mph sustained winds; trim them before that.
• Inspect soffit + fascia. Wind uplift on a damaged soffit will rip out the entire eave. Caulk gaps, replace any cracked panels.
• Hurricane shutters or impact windows. Confirm shutters fit, hardware is on site, and you can deploy them in 30 minutes (test it).
• Garage door reinforcement. Garage doors are the #1 catastrophic failure point in Florida homes. Vertical braces or an impact-rated door.
• Test the AC condensate drain. Pour a cup of white vinegar in the cleanout once per quarter. Clogged condensate lines are the #1 year-round cause of ceiling water damage in Florida.
• Check your sump pump (if applicable). Pour a 5-gallon bucket of water in the pit and confirm it runs.

3. 72 hours before landfall (when a named storm is in the cone)

• Refill prescriptions. Pharmacies close.
• Cash. $200-$500 minimum. Card readers and ATMs are first to fail.
• Gas up all vehicles + your generator. Pre-storm gas lines run 2-4 hours.
• Bottled water – 1 gallon per person per day, minimum 3 days.
• Non-perishable food – 3 days minimum.
• Battery + manual phone chargers. Test them now.
• Pets: 3 days of food, leashes accessible, vaccination records in the cloud, ID on collars.
• Deploy storm shutters. Don’t wait for tropical-storm-force winds – they arrive 12+ hours before landfall and you can’t safely work on a ladder by then.
• Move outdoor furniture inside or anchor it. Patio chairs become projectiles at 60 mph.
• Take exterior photos of the house right before. This is your “before” insurance documentation for any wind damage.

4. During the storm

• Stay off the road. 911 will not come for non-life-threatening calls.
• Shelter in an interior room on the ground floor, away from windows.
• Fill bathtubs + sinks with water before landfall. Toilets need water to flush during outages.
• Unplug major electronics. Power surges during restoration kill TVs and HVAC equipment.
• Turn the fridge to coldest. Open it as little as possible during an outage.
• If you hear a freight-train sound (tornado), get to a windowless interior room or bathroom immediately.

5. After the storm (first 60 minutes)

• Do NOT enter standing water with electricity on. Kill the main breaker first.
• Do NOT use a generator indoors or in the garage. Carbon monoxide kills more people post-storm than the storm itself.
• Document, document, document. Walk every room with your phone camera before you move anything. Wide shots, close-ups, water source, anything floating, exterior damage.
• Call WrightWay at (941) 379-8669 before calling insurance. We can be on-site faster than your adjuster, document to Xactimate standard, and coordinate with your carrier directly.
• Do NOT sign an Assignment of Benefits (AOB). Florida banned them in 2023 – any contractor still asking for one is a red flag.
• Do NOT remove drywall yourself. You will likely cut through wiring or a stud you cannot see, and the cleanup gets more expensive.
• Move what you can lift to a dry area. Anything porous and saturated (mattresses, upholstered furniture) – leave it. We will document the loss.
• Run dehumidifiers + air movers if you have them. Every hour of standing moisture compounds the secondary damage (mold, swelling, decay).

Want us to walk this with you in person?

Ask about our Emergency Response Plan – it’s a free pre-arranged response agreement for property managers and business owners that gets you to the front of the WrightWay dispatch queue when an event happens. Learn more or call (941) 379-8669.

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