Keep your possessions safe
Whether you choose to evacuate, or ride out the storm, have a plan to keep your possessions safe. Once you’ve made a plan to protect yourself, family, and pets from a storm, it’s time to prepare your property and valuables.
Prepare your property
Flooding is the most costly and repetitive natural disaster affecting Hillsborough County. To protect yourself, learn which flood impacts affect your neighborhood and your property:
- Know your evacuation zone, flood zone, and learn your flood hazard.
- Mitigate the impact that a potential disaster might have on your home or property. Upgrading windows, doors, and garage doors to meet high-wind or wind-borne debris impact standards, trimming dead or damaged trees away from your home, cleaning out drains and gutters, and installing working shutters, are all examples of disaster mitigation.
Safeguard valuables
If you plan to evacuate your home and have to leave things behind:
- Store documents, keepsakes, and items like passports, birth certificates, maps, and electronics in a flood-safe place like a high shelf or upper floor in resealable water-tight plastic bags to help protect them.
- Keep important documents digitally, like insurance policies.
- Secure or remove items that are displayed on shelves or walls if your home may be subject to high winds.
Protect vehicles
Here are some tips for securing your vehicle before a storm hits:
- Cover the garage windows: If you have a garage, be sure to cover any exterior windows or doors that lead outside. You should board them up similarly to how you protect the windows of your home.
- Pull vehicles further inside: Moving your vehicle closer to the back wall of the garage will help protect it in case the garage door is pushed inward by wind or debris.
- Cover the car for extra protection: An extra layer of protection over the exterior of your car will protect it if the garage is damaged. Be sure all windows and sunroof openings are closed and secured to prevent water damage.
Stay safe with electric vehicles
- If you evacuate and leave your EV behind, don't leave it parked in the garage. If water floods the battery, a fire may occur. If flooding is expected in your area, park your EV in an elevated spot or parking garage to prevent it from taking on water.
- When leaving an EV behind, maintain your EV battery at only a 30% charge
- Park your EV 50 feet away from any structure or other vehicle. Storm surge can harm the battery and increase fire risk.
- Do not leave your EV plugged into the charging station
Find more information on electric vehicle safety.
Get Connected, Stay Alert
While making hurricane plans, be sure to download HCFL Alert, Hillsborough County’s official mass notification system where you can receive emergency alerts and critical information straight to your phone.
Download the annual Hillsborough County Disaster Guide for all things preparedness.