Have you ever had hail damage to your home or cars?
The map above shows the top10 states that State Farm paid out the most home hail claims in 2017! We here in the Kansas City area experienced all four seasons last weekend! Friday it was 80, Friday night we had hail and tornadoes in the area as a front moved through. Then Saturday the temp dropped and we set record lows. Ok Sunday April 15, we had record low-highs and snow!! This is the 3rd Sunday in a row that we had snow! The Masters is over, flowers are starting to bloom and we're setting records.
How do you prepare for a storm? Do you have an emergency bag packed with rain gear, extra clothing, flash lights, food and water, any medications you may need incase the worst happens? We all fall into the "it won't happen to me" trap. My oldest daughter was trapped in Orlando last fall when the hurricane came through. Being from the Midwest she was confident she knew what to do but had never experienced a hurricane! She gathered food and water and flashlights ahead of time but she was still stuck in apartment for two days. The length of time it took for that storm to move in and out of Orlando lasted hours compared to a tornado that can completely destroy everything in minutes. It may not just be for the duration of the actual storm that you need to prepare.
Please take a few minutes to prepare. Make sure your family knows the emergency plans for fires, tornadoes, hail, earthquakes, or whatever disaster you may encounter. Stock up on food, water, medications, light source, chargers for electronics that hopefully will work. One thing we found she needed in Florida were copies of evacuation maps, GPS navigation systems might not be available, good old maps in a waterproof bag! Have a bag with appropriate clothing to get out of the damage; boots, jeans, rain gear, life jackets, gloves, some tools to help get through.
How about your insurance policies? When have you reviewed them to be sure they are covering what you expect? Is your home insured to value? Do you need and have earthquake coverage on your home?