Planning Could Save Your Business from Storm Damage
Part of a series on hurricane preparedness in Texas
Release Date: May 16, 2007
Release Number: 1606-284
» More Information on Texas Hurricane Rita
AUSTIN, Texas -- Just weeks away from the start of hurricane season, officials with the Governor's Division of Emergency Management and the U.S. Department of Homeland Security's Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) remind business owners to take action beforehand to help minimize damage and lost productivity from storms.
FEMA offers the following tips to business owners:
- Clear out areas with extensive glass frontage as much as possible. If you have shutters, use them; otherwise, use precut plywood to board up doors and windows.
- Remove outdoor hanging signs.
- Bring inside or secure any objects that might become airborne and cause damage in strong winds.
- Secure display cases. Use plywood to protect glass display cases or, if possible, turn the case's glass side toward an inside wall.
- Store as much merchandise as high as possible off the floor, especially goods that could be necessary to survival and in short supply after the storm.
- Move merchandise that cannot be stored away from glass and cover it with tarpaulins or heavy plastic.
- Secure all goods in warehouses off the floor, and place sandbags in spaces where water could enter.
- Remove papers from lower drawers of desks and file cabinets and place them in plastic bags or containers on top of the cabinets.
- Turn off water heaters, stoves, pilot lights and other burners.
More disaster preparedness information can be viewed at www.fema.gov or www.ready.gov.
In addition, business owners may order free FEMA publications, such as Preparing Makes Sense, Get Ready Now and Every Business Should Have a Plan, to distribute to their staff by calling FEMA toll-free at 1-800-480-2520.Shipping charges will apply.
FEMA coordinates the federal government's role in preparing for, preventing, mitigating the effects of, responding to, and recovering from all domestic disasters, whether natural or man-made, including acts of terror.
Last Modified: Wednesday, 16-May-2007 09:08:34