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Hurricanes can devastate communities across the United States in ways unimaginable. Within the last five years, we have seen homelessness, illness, loss of life, loss of pets, loss of property, loss of business, etc. due to the forces of this natural disaster. From June to the end of November of each year, destructive winds, tornadoes, and floods from heavy rains are all things that can be expected if one lives in an area frequented by hurricanes. One should be prepared before the hurricane season starts…before it is too late.

Water damage is one of the most problematic and widely experienced forms of disaster damage in the country. Its causes are numbered and varied, including natural flooding, burst or leaky pipes, fire hose damage, and plain old humidity. Water damage is such a problem because it affects most every aspect of your home; it rots the wood, rusts the steel, de-laminates plywood, and, most frustratingly, ruins precious documents. To lose appliances or furniture is one thing. Those can be replaced. But when a flood or some other disaster damages family photo albums, antique books, or business documents, water damage goes from irritating to downright tragic.

So you’ve just survived a flood. What next? The time immediately following a flood is the most crucial if you are expecting to recover any personal property that may have been damaged by the floodwaters. However, hasty recovery tactics can lead to further damage of your property and potential harm to yourself and your loved ones. The best way to recover from a flood is to determine the type of flood you’ve experienced, the extent of the damage that has occurred, and the safest way to go about salvaging your belongings.

In addition to tragic human suffering, hurricanes pose a real threat to the economy. Unless business owners know what to do to return to normalcy, residents may not feel the storm’s true impact until months later, as they face still-closed businesses and unexpected price inflation. Mental health professionals also recommend a quick reopening of businesses to bring a sense of normalcy to affected areas. Businesses can help by being prepared for emergencies, and returning to “business as normal” as quickly as possible.

While a hurricane’s winds and rain are detrimental enough, the storm surge that follows generally causes most of the flood damage. A storm surge is created when a hurricane can be worse than the force of 120-mile-per-hour winds. This is bad news for the 4.2 million residents along the Atlantic and Gulf coasts and the $1.1 trillion of property that is vulnerable to severe flood damage. As if that isn’t bad enough, over half of the U.S.’s economic productivity is along coastal zones. While floods are unpredictable and unpreventable, you can prepare now to reduce resulting damage drives water ashore, and the impact of the waves in the future.