Well folks, here we are again, steeling ourselves as a major hurricane seems to be approaching land, slated to do some serious damage. With the death toll and damages already rolling in from Cuba, the Bahamas, and Haiti, it’s time to make sure you’re as prepared as you can be.
Matthew marks the first big hurricane to pose a serious threat to Florida and the Carolinas in several years, with the governor of Florida already encouraging citizens to evacuate. As it continues its way up the coast many people are already gathering supplies. Always at the read, here’s what LXBN members say you should try to pull together before the hurricane hits.
Provisions
The most obvious thing to prepare for when hiding out from a hurricane is provisions. That means having ready to eat food, clean water, and gas ready to help keep you and your loved ones safe during the storm. The folksat Food Safety News have the full list of tips the USDA advises following when impacted by Hurricane Matthew. Most notably:
- Be prepared for power outages to affect your refrigerator. Keeping thermometers in both your fridge and freezer will let you know when food is at a safe temperature, and freezing water in quart-sized plastic bags (that aren’t overfilled—water expands when frozen!) ahead of time can help extend the life of perishables.
- Keep refridgerator and freezer doors closed as much as possible, and maybe even have some coolers on hand in case power stays out for more than four hours. If you have time to buy dry ice ahead of time, 50 pounds will keep a fully stocked 18-cubic-feet freezer cold for two days.
- If there’s flooding, any food that comes into contact with the water should be thrown out unless it’s in a fully waterproof container. Again, don’t take any chances here, and be careful when checking cans, and other food items for punctures, holes, fractures, extensive rusting, or denting.
- Check each item separately and carefully, discarding any perishables that have been above 40 degrees F for two hours or more. Don’t use taste to test if any food is safe. If in doubt, throw it out.
They also note that FSIS will continue to provide relevant food safety information on their Twitter (@USDAFoodSafety) and Facebook (facebook.com/foodsafety.gov).
Property
As with any major weather event, make sure your insurance information is ready to go. It can be helpful to keep relevant documents with you, of course, but Jeffrey Greyber of the Property Insurance Coverage Law Blog also advises getting photographic evidence of property that’ll be damaged by the storm, while compiling your stock of food, water, gas, etc.
If you are able to safely photograph or videotape destruction of your property during Hurricane Matthew—from hurricane proof windows that are not shuttered in, or you hear structural components of your house snapping and popping—Greyber says to do that too.“If you have not already done so, use these last few hours before the storm to adequately document the interior and exterior of your property … photos, photos, videos, videos, photos, videos, videos, photos … then some more photos and videos. And, better yet, try to date and time stamp your photos and videos,” writes Greyber from Boca Raton. “It goes without saying to adequately photograph and videotape your property after a storm, of course; but, do not forget to also do so before the storm. This will help you navigate a very popular coverage exclusion that the insurance company will try to wield against you to avoid payment – “well, that damage you’re claiming actually pre-existed Hurricane Matthew… so, yep, sorry, claim denied.” The insurance company’s pre-existing damage maneuvering will come at you in different forms, of course – failure to maintain, wear and tear, neglect, failure to protect your property, and et cetera. So, if your photographs and videos depict a lovely property before the storm, that will go a long way in ensuring full(er) and quick(er) claim payment following Hurricane Matthew.”
Professional
If you’re a boss in the path of the hurricane, or one of your employees is, hopefully you’re already prepared for this. But if you’re not—or the hurricane pivots and takes one of your employees by surprise—Kara Nickel ofBeLabor the Point has some advice for you.
Of course it matters if your employees are non-exempt, hourly employees or salaried, exempt employees. If they are the former, Nickel says that a company does not have to pay employees for anytime they do not work because the office is closed due to weather. The employee may be permitted to use the accrued paid leave time, or work remotely during an office closure (if allowed), and then the employee must be paid for the time work.
If the employee is a salaried exempt employee, they must be paid their entire salary for any workweek in which they perform any work.
“If the employee does not work at all during the week, then he/she does not need to be paid,” writes Nickel. “If the office is closed for an entire week, the company does not have to pay the salaried exempt employee for that week. If the office is closed for a partial week (for example, Monday and Tuesday) and the employee works the remainder of the week when the office re-opens, the exempt employee must be paid his/her regular salary for the entire week.”
She also notes some tricky notes around when flooding makes a commute difficult enough for employees to choose not to come in, even if the office is open.
“The Company can require the employee to use paid leave time for any full or partial day absences. However, if an employee with a partial day absence has exhausted or has not accrued paid leave time, he/she must still receive the full salary for the week,” says Nickel.
Be sure to check out her full post for the most robust details of what to do with employees during Hurricane Matthew.
Emergency Response
The FCC is also hard at work preparing their anticipatory disaster response, as the team at CommLawBlognotes in their post:
A public notice released this afternoon alerts the public that Commission personnel will be available, 24/7, to assist communications providers as they deal with the effects of the storm.…Although the public notice doesn’t mention it, folks in the storm zone might also want to take a look at the FCC’s “tips” on communicating during emergency conditions. The tips, developed by the Commission in partnership with the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA), aren’t what you’d call radical or cutting-edge by any means, but they serve as an excellent reminder that, in emergencies, caution, cool heads and common sense are among the most useful tools available.
It’s possible that this storm will break before it hits anything too major, or that the effects will be overhyped. But safety first—stay dry, stay safe, and be prepared for whatever comes your way.
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