Disaster Safety Blog

Things to know before you go

Whether you're going on vacation for spring break, travel extensively for business or pleasure, have rental property that is unoccupied, or share time between two homes, there are things you can and should do before closing up your house for any real length of time, according to the Insurance Institute for Business & Home Safety.

Adjust Thermostat - One of the easiest things to do, but something easily forgotten, is adjusting the thermostat.

    * In colder climates, don't turn the thermostat off. Instead, lower it to a temperature that's warm enough to keep pipes from freezing but low enough that you are not spending money to heat an empty home. (No lower than 55 degrees.)
    * In warmer climates, high temperatures and humidity can damage furniture or other home contents. In this case, set your air conditioner to 85 degrees.

Protect Plumbing - Both plastic (PVC) and copper pipes can burst. Pipes, water heaters and other appliances can leak, or in freezing weather, pipes can freeze and burst, which can cause major damage in a home left unattended.

    * If you are leaving for an extended period of time, the best protection is to have the water shut off and the water lines drained.
          o Seek the advice of a professional plumber, who can shut off the valve at the water meter and send water outdoors and away from the house or into a basement drain. Once this has been done, the plumber should flush all toilets and drain the showerhead pipe.
          o Shut off the gas to the water heater (or the gas company can do this for you), or turn the temperature control to a "vacation" setting. If your house has a water softener, shut off its supply line.
    * If you choose to leave the water service turned on or will be away only a short while:
          o Make sure all pipes are insulated, especially in a garage or basement next to an outside wall or in crawl spaces and the attic. These exposed pipes are most susceptible to freezing.
          o Heat tape can also be used to wrap pipes. Wrap the tape or cables around water pipes, plug in the cord and the heating element will warm the pipes to prevent freezing. Closely follow all manufacturers' installation and operation instructions.
          o Turn off the water supply to individual fixtures like your washing machine, icemaker, toilets and sinks.
            Flooding often occurs when hoses are worn or ruptured, or there is a leak at the connection.
          o Don't leave appliances (dishwasher, washing machine or dryer) running when you leave, and check to make sure toilets aren't running. As an extra precaution, unplug your toaster, coffee maker, microwave oven, computer and television.
          o Make sure the sump pump is working, especially in late winter or early spring when melting snow or heavy rain increases the risk of basement flooding.

Plan for High Wind - If you're going to be away during a season that brings high wind, protect your property:

          o Trim dead limbs from trees and shrubbery and store outdoor furniture and other objects that could become damaging missiles if picked up by high wind.
          o Close and lock all doors, windows, skylights and vents to keep out wind and wind-driven rain.

Make Your House or Business Look Occupied - An empty, unsecured property can be a tempting target for thieves and vandals. 

    * Put interior and exterior lights on timers and/or motion sensors. Set the timers on staggered hours to turn lights on and off at different times.
    * Make sure tapered deadbolt locks all installed and in use on entry doors. The taper makes it almost impossible to use a wrench or other tool to twist the lock open.
    * Suspend mail service and newspaper delivery.
    * Install a monitored security system. (Insurers often provide discounts for devices that make a home safer, so consider the financial benefit.)
    * Inform the local police department that your house will be empty.

Wildfire season heats up in New Mexico

A wildfire in New Mexico is still threatening properties today, despite being partially contained by firefighters Wednesday.

What is being called the Quail Ridge Fire is burning near Silver City. The blaze has consumed nearly 1,800 acres and destroyed 13 houses and 47 other buildings, according to news reports. Officials say up to 100 structures within the burn area and another 100 buildings within a quarter-mile of the fire perimeter are still considered threatened.

 Find solutions to protect your New Mexico home, business or farm from wildfire at www.DisasterSafety.org/wildfire.

Property damage reported in three states after storms

Violent weather caused property damage in three states where tornadoes and severe thunderstorms struck Wednesday. The storm system that spawned the severe weather moved into Florida and onto the East Coast this morning.

One of the hardest hit areas on Wednesday was the metro of New Orleans, La., which was the site of three tornadoes and heavy rain. Other tornadoes were reported Biloxi, Miss., and Baldwin and Mobile counties in Alabama. Damage assessments are underway.

Find solutions for reducing the risk of wind damage by strengthening roof to wall connections at DisasterSafety.org.

Event will help residents protect property against earthquake damage

Earthquakes are no passing fancy to Southern Illinois residents who experienced a significant temblor April 18, 2008, attributed to the Wabash Valley seismic area, The Southern reports today.

With that fact in mind, public officials and the general public can learn more about seismic activity next month as John A. Logan College in Carterville, Ill., hosts a regional earthquake preparedness tour - "Identify your Risk, Make a Plan, and Take Action" - that is being presented by the Central U.S. Earthquake Consortium, Federal Emergency Management Agency and the Institute for Business & Home Safety.

The program will be from 6:30 to 8:30 p.m. Feb. 9 in JALC Conference Center. It is part of a six-stop tour that includes neighboring states and is a bicentennial recognition of the 1811-12 New Madrid earthquakes that occurred from a fault system in the central United States roughly between St. Louis and Memphis, Tenn.

The series of four earthquakes were among the most violent earthquakes to ever hit the U.S. with magnitudes so powerful, there were eyewitness reports the Mississippi River flowed backward and damage occurred as far away as Washington, D.C., and Charleston, S.C., according to the U.S. Geological Survey.

"Recognition of the New Madrid on this tour is designed to get a little more awareness out there for the community. We can learn more about earthquake preparedness," said Chris Barr, coordinator of corporate training at JALC.

CUSEC officials are expected to give a scientific presentation that will detail major facts and research of the New Madrid seismic zone.

What the general public may want to pay particular attention to will be a presentation from IBHS officials that centers on business mitigation and sustainability plans before and after quake activity, Barr said.

Find all of the IBHS projects at www.DisasterSafety.org/earthquake, where you can download a free copy of the new IBHS earthquake retrofit guide.

"Our role is to help businesses and homeowners become more resilient to earthquakes," said IBHS spokesman Joseph King.

There are things homeowners can do for example such as anchoring book shelves to the wall to keep it from collapsing.

"There are specific products available now to help anchor you knickknacks. You want to work for more stability to prevent major damage and to prevent items and objects from becoming moving targets that can seriously injure you. We have new methods of keeping things stable," King said.

The tour is a precursor to a larger event scheduled by CUSEC in April - "The Great Central U.S. ShakeOut" - that will involve more than a million people in Illinois, Missouri, Alabama, Arkansas, Kentucky, Indiana, Mississippi and Tennessee.

Already being described as the largest earthquake preparedness event in central U.S. history, the ShakeOut will be centered on a simultaneous drop, cover and hold drill that will begin at 10:15 a.m. April 28 according to a CUSEC news release.

Register for the Shakeout and do your part to get prepared.

Disaster-related insured losses continued climbing trend in 2010

Year end figures for insured catastrophe losses worldwide are emerging from leading firms, most recently including Aon Benfield and Swiss Re, which agree disaster-related losses are on the rise.

Aon Benfield, an affiliate member of the Institute for Business & Home Safety, reports in its "Annual Global Climate and Catastrophe Report" that "global natural catastrophic activity was far higher than in the previous three years, with 314 separate events." The report tallies overall economic losses at $252 billion and insured losses at $38 billion. This is an increase from 2009, when there were 222 events that resulted in $58 billion in economic losses and $20 billion insured losses.

Aon Benfield's tally is a slight increase from one recently released by Swiss Re, which put total economic losses at $222 billion and insured losses at $36 billion.

Regardless of the dollar figure, there is little doubt the costliest disaster of 2010 for insurers was the earthquake in Chile, which resulted in insured losses of $8.5 billion. In terms of economic losses, flooding in Pakistan topped the 2010 list of events with a price tag of more than $30 billion.

One effective way to reduce disaster-related insured and economic losses is to take a communitywide approach to mitigation. Through the new IBHS Research Center and its other options, IBHS is working to develop cost-effective retrofit options for existing properties, new construction solutions and to push for the adoption and enforcement of strong, modern building codes. These types of codes were credited for reducing insured losses in Chile, which adopted modern codes to reduce earthquake damage. Read more about IBHS public policy efforts.

Responsible land use practices protect Washington properties

Smart land use policies are being credited for limiting property damage from flooding and landslides in Washington state, the Issaquah Press reports.

King County Executive Dow Constantine told the newspaper during weekend flooding many areas across the county experienced landslides or flooding, but damage to life and property remained at a minimum.

“The damaged homes in King County that were seen in the news were not among those that have been permitted or built in the last 10 years,” Constantine said in a statement. “Policies to limit construction on steep slopes and protections for flood hazard areas are doing a better job of making our homes and neighborhoods safer and more resistant to damage from severe weather.”

County flood hazard regulations focus protecting public health and safety and limiting development, so as not to exacerbate downstream flood hazards.

The Institute for Business & Home Safety (IBHS) supports land use practices that limit development in risk-prone areas. Learn more about the land use policies in your area with resources from IBHS.

Rare tornado in Oregon damages properties

A rare tornado struck the small town of Aumsville, Ore., about 45 miles south of Portland, on Tuesday. The twister damaged several homes and businesses.

The tornado touched down at 11:45 a.m. local time Tuesday. It was the first to touch down in the state since Dec. 9, 2009, when a tornado hit Lincoln County near the coast, according to the National Weather Service. Eleven homes and three cars were damaged, but no one was hurt.

It was one of four Oregon tornadoes in the past decade, all causing only property damage, the weather service reports. Damage assessment teams from the weather service are in the area this week to measure the breadth of the storm and its wind speed.

The 1990s was an active period for tornadoes in Oregon when at least 16 tornadoes touched down. On April 5, 1972, a tornado that started in Portland crossed the Columbia River and killed six people, injured about 300 more and causing $3 million in damage in the Vancouver area.

When repairing storm damage, such as replacing a roof, consider ways to protect it from future storms, recommends the Institute for Business & Home Safety (IBHS). The IBHS FORTIFIED suite of programs offers guidance for making homes more disaster resistant through stronger new construction and by retrofitting existing properties when renovating or making repairs.

Learn more about FORTIFIED. See how well a FORTIFIED home stands up to high wind conditions in this fascinating IBHS video.

Reducing property losses promotes healthy insurance market, says IBHS

More than two years after Hurricane Ike devastated parts of Texas, many home and business owners are still recovering. So is the the Texas Windstorm Insurance Association (TWIA), the state's insurer of last resort for windstorm coverage.

Today, Texas lawmakers will begin considering how to fix TWIA, which is still paying out millions of dollars in claims to victims of Hurricane Ike, the Texas Tribune reports. A joint House-Senate panel created by a 2009 bill will look at ways to restructure the program, which could include limiting the availability of insurance.

Reducing the risk of property damage due to hurricanes, hail storms and other natural disasters is one way to ensure a healthy insurance market, says Julie Rochman, president and chief executive officer of the Institute for Business & Home Safety. Finding effective ways to reduce losses was the motivation behind opening the new IBHS Research Center. See the Grand Opening Wind Demonstration Tests conducted this fall at the lab.

"Property insurance is one of those areas where loss costs continue to be through the roof," Ms. Rochman told Insurance Journal. "With investments being what they are today, the way to get to profitability, the way to keep a robust, healthy private insurance market is to lower losses. And that's what we're going to try to do [at the IBHS Research Center] is save the industry — and therefore our policyholders —millions of dollars in natural hazard losses every year."

Rochman, a former exec at the Insurance Institute of Highway Safety (IIHS), knows firsthand the impact of such research. The IIHS — a similar, industry-funded organization to IBHS - tests cars for safety and damage resistance and is a major player in getting carmakers to optimize life-saving and claims-reducing features.

IBHS already offers homeowners an alternative to traditional construction through its FORTIFIED for Safer Living^® new construction program, which was battle-tested by Hurricane Ike in Texas. Read more about how well FORTIFIED homes performed in hurricane conditions in the IBHS report "Hurricane Ike: Nature's Force vs. Structural Strength."

What will changing weather mean for willdfire risks?

Cooperative weather patterns have the United States on track for its "quietest wildfire year since 1998," according to the National Interagency Fire Center, but parts of the country still could experience a heightened fire risk due to drier conditions.

To date, 3.3 million acres in the U.S. have been burned due to wildfires, the fire center reports. That is compared to an annual average of 6.8 million acres burned from January through November from 2000-2009. By contrast, more than 9 million acres burned in 2006 and again in 2007 during that same time period.

The present fire conditions are attributed to persistently cool, wet weather in the normally arid and fire-plagued West throughout the late spring and summer. The South was also wetter than average. 

However, the transition from an El Niño to a La Niña this past summer, along with ongoing drought, will increase the likelihood for wildfires across the southern U.S. through the winter and into the spring. The driest conditions are expected from eastern New Mexico to Texas and Florida. Wildfires are most common through the winter in the southern Plains, and in March in Florida.

The dryness is already causing problems in Texas and Oklahoma, according to the most recent U.S. Drought Monitor. Georgia and Florida have also been extremely dry. According to the drought monitor, 90 percent of Georgia and 69 percent of Florida are experiencing drought conditions. Over the past 90 days, parts of northeastern and east-central Florida have received about 1 foot less than their average rainfall.

While conditions are favorable, take steps to protect your home or business from wildfires. Start by conducting a risk assessment using the checklist from the Institute for Business & Home Safety (IBHS) that is part of the series of nine regionally specific IBHS Wildfire Retrofit Guides. Download a free copy of the guide designed for your region of the country at www.DisasterSafety.org/wildfire, and look for the checklist in the back. Then, follow the advice to improve your property's ability to survive a wildfire.  

Severe weather leaves trail of damage in three states

A line of severe weather raced through Mississippi this morning. And as it did, it brought damaging winds and rain to the region, which was decimated by a line of tornadoes that killed 12 people in April.

Below is a list of Mississippi counties where storm damage was reported to the Mississippi Emergency Management Agency, according to WDAM News. When repairing storm damage, consider following the guidelines offered by IBHS' FORTIFIED for Existing Homes™ program - it's the best way to avoid building over and costly repairs the next time storms roll through your area.

Attala: Several mobile homes damaged, six people injured. Power outages reported and roads are currently being cleared of debris.

Leake: Three structures damaged. Power outage reported in Thomastown area.

Monroe: Several homes damaged and eleven reported injuries. Radio communications tower damaged, MEMA has sent a mobile communications unit to assist.

Oktibbeha: Reported damage to homes and injuries in the Starkville area. Trees and power lines down throughout the county.

Yazoo: Structural damage to several buildings in the downtown Yazoo City area. Buildings were heavily damaged in downtown Yazoo City, where workers rushed to repair traffic signals near the courthouse square Tuesday morning.

In central Louisiana, a tornado destroyed a brick house and damaged three other homes near the town of Atlanta as a front with thunderstorms moved across the region from Monday into Tuesday. No one was hurt, the Winn Parish sheriff's office said.

The Lake Pontchartrain Causeway near New Orleans was closed for a time because of high winds. About 1,300 people in the city's central business district lost power, but it has since been restored.

Winds gusting to near hurricane-force in Alabama knocked down trees and prompted some schools to cancel or delay classes.

Alabama emergency management officials said a possible tornado toppled trees and power lines in Lamar County near the Mississippi line Tuesday morning, and winds estimated at near 70 mph blew a vehicle off Corridor X near Cordova in Walker County.