Of all recorded hurricanes to hit the US since 1851, 36% have made landfall in Florida. If you want to protect your home from objects that the high winds and tornadoes bred by hurricanes pitch around at high speed, you should install hurricane shutters on your home. Roll-down shutters are probably the easiest kinds of shutters to have on your home when a storm is coming, as they (just as the name says) stay on your house year-round, and you roll them down when a storm is imminent. You can either roll them down manually when the power is out, or you can just touch a button and roll them down using electricity.
But if you don’t like the look of roll-down shutters or if you want something more economical, there are many other kinds of shutters that you can use on your home that provide you with just as much protection from storms. Bahama Shutters, Colonial Shutters, or Accordian Shutters protect your home as well as Rolling Shutters do, but have a totally different look.
When Hurricane Cleo passed over Miami and Fort Lauderdale, the Category 2 storm with its 110 mph winds caused 125 million dollars worth of damage, and left both cities in the dark when they lost electricity. Cleo cut power to an estimated 620,000 homes and businesses. The hurricane also caused massive flooding, major structural damage, and destroyed the citrus crop that year. It also prevented the Fort Lauderdale News from publishing a newspaper for the only time in its long history.
Cleo left a lasting mark on the Florida cities it touched, much as Hurricane Andrew would later do. Landmarks were obliterated and then were never rebuilt. Florida residents who had been complacent about stocking up on hurricane provisions and preparations for the storm rushed to buy both hurricane emergency supplies and hurricane shutters.
Hurricane shutters can do a lot to protect your home, as most damage to homes is caused by high winds and tornadoes that happen during the hurricane. Pictures in the aftermath of tornadoes have shown broom handles through trees so seamlessly that you can’t even tell that it was a catastrophic event that put it there. Imagine that same broom handle going through the windows of your house. What kind of damage do you think it would do on the way in? Do yourself (and your home) a favor, and protect it with hurricane shutters today.
