Paul Hope with Consumer Reports shares some best practices for getting your home summer-ready ahead of any extreme weather.
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00:00We have Paul Hope, Senior Home and Appliance Writer with Consumer Reports.
00:04Paul, thank you so much for joining us.
00:06It's so cliche, but fail to plan, plan to fail.
00:10And we want to get people prepared and make those plans now ahead of the storms.
00:15Absolutely.
00:16One of the best things you can do to prepare is to just do it early and do it often.
00:22We like to say that the absolute worst thing you can do is to try to make some of these plans
00:27in the immediate run-up to a storm or, of course, after it's already hit.
00:31You're going to have a really difficult time doing things that are really quite easy right now.
00:36And what are some of those things that you can be doing around your house
00:39just kind of to upkeep things that may already be in place?
00:43Absolutely.
00:44So the first thing you want to look at are the sort of big-picture things you can do,
00:47things like hurricane and storm-resistant roofing shingles,
00:51a whole house generator or even a portable generator equipped with a transfer switch
00:55to let it power whole circuits in your home,
00:57and things like hurricane shutters, storm-resistant windows.
01:00They're all great, logical home upgrades,
01:03especially for people who live in the areas that are typically hit by hurricanes.
01:08All right, so you've got the outside of your house all prepared,
01:10but a lot of people, if they're sheltering inside,
01:12how can you help people and your family be ready for things inside your home?
01:18Sure.
01:19So one of the easiest things that you can do is pack a go bag.
01:21That's literally just a backpack or any easy-to-carry bag that has the kinds of essentials
01:26that you might need in the event of a prolonged power outage
01:29or in the event that somebody might not be able to reach you and take you to safety.
01:32So look to pack things like flashlights, drinking water,
01:36portable chargers for cell phones and other devices,
01:39and a weather radio, ideally one that can either be charged independently
01:43or that doesn't even need to be charged,
01:45just so you can stay abreast of what's going on with the weather systems.
01:49And also look to pack really important documents in that,
01:52things like photo ID, maybe even birth certificates, passports,
01:56things that you might need or that might get damaged if you have to leave your home.
02:00Paul, I have a question.
02:01How often do you advise people to kind of refresh these pack bags?
02:06Because maybe someone packed it last year and luckily didn't maybe need to use it.
02:10How often would you say that you should either restock or check to make sure nothing's expired?
02:15That's a great question.
02:17At the bare minimum, you want to do it at least annually.
02:19And in the run-up to hurricane season is a great place to start.
02:23It's sort of a, you know, it's a good time of year to be thinking about it.
02:27Typically speaking, most canned goods will last a really long time,
02:31even past the best by date if they have one.
02:33Obviously, if you have any canned goods that you're saving for the event of a prolonged outage,
02:37you want to throw it out or get rid of it.
02:39Otherwise, after it's past the use by date.
02:42Same thing goes for standing water.
02:44If it's sealed in its original container, you have at least a year of life there.
02:48But there's no reason to use old water.
02:50You can obviously just go ahead and drink that, replace it with a new stock,
02:54test your flashlights and their batteries,
02:56maybe even pack an extra set of batteries in your go-bag
02:58if you're unsure about the age of the batteries in your flashlights.
03:01And of course, give a charge to any portable chargers.
03:04Paul, I lived in North Carolina for several years,
03:06and I have what I called our hurricane water.
03:08And then hurricane season passed, we were good.
03:10And I told my husband, I was like, okay, you can drink it now.
03:12Because it's like, don't touch it, don't touch it until we need it.
03:14So good reminders there.
03:16Exactly. Exactly.
03:18Well, we appreciate it. Home Appliances writer Paul Hope.
03:20Thank you again so much for joining us and help keeping us safe.