(HealthDay News) -- If a hurricane is headed your way, taking steps to help protect your home and family can help avoid catastrophic results.
The U.S. Federal Emergency Management Agency's ready.gov site suggests how to prepare for a hurricane:
- Tune into local TV or radio stations for updates on the weather. Avoid using the telephone.
- Make sure your home is secured, shutters closed, and garbage cans and outdoor furniture secured or brought indoors.
- Make sure trees and bushes are well-trimmed, making them less prone to the effects of heavy winds.
- Consider boarding windows with 5/8-inch marine plywood, cut to fit. The agency stresses that tape does not prevent windows from breaking.
- Make sure propane tanks are shut off and any boat is securely moored.
- Fill bathtubs with water for drinking, and stock enough safe food.
- Identify the safest room in your home, which you and the family may need to occupy during the height of the storm.
- Heed any evacuation order from local or state authorities.
