Spring showers bring May flowers, but what about when the showers are thunderous? Preparing yourself and your home for bad weather is a great way to prioritize safety. To ensure that you feel prepared, consider what activities, clothes, or blankets you need that will give you the most comfort and incorporate them into your bad weather strategy.
While you would need a more extensive list of items to be prepared to survive in a natural disaster, our tips will get you through any thunderstorms coming your way this season!
Here are five great ways to prepare your apartment home for bad weather.
Put together an emergency supply kit.
Gather some flashlights, extra batteries, candles, matches, bottled water, a first-aid kit, etc. Keep this kit somewhere you can easily access even if the power has gone out. Some convenient location ideas are under the kitchen sink or in a closet near your front door. You can rest assured that during a power outage during a storm, you can quickly restore a little light to your home!
Consider personalizing this kit to fit your or your family’s needs, and add some comfort items like fuzzy socks, a warm blanket, a scented candle, and battery-operated fairy lights. Having something to soften the experience might help ease some of the tension of experiencing bad weather.
Identify the best locations in your home to wait out the storm.
The safest place in your home to wait out a storm will depend on the weather you are experiencing. However, you will eliminate additional worry by identifying where to go ahead of time. When the weather hits, you won’t have to think about where to go.
For weather that includes dangerously high winds, you typically want to go to a room or closet without windows. For information on how to find the best place in your home to stay safe during a storm, check out this article from Allstate!
Secure any balcony or patio decor.
If you have any outdoor furniture or decor, you will want to ensure it is secured or bring it inside to prevent strong winds from blowing them away or causing damage.
You will want to ensure that your car is not parked under a tree, but only move it if it's safe to do so!
Find a book or activity to occupy your mind for the duration of the storm
Don’t plan on anything that will depend on electricity just in case you lose power, but do find some books, puzzles, coloring books, and a deck of cards to keep yourself entertained. Just like including comfort items in your emergency supply kit, finding fun, distracting activities will inhibit you from sitting and worrying through the entire storm.
If you might have children with you, then you will definitely want to have some games or crafts on hand to keep the little ones’ worries at bay. Consider building a pillow fort to play these games in to give the children the added comfort of being in a more fun setting. You could also use the storm as an opportunity to teach them about the weather, the water cycle, or other facts and knowledge that correlate to bad weather.
Secure your pets
Most apartment home residents do not have this issue because their pets are only outside when supervised. But if your four-legged friend has access to your balcony, ensure they are inside when you have finished securing your exterior belongings. The last thing you would want is for something to happen to your pets, so this is truly an invaluable step to preparing for bad weather.
If you have a dog that struggles with rain or thunder, consider some of these tips from the American Kennel Club. Not only will providing comfort to your dog help ease their anxiety, but it will also distract you from your own qualms about the weather.
You are now all set to keep you, your pets, and your belongings safe during bad weather. Take these tips and modify them to best suit your needs and lifestyle, and you won’t even bat an eye when you see a storm on the radar. We hope that you feel empowered by your preparedness for future inclement weather!