What can a person prepare for Hurricane? I wonder if coastal residents have to evacuate every time a hurricane hits the city. Katrina is coming to New Orleans fast & furious. <img src="/images/graemlins/ooo.gif" alt="" />

I think that prepping for a hurricane is similar to prepping for a bad winter storm in the north. I lived in southern Florida for a number of years and the hurricanes were not that bad then. I now live in Ohio and use the same ideas with a few exceptions due to winter weather. I have enough supplies for my family to eat as if nothing bad were happening for three or four days. If I had to stretch it out a bit longer I could go for a week easy. Using resources in the home and some ingenuity with the help of my wife I know we could go for a month. It would be rough but we could do it.

A BOB and a fast car to get the H' out of Dodge.

For the short term review the many posts by members in the hurricane affected areas. Longterm we may be witnessing another one of nature's wakeup calls. Humanity came very close to being wiped out in Iceage Europe. With luck and no small degree of knowing their world those reindeer hunters survived and laid the groundwork of art, music and the oldest known expression of the godhead. Sometimes we don't have any option but to indeed leave Dodge City ASAP. Noah, or his probable Mesopotamian counterpart listened to his weather station and followed instructions while others planned a storm party with lots of barley beer. So, like Darryl Hanna listen to the great Mor-Gur, Noah his naval architect and your peers at ETS who have BTDT <img src="/images/graemlins/wink.gif" alt="" />

The advice I gave my cousin Terrie who lives in central Florida still sounds good to me: Get 3 days supply of food & water, gas up your car, grab your kid, drive to Nebraska, stay there till Thanksgiving!
gino <img src="/images/graemlins/smile.gif" alt="" />

Do insurance companies offer hurricane coverage?

Only up to the first big payout. <img src="/images/graemlins/mad.gif" alt="" /> There are still cases being mitigated in California courts after the Northridge earthquake.

what do you mean insurance cover only big payout? Is this covered only for institutions instead of residential owners? Do residential owners have to pay out of their own pockets to repair their homes & businesses?

The insurance industry has a nasty habit of discontinuing coverage for certain disasters after they actually have to pay up when it finally happens. Even then, there may be years of litigation as in the Northridge Earthquake just to get the promised benefits. Insurance is not one of my favourite subjects, being in a fight over a fire claim <img src="/images/graemlins/mad.gif" alt="" />

Ditto that, a cat 5 storm is no time to shelter in place, have plenty of gas and money and be packed to go somewhere else for an extended period of time. Unless you like gambling with your life of course.