Hurricane season storage guide

Hurricane season runs June 1 to November 30. On this coast that is not a statistic — and the difference between a stored unit that survives and one that doesn’t is mostly decided before the storm has a name.

Find a unit

Do the work in June, not when it's named

The single most useful thing in this guide: everything below is easier in June. Once a system is in the Gulf and the cone includes Bay County, every storage facility on the coast fields the same calls in the same forty-eight hours, plywood sells out, and you will be moving furniture in wind.

Hurricane Michael made landfall in October 2018 and reshaped this county. Nobody local needs persuading that the season is real. What people do underestimate is how much of the damage is water and humidity, not wind — and that part is entirely within your control.

Pack a unit as if the floor will get wet

Assume, once, that water comes in. It changes very little about how you pack and saves everything if you are right.

  • Nothing on the floor. Pallets, 2×4s or a couple of inches of anything. This is the highest-value five minutes in the whole job.
  • Plastic bins, not cardboard, for anything you would be upset to lose. Cardboard wicks water upward and collapses under a stack once damp.
  • Electronics and documents high and sealed, in bins with lids, not boxes.
  • Upholstery off the concrete and covered in cotton, never plastic sheet — plastic traps humidity against the fabric and grows mould in a Florida summer.
  • Metal gets a wipe of oil. Tools, hinges, hitches. Salt air plus humidity is a rust machine even with the doors shut.
  • Desiccant. A tub of moisture absorber in a closed unit does more than people expect. Replace it a couple of times a season.

When a storm is actually coming

An order of operations, because in the panic people do these in the wrong order:

  1. Bring in everything loose outdoors first. Patio furniture, grills, umbrellas, planters, bins, kids’ toys. In a hurricane these stop being furniture and become projectiles — this is as much about your neighbours’ windows as your own things.
  2. Then the balcony and the garage overflow. Anything a surge could float.
  3. Photograph everything as it goes in. Ten minutes on your phone is the difference between a paid claim and an argument.
  4. Fuel and propane stay behind. They are not permitted in a storage unit, for reasons a storm makes obvious.
  5. Move vehicles inland and out of surge zones early. Do not leave this until the evacuation order — that is when the roads stop working.

Vacation rental and condo owners

If you manage rentals on the beach, the balcony furniture problem arrives for every unit you hold at the same moment. Owners who already have a unit deal with it in an afternoon; owners who don’t spend that afternoon calling facilities that are already full. Holding a 10×15 through the season costs less than one replacement patio set. See vacation rental storage.

Boats and RVs

Get them off the water and out of the surge zone, strip anything that can catch wind — covers, awnings, canvas, antennas — and never leave a cover on loosely, because a flapping cover destroys gelcoat and paint faster than the rain does. Details in the boat guide and the RV guide.

Insurance, before the season

Two things worth checking in May. First, whether your homeowners or renters policy extends to stored property, and to what limit — most do, many at a reduced percentage. Second, whether it excludes flood, because a great many policies do and that is precisely the peril in question here. Tenant insurance on the unit is required either way; make sure you know what it actually covers rather than assuming.

First month free

New tenants get the first month free on any unit or outdoor space — including the big RV spaces. Month to month, so you are never locked into a year to get the deal.

Questions people actually ask

When should I move things into storage for hurricane season?

June, at the start of the season. Once a storm is named, availability on this coast disappears within a couple of days.

Are storage units safe in a hurricane?

No structure is a guarantee, and no honest operator will tell you otherwise. What you can control is how you pack — off the floor, in sealed bins, upholstery covered in cotton rather than plastic — and having good photographs and current insurance.

Can I store fuel or a generator?

A generator with the tank drained, yes. Fuel, propane and anything flammable, no — never, in any unit.

Should I keep a unit all season or just when a storm comes?

All season, if you have outdoor furniture on the beach. The whole point is to already have the space when everyone else is looking for one.