As a long-time Florida resident, I am very familiar with lightning. However, I was shocked (no pun intended) to return to my neighborhood recently to find five fire trucks parked in front of my neighbor’s two-story home. The thunderstorm I followed home from the beach...
Those of us in hurricane-prone regions are all too aware that June 1 was the official start of hurricane season. Many of us have stocked our disaster supply kits and prepared our family emergency plans. However, a lot of people are still stumped when it comes to...
If you’ve seen the news, you know about the incredible flooding in the Northeast, proof that damaging floods can occur year ‘round. Maybe you’ve even thought about buying flood insurance for your home from FEMA’s National Flood Insurance Program. Don’t take too long...
If there’s one thing we harp about here at FLASH, it’s the importance of protecting your home’s windows and doors from severe winds. Why? Because these openings are easily penetrated by wind-borne debris often generated by windstorms. And once those high winds are...
Last week the National Weather Service launched its new scale for measuring tornado wind speed and damage. Good timing, I thought, as torrential rain and wind pummeled our area here in North Florida. Friday the new Enhanced Fujita (EF) Scale got its first workout in...
While we didn't have any major hurricanes, 2006 still held plenty of other natural disasters. Pick any month and you’ll find a federal disaster declaration, probably several. In all, 50 events were severe enough to earn a declaration. And the disaster that topped the...
The 2006 hurricane season was thankfully mild this year. But that doesn’t mean that severe winds haven’t been an issue in the United States. The Northwest has been pounded by a winter storm with wind gusts of up to 110 mph. If those were sustained winds, that would be...
Brrrr! Today hundreds of thousands of folks in the Midwest are still without power thanks to a powerful winter storm. That means a lot of people are probably using supplemental heating sources, like kerosene space heaters and fireplaces, to heat their homes. I’m...
You shopped ‘til you dropped on “Black Friday,” and web surfed on “Cyber Monday” ‘til your fingers hurt, but still need holiday gift ideas? These nifty gifts are useful all year long:NOAA All-Hazards Weather Radio—A must-have item, these handy little radios broadcast...
Take a moment to think about the entry doors in your house. Do they open inward or outward? If you picked the first choice, you’re not alone—the entry doors of most homes open inward. But is that the best thing? Not in the case of severe winds. That’s because inward...
