Batten Down the Hatches
by Alexis Shea, CMCA, AMS
When a Category 5 hurricane is barreling toward your community association, the last thing you want to discover is that you are unprepared. Resident life and safety may be at risk in the coming days or hours.
As a portfolio community manager with experience managing associations in both Florida and Hawaii during natural disasters, I have found implementing a disaster preparedness plan early on can limit property loss, reduce risks, and speed the association’s recovery.
Planning in advance can strengthen a community association’s ability to mitigate risk and alleviate some of the unnecessary chaos that comes with an emergency. There are many resources available to begin putting together your community’s emergency plan. The Federal Emergency Management Agency, (FEMA) local emergency management agencies, and the association’s insurance agent are great places to begin your research. Many insurance carriers also will provide a risk assessment upon request.
Here are some things to consider when developing a plan:
- Involve your residents. Create a committee to develop a disaster preparedness action plan. Most residents are ready and willing to get involved. Committee members can be recruited at board meetings, by posting announcements in the community newsletter and on the website, and via email blasts. Committee size will vary depending upon the size and needs of your association.
- Know who is on site. Are owner registration forms updated and accessible during an emergency? Keep a physical binder on site in case of loss of electricity. Obtain a list of emergency contacts and residents with disabilities or who may need special assistance evacuating.
- Review insurance policies. Take note of policy deductibles. Review your association’s budget and financials. Is the total building replacement amount accurate? In the event of a disaster, can the association pay the deductible? Is financing an option? Review policy exclusions with your insurance agent and ensure the association has the correct coverage. Plan and budget in advance. Be sure to keep physical copies of active insurance policies accessible.
- Review business partner lists and contracts. Review contracts and expected response times following a disaster. Expected response time can be written into contracts. Create a contact list and share it with the board and committee. Have your insurance agent confirm business partners carry the proper coverage limits. Always use licensed and insured contractors.
- Secure hard copies of physical component documents. Compile important documents such as warranties and manuals for security, gate, fire, and irrigation systems as well as plat map and blueprints, and ensure they are physically accessible. Locate specific meters and shut-off valves. Back up computers to an external drive or the cloud so information is not lost.
- Assign specific roles, responsibilities, and a chain of command. Create a specific evacuation plan that sets an assembly point to meet. Run annual drills to improve procedures. Take notes and review the findings with your committee to make them more efficient.
- Inform owners. Be sure to share plans with residents. Host town halls and invite local experts to speak to boost community knowledge and involvement. It also increases residents’ sense of safety and security and gives homeowners confidence that management and the board are protecting their most valuable asset — their homes.
Benefit from a Dry Run
by Michael Cuglietta
Jeannette Graham and the other community managers at Florida’s Castle Management Group begin rehearsals for hurricane season in April.
Graham manages Bel Mare Condominiums, a two-tower, 15-story high-rise in Palmetto, a city on Florida’s Gulf Coast about 20 miles from where Hurricane Milton made landfall as a powerful Category 3 storm last summer, causing $34 billion in damage. Although Graham’s tips are hurricane specific, similar measures can be taken before tornado or wildfire seasons.
Graham says it is important to formulate a plan that the board signs off on and communicate it to residents well before the season starts.
The plan includes a countdown of everything that needs to be done beginning 72 hours before a storm is expected to make landfall.
– At 72 hours, take inside anything that fierce winds could render a projectile such as trash cans, potted plants, and lounge chairs. Residents should clear balconies. Review a checklist of hurricane supplies.
– At 48 hours, board up windows. Strap down anything that can’t be moved inside. Put important documents into dry storage. Call a staff meeting to make sure everything has been properly secured.
– At 24 hours, shut off the irrigation system. Lower the water level in the pool. Back up computers onto external hard drives. Contact each resident and compile a list of anyone who did not evacuate. Also, place a sign-in sheet in the lobby so anyone who stayed behind can be accounted for once the storm has passed.
– At 12 hours, the staff and most residents are gone. Pull elevators to a top floor and turn them off so there is no electrical damage in the event of flooding. At this point, the building is effectively shut down.
Graham, who had to close her building three times last hurricane season, admits those 72 hours are a ton of work. Hurricanes are erratic and often veer off course. Much of the time, it can feel like all that effort was a waste. Still, Graham and her colleagues at Castle remain relentless in their storm prep; they believe in the adage of planning for the worst and hoping for the best.
“You prepare to protect the associations’ assets at all costs,” Graham says.
Hurricane Milton cost Bel Mare about $12,000, mostly on clearing plant debris. Graham knows of other buildings in the area hit so hard residents are still unable to return eight months later. Although prep played a role in keeping damage to a minimum, Graham recognizes that her buildings, constructed in 2007 and 2010, were built to weather storms.
These articles originally published in CAI’s magazine Common Ground, July/Aug 2025
