• First and foremost, know where your insurance policies are located. More importantly, you should review your insurance coverage to determine if you have any specific exclusions related to hurricanes. It is vitally important to review your building values in the event that you have to replace or repair structural damage.
   
• Since water can enter your buildings in a variety of ways, care should be taken to protect all documents.
   
• Cover all office equipment and machinery and remove computer units from the floor in all offices. Perform a BACK-UP on disk of all your data on computers and store it off-site.
   
• Do all that you can to preserve your pre-need files, in the event that water or wind enters your funeral home.
   
• Flying debris can cause huge damage - minimize this by removing all debris around the funeral home premises.
   
• Get cell phone numbers and a complete list of all employees so that you can check on them following a storm. Since communication systems may be totally destroyed, have a plan for your employees to assemble at your funeral home at a certain date and time after a hurricane. This will give you an opportunity to access damage to your employee’s homes and determine which employees will be available for clean up at your funeral home. Most insurers will pay for employees who perform debris removal following a storm.
   
• Be aware of your responsibility to mitigate damages following a storm – insurers may require you to be able to secure your premises and prevent further damage from wind and rain following a major storm.
   
• In order to minimize your down time and provide a safe haven for your employees, develop a source list for the following products and services:
  1. Water & Ice – think of the large 7-11 style ice machines. You will need ice & water and a way to store it.
  2. Generators – a life saver - so that you can restore power at your funeral home. Finding generators after a storm is difficult, so plan ahead and have them before the storm hits.
  3. Gas & Chainsaws
  4. Locate a source for portable bathrooms for your staff who will be involved in clean up, as there may be no electricity or water for extended periods.
  5. Speak with area contractors who would be able to provide some patchwork for damaged roof areas and contact an electrician who can connect a generator into your regular funeral home service.
  6. Designate someone in charge to feed your employees daily if you take a direct hit.
  7. Locate a source for mobile trailers in the event that your property is demolished.
  8. Have a plan for securing your funeral home after a storm.
  9. Insure that you have a contractor available who can also help you dry out your facilities. Contractors with drying equipment and dehumidifiers are extremely helpful.
  10. Talk to the people that handle your trash dumpsters and be sure that you can get additional dumpster facilities for clean up after the storm.
  11. Contact area firms for bobcat and front - end loaders for debris removal.
  12. Have a team of handy/strong employees who can help your employees at their homes if necessary.
       
• If you utilize bottle water dispensers have plenty of fresh water on hand and a small generator so that you can continue to dispense cold water.
   
• Take digital photos of the damage done to your funeral home. You may wish to take digital photos throughout your office so that you can reconstruct your losses for your insurance company.
   
• Have cash available at a secure location as banks may be down and all ATM’s will be unavailable.
   
• To the extent possible, have gasoline reserves on hand if possible for generators and so that you can travel to remote areas to locate certain services or necessities.

IFDF is pleased to provide these hurricane preparation tips gathered through those who were affected during last year’s storms. We hope and pray that the next storm does not bring more devastation to our IFDF member family. This document will reside on our IFDF website as well as being distributed to all member firms.

Remember, in the event of a hurricane or any other natural disaster, IFDF is ready to assist you in any way possible. Call us at 1-800-386-8778 or 850-222-0198.