America’s introduction to security shutters is around 70 odd years old. This shutter type came to the USA after the Second World War. Security shutters find use in protecting both residential and commercial property and this is the reason why many of these are used in Chicago.
Chicago is not in a hurricane zone but property in that city too needs protection from not just biting winds but also theft. This is where these shutters are such a big help. They provide an added layer of heat insulation bringing down heating costs. Security shutters can be made with insulating polyurethane foam between the polycarbonate or aluminum panels. In terms of security, these shutters are much favored because they prevent break-ins. The shutters can be operated from inside or outside and are easy to operate. You can open and close them manually or via a motor. If you have implemented motorized operation then make sure that you have battery backup in case there is a blackout.
These shutters run on tracks and are housed on the top of the opening they are meant to cover. These are best installed at the time of construction, retrofitting these shutters may not be easy. Security shutters are permanent installations.
On August 29, 2005 at ten o’clock in the morning, Hurricane Katrina made its final landfall near Bay St. Louis, at the mouth of the Pearl River. At twelve feet above sea level, the town is the highest point on the entire Gulf of Mexico coastline, but when Katrina hit land with a 28-foot storm surge, Bay St Louis was devastated. Only the western edge of the city didn’t see the huge surge from Katrina, and were somewhat spared from the flood waters. The gorgeous row of historic houses along the pristine beach, however, were destroyed; after the flood waters receded, only pieces were left of the fine architecture.
Before Katrina, Bay St Louis had pristine beaches, a healthy tourist economy, and lots of restaurants and shops. Afterward, the entire city nearly wiped out, the tourist industry was dead, and there were hardly any restaurants to go to. The Bay St. Louis Bridge was also damaged, with many bridge sections missing or fallen. The destroyed bridge was replaced, and the new bridge was awarded America’s Transportation Award. The new bridge features a pedestrian bridge alongside, with an art walk featuring the works of local artists. And currently the damaged underground utility structure in Bay St. Louis is receiving a total modernization and replacement.
When Bay St Louis began the long, hard work of replacing and re-building new homes, storm shutters were almost always added for hurricane protection. When you want to defend your home against a storm, more than anything, shutters are essential; whether you choose Colonial shutters, accordion shutters, roll-down shutters, or Bahama shutters, they keep the storm out of your house. The shutters are made from metals like aluminum, as well as from wood materials. When shutters are installed, the glass is covered so that it will not break or shatter during the storm, either from the wind, wind-borne debris, or pressure changes of the storm.
Hurricane shutters are well-known as a home protection, but if you own a business and install roll-down shutters, they can actually serve the purpose of security, as well. Roll-down shutters not only defend your home or business from a tropical storm, they can also keep unwanted intruders out as well. Just roll your shutters down at night, and your home or business is secure and protected. The glass can’t be broken, and intruders can’t enter.
Hurricane shutters are essential for your home or business if you live somewhere like Bay St. Louis. Storms hit the shore on a regular basis, and no matter what kind you choose, make sure that you protect your home today.
When New Orleans was nearly wiped from the map by Hurricane Katrina, the whole world watched in horror. It was a natural disaster of almost biblical proportions, and it brought out both the good and the bad in people’s characters. We saw how failure to act caused horrifying devastation, and we also saw people open their homes and their hearts to refugees from the storm. Hurricane Katrina was the costliest natural disaster and one of the five deadliest hurricanes in the history of the United States.
The most severe loss of life occurred in New Orleans, which flooded as the levee system catastrophically failed, in many cases hours after the storm had moved inland. The hurricane protection failures in New Orleans prompted a lawsuit against the US Army Corps of Engineers, the builders of the levee system. Responsibility for the failures and flooding was found to be the Army Corps’ fault, but the federal agency could not be held financially liable due to sovereign immunity. There was also an investigation of the responses from federal, state and local governments, resulting in the resignation of the FEMA director, and of the New Orleans Police Department Superintendent. The United States Coast Guard, National Hurricane Center and National Weather Service, on the other hand, were praised for their actions, accurate forecasts and the lead time they provided.
It was human error and shortsightedness that caused the levees to fail, and five years later, thousands of displaced residents in Mississippi and Louisiana are still living in temporary accommodations. Homes are being rebuilt, and people are preparing this time. Katrina is still fresh in their minds, and they are making sure to equip their homes with protection from the storm.
New Orleans is an old city, and some care is being taken to keep the city as charming as it once was. There are a lot of historic buildings that survived the storm, as well. Hurricane shutters are relatively inexpensive, and they are your best defense against the high winds and wind-borne debris of the storm. To retain the city’s old, Southern charm, Colonial shutters are the most popular style in the New Orleans area. They resemble the old-world style shutters, and still have the impact resistance and wind protection of modern hurricane shutters. Colonial shutters are patterned after the original wooden shutters of gracious New Orleans. When opened, they provide you with light and air-flow, and closed they provide your home with all the protection that you need against the high winds of the storm.
Whether you decide on roll-down shutters, accordion shutters, Bahama shutters or the traditional Colonial shutters of the area, if you live in New Orleans, they are a necessity. While the levees have been rebuilt and the city is much more protected from flooding, you need wind protection and impact resistant coverings on your doors and windows. Make your home safer today, and install storm shutters.
Morgan City sits on the banks of the Atchafalaya River, approximately 70 miles west of New Orleans, 60 miles south of Baton Rouge and 60 miles east of Lafayette. Morgan City is known worldwide for fishing, hunting and fine Cajun cuisine, and is the gateway to the Gulf of Mexico for the shrimping and oilfield industries.
Its proximity to the gulf makes it vulnerable to hurricanes, and one of the worst to hit there was 1992′s Hurricane Andrew, who came ashore about twenty miles from town. Andrew was the second most destructive hurricane in United States history, after having crossed Florida and then regaining strength in the Gulf of Mexico. Andrew caused more property damage than Hugo, Agnes and Betsy combined, with damages estimated at $25 billion. Twenty-three people died during the storm.
Morgan City, being dedicated to minimizing loss of life and property associated with flooding and storms, provides education and prevention tools to help their community during natural disasters. Knowing what to do during a tropical storm or hurricane is crucial to your safety, and Morgan City provides this information to help the residents of its city who are vulnerable to hurricanes and in flood prone areas. A little prevention and education is the best way to keep yourself and property safe from damage.
FLOOD AND WIND SAFETY
Learn the safest route from your home or business to higher, safer ground, but stay tuned to reports of changing flood conditions.
If emergency officials tell you to evacuate or leave your home, go immediately to a shelter, hotel or relative’s house. If you have pets, make sure they are cared for; check shelters to see if they take pets, and bring food and water for them as well as yourself.
Turn off all utilities, gas and electricity at the main switch. Stay away from power lines and electrical lines. Be alert for gas leaks.
Do not walk through flowing water. Drowning is the number one cause of flood related deaths. Currents can be deceptive; six inches of moving water can knock you off your feet.
Do not drive through a flooded area. More people drown in their cars than in any other location. Vehicles also push water into homes and cause additional property damage.
Install hurricane shutters on your home. Not only do hurricane shutters protect you from high winds and wind-borne debris, they protect you from the pressure changes that happen during a hurricane. Pressure changes can actually rip your roof off, and hurricane shutters can stop this. Hurricane shutters come in a variety of styles and sizes to fit your home; Colonial shutters, Bahama shutters, Accordion shutters, or the ultra-convenient rolling shutters can all be fitted to your windows and doors, and provide you with the protection your home deserves.
Freeport is located in Southeast Texas. It’s about 50 miles northwest of Houston. It has a total area of about thirteen square miles, and more than ten percent of it is water. It’s also very near the Gulf of Mexico. It has three beaches within a few miles of each other, and one beach is maintained as a city park.
Having so much beachfront property is wonderful in the summertime, but it has its downside, however: Freeport is a hurricane magnet. The area has been hit by hurricanes more than 40 times in the last hundred years. Hurricane Ike was the most recent, when it hit approximately 35 miles to the north with 110mph winds. Hurricane force winds extended down to Freeport, causing extensive damage to homes and properties.
After Hurricane Katrina nearly destroyed New Orleans, people are less sanguine about riding out a storm, and more often flee the area or go to shelters when a hurricane threatens. They often don’t think about securing their house, believing that nothing can be done in the force of a hurricane to protect their property. This isn’t true, however. Covering your windows is crucial to protecting your home.
Often plywood and duct tape X’s over their windows is the only thing that people do when a hurricane is imminent. While plywood is better than nothing at all, taped X’s over windows has absolutely no value during a hurricane or a tropical storm. It won’t keep your windows from breaking, and it won’t keep out the rain and debris that you’re sure to get when it does break. And if you just put plywood over your windows, the protection that it provides is negligible. If not fastened down securely, the plywood will simply blow away, and even if it secure, plywood will not stop rubble thrown by high winds or one of the tornadoes that often spring up during hurricanes. You are much better off with hurricane shutters over your windows. Roll-down shutters and other storm shutters have industry standard impact resistance, and they are tested to withstand high winds up to 150 miles per hour. That is at least 5 times the protection that plywood supplies.
If your objection to shutters is the constant putting up and taking down you have to do, there are many kinds of shutters than can be left up all the time. You have a large variety to choose from, as well. Whether you choose accordion shutters, rolling shutters, bahama shutters, or colonial shutters, they all function at about the same level. Which one you choose is more a matter of taste than of safety levels.
Port Aransas is a city in Nueces County, Texas, on Mustang Island, across the Aransas Bay. The city has been around for a long time, and has a long, colorful history: Port Aransas was a favorite of pirates in the early 19th century. Jean Lafitte, along with various other pirates, spent lots of time on the Texas coast. Mustang Island was one of his favorite places, and Jean Lafitte and many other pirates often made camp there. Local lore says that pirate treasure is buried on the island. The treasure chest is supposedly marked by a Spanish silver dagger.
Instead of the poor fishing village that it used to be, Port Aransas has now become a multi-million-dollar fishing, beach, and resort village, with summer populations sometimes swelling to 60,000 or more. It’s main business is now tourism. It has a humid, subtropical climate, with temperatures very similar to those of other Gulf Coast regions like Deep South Texas and Southern Florida. There are six ferries that connect them to the mainland; each of them can move 100 cars per hour.
Because the city of Port Aransas is on an island, it has a long history of hurricane and tropical storm damage. A 1916 Texas Hurricane destroyed Port Aransas except for a very few buildings. The docks, wharf, and warehouses actually washed up on the mainland across the bay, and the entire island was flooded.
Just this year, in fact, the residents of Mustang Island let out a huge sigh of relief when Hurricane Alex (who was forecast to hit them) instead made landfall a hundred miles away. Hurricane shutters came down after the high surf, high winds and heavy rain subsided. About a half dozen tornadoes occurred within the outer rain bands from Alex, as well.
If you have a summer home in Port Aransas, or if you live there year-round, you would be well-advised to put in roll-down shutters or some other kind of hurricane shutter. Not only will rolling shutters protect your home, they may save you money, as well. Insurance companies are required to give you a discount for approved hurricane shutters. The insurer will ask for a “hurricane shutter certificate”, and if this isn’t available, your insurance agent may send someone out to take pictures and see your hurricane shutters in person. It’s as easy as that. As soon as it is verified, you will start receiving a discount on your insurance policy.
Hurricane shutters are a smart buy, all the way around. They protect your home, and they save you money on your insurance policy. And if this is a summer home that is empty in the cold of the winter, hurricane shutters can double as security shutters. Installing hurricane shutters on your home is a win-win.
Texas is all big, open spaces, desert-like, with tumbling tumbleweeds and lowing cattle, isn’t it? Texas doesn’t get hit by hurricanes, does it? So a lot of people would say that no, you don’t need hurricane shutters there.
And most people would be wrong.
Unlike the Texas you frequently see on television, Texas has more coastline than desert. That means hurricanes do hit the state, and more often than you think. Texas is frequently affected by hurricanes and other tropical storms and their remains. This is because Texas is positioned along the Gulf of Mexico coastline, and also because it is in the path of re-curvature of tropical cyclones from the eastern Pacific Ocean. In fact, in the last ten years, Texas has been struck by more than 20 hurricanes, remnants of hurricanes, and tropical storms.
Just this year, in fact, when the first hurricane of the year roared ashore in Mexico, the forecast had been for it to hit Brownsville, Texas. Instead, the Category 2 Hurricane Alex hit about 100 miles south of Brownsville. That doesn’t mean there was no damage in Texas, however: More than 100 families were forced to take shelter in a Brownsville high school and ride out the storm.
So the correct answer is: Yes, you do need hurricane or roll-down shutters in Brownsville, Texas.
Hurricane shutters protect you and your home from the devastating effects of the tropical storm or hurricane. If you’re worried about putting up and taking down hurricane shutters every time a new storm is spotted, don’t be: Many shutters are designed to stay on your windows, year-round. Not only are hurricane shutters practical, many of them are attractive. There are many different kinds:
Bahama shutters add exotic island flair, permanent shade protection, and excellent storm protection.
Rolling shutters are very convenient, and can be rolled down with the touch of a switch. And if the power goes out, they have a manual crank that can be used to roll them down over the windows.
Accordion shutters are ideal for people that do not want to fuss with putting up storm panels and want something easier and more convenient.
Colonial Shutters offer convenient storm protection with a distinct architectural flair that reminds you of antebellum homes in the old south.
If you live in Texas, what kind of hurricane shutter you choose isn’t as important as making sure that you have them installed on your home. With new advances in technology, there’s less chance of a hurricane catching you off guard, but new technology can’t protect your home from high winds and driving rain. Install your hurricane shutters today.
If you live in Florida, you are vulnerable during hurricane season, and you need to take precautions to protect yourself and your home. The most important precaution you can take to reduce damage to your home and property is to cover or reinforce the areas where the wind can enter. This means covering the large windows and glass doors that Florida homes often have in them. Otherwise, wind and debris will tear holes in your home.
One way to protect your home from damage in wind storms is to install hurricane shutters over all your sizable windows and glass doors. Not only will the shutters protect doors and windows from objects thrown by the wind, they also can decrease the damage caused by sudden pressure changes in the house when a window is broken during the storm. If you are adding hurricane shutters to an existing home, make sure not to wait until hurricane season is upon you to start making changes – you may require permits before you can start to make any changes to your home. Make sure that you look at local building codes to find out what need to do before you start any home improvement projects.
Many people have used just plywood to cover their windows in the past. It’s certainly easy – and cheap – but many homeowners found that their temporary plywood shutters blew off during the dangerous winds that come with a hurricane. Plywood window covers can be a huge waste of money and time, as they don’t provide as much protection and they come off easily. Roll-down shutters or similar type do a much better job of protecting your home, and because they are anchored securely, will not blow off during the storm. Hurricane shutters are tested to make sure they are up to the standards necessary to resist the wind and objects flung at high speed during a hurricane.
Impact resistant windows are another good option for home protection, and are a particularly good choice when you are building a new home. Although these kinds of windows look no different than regular windows and sliding glass doors, they offer considerably more protection from wind-borne debris. And when you add in the protection of Accordion shutters or Bahama shutters, your home is doubly protected against the weather or the substantial pressure changes that happen during tropical storms and hurricanes that can cause major damage.
Protecting your home during a hurricane or tropical storm is critical, especially if you live in a coastal area. Don’t stint on protection if you live a distance from the coast, however. If you live in Plantation, Florida, even though it’s about 25 miles from the coast, they suffered extensive damage from Hurricane Wilma in 2005. Though hurricanes drop in intensity once they make landfall, the winds and wind-borne debris can still damage your home. Install hurricane shutters today, before the next storm is imminent.
Of all recorded hurricanes to hit the US since 1851, 36% have made landfall in Florida. If you want to protect your home from objects that the high winds and tornadoes bred by hurricanes pitch around at high speed, you should install hurricane shutters on your home. Roll-down shutters are probably the easiest kinds of shutters to have on your home when a storm is coming, as they (just as the name says) stay on your house year-round, and you roll them down when a storm is imminent. You can either roll them down manually when the power is out, or you can just touch a button and roll them down using electricity.
But if you don’t like the look of roll-down shutters or if you want something more economical, there are many other kinds of shutters that you can use on your home that provide you with just as much protection from storms. Bahama Shutters, Colonial Shutters, or Accordian Shutters protect your home as well as Rolling Shutters do, but have a totally different look.
When Hurricane Cleo passed over Miami and Fort Lauderdale, the Category 2 storm with its 110 mph winds caused 125 million dollars worth of damage, and left both cities in the dark when they lost electricity. Cleo cut power to an estimated 620,000 homes and businesses. The hurricane also caused massive flooding, major structural damage, and destroyed the citrus crop that year. It also prevented the Fort Lauderdale News from publishing a newspaper for the only time in its long history.
Cleo left a lasting mark on the Florida cities it touched, much as Hurricane Andrew would later do. Landmarks were obliterated and then were never rebuilt. Florida residents who had been complacent about stocking up on hurricane provisions and preparations for the storm rushed to buy both hurricane emergency supplies and hurricane shutters.
Hurricane shutters can do a lot to protect your home, as most damage to homes is caused by high winds and tornadoes that happen during the hurricane. Pictures in the aftermath of tornadoes have shown broom handles through trees so seamlessly that you can’t even tell that it was a catastrophic event that put it there. Imagine that same broom handle going through the windows of your house. What kind of damage do you think it would do on the way in? Do yourself (and your home) a favor, and protect it with hurricane shutters today.
Though you might not think of Texas as a state that is impacted by hurricanes, statistics prove that Texas is brushed or hit every 4 years by a hurricane. Just recently, in fact, five Texas counties impacted by Hurricane Karl are able to seek low-interest federal disaster loans. A disaster loan outreach center opened in Corpus Christi for those with property damage.
Because Texas is not as high-profile when it comes to hurricanes as Florida might be, residents don’t always think about installing rolling shutters or hurricane shutters. They should, however. Those who install roll-down shutters, bahama shutters, colonial shutters or the like are much less likely to incur storm damage to their home or property than those who don’t have no shutters at all.
And Texas has a long history of being slammed by hurricanes or tropical storms. You might not think of tropical storms as dangerous, but there is only one mph difference for a tropical storm to become a hurricane. The tornadoes that form near the eye and the outer spiral bands of the hurricane or tropical storm can be just as harmful as the hurricane itself. Just a few of the hurricanes that have hammered Texas in recent years: Hurricane Alicia: Alicia was a small- to medium-size hurricane, but a powerful one. It reached Category 3 status as it hit land. Only a 60 mile section of the coast experienced hurricane force winds from Hurricane Alicia. Despite its small size, Alicia caused over $2.4 billion in damages. Hurricane Gilbert: Gilbert was a Category 5 storm, but did not strike the coast of Texas. It did plenty of damage without it, though. Wind gusts of up to 83 mph were measured, though Hurricane Gilbert never made landfall in Texas. Gilbert spawned at least 29 tornadoes that were observed in south Texas, and they caused between $40 and $50 million in damages. Hurricane Bret: Bret made landfall with 115 mph winds, making it a Category 3 storm as it hit the coast. Bret caused about $60 million in damage, but no deaths. Hurricane Karl: 22 people have been confirmed killed by Karl, and preliminary losses from the storm are estimated at $3.9 billion.
Hurricanes and tropical storms hit Texas almost as often as they hit the coast of Florida, and they cause devastating damage to homes and properties. If you want to minimize the damage caused by these storms, you would be wise to install accordian shutters or their equivalent today.
