Storm Preparedness Is a Key Role for Property Managers

10/24/2019 (Permalink)

Develop a disaster plan that outlines critical equipment, building materials and evacuation routes

As a property manager, your location in Clear Lake,TX, determines to a large extent the types of storms you will face. This fact can help you with your storm preparedness, an increasingly important role for anyone who owns or is responsible for a large business. The effects of powerful storms such as hurricanes, tornadoes and torrential rains are legendary. Storms can blow off roofs, topple buildings and flood interiors. While it's impossible to be prepared for every scenario, a bit of planning has many benefits. It can save lives, reduce damage and speed up the recovery process. One essential role of planning is to partner with a storm mitigation team that can get to your site quickly after a storm passes through. Rapid damage assessment and water removal are keys to getting your company moving in the right direction.

Tips for Storm Preparedness

The property management team should follow a standardized blueprint for effective preparation. The key items to concentrate on include the following actions:

• Create a storm playbook with emergency contacts
  
• Educate employees about their roles in a storm
  
• Develop a disaster plan that outlines critical equipment, building materials and evacuation routes
  
• Pay attention to those with special needs
  
• Review insurance policies to make sure they are current
  
• Back up intellectual assets on hard drive or keep in waterproof safes
  
  

Owners and property managers may wish to stay with the building as long as possible; however, if a mandatory evacuation is ordered everyone should leave in a safe and orderly fashion.

Keys for Recovery

A good disaster plan looks ahead to the recovery phase. This includes calling in maintenance personnel, water remediation professionals and insurance agents. In addition to an assessment of property damage, it's important to inventory damage to intellectual assets such as files and records. When things settle down, this is a good time to review your storm preparedness success, and to look for improvement for the future.