I’ve wanted to do this post for a while now. Sort of a one stop shop for some important details to know when a hurricane is coming here in Florida.
Hide from wind, RUN from water.
First, know your evacuation zone. This map from the state of Florida will help you find this information based on your address. The folks that make these maps take many things into account, wind, storm surge, rain flooding, evacuation route timing. If you are advised to leave by your evacuation zone being called, PLEASE DO SO. They know what they are doing. I just looked and as a for instance most of Tequesta is a Zone B.
Next, got to the FEMA web site and look up your flood zone. This information is considered in the above evacuation zone but look at it and note your flood zone and where the higher ground is in your neighborhood. Also note the Base Flood Elevation or BFE. If you in say a zone AE and the BFE=5 then the line separating this zone from the next is APPROXIMATLY +5′ by the NAVD datum.
Know the height of your finished floor. You can take a guess at this from the the data above OR better yet take a look at your Elevation certificate or building plans and note the FF EL. = (say 8′). This is what you will need to determine how storm surge effects your house.
Hopefully this data will help you make some informed decisions when the time comes.
