South Florida hurricane-season home checklist

Before the season (do this once, calmly)

• Gather your documents. Homeowner's insurance policy, roof paperwork, and any warranties — photographed or saved where you can find them in 60 seconds. After a storm, the adjuster will ask for things you won't feel like searching for.
• Map your shutoffs. Main water shutoff, electrical panel layout, gas shutoff if you have one. A photo with a few notes beats a memory every time — especially a memory under stress.
• Know your equipment. AC model and serial number, water heater age. If a unit is damaged, the claim starts with these numbers.
• Trim and clear. Limbs leaning toward the house or power lines, debris against the outdoor AC unit, clogged gutters. The yard work you do in June is the damage you don't file in September.

When a storm is coming

• Secure the outside. Bring in anything the wind can pick up. Shutters or panels up if you have them.
• The fridge question. Turn it coldest, keep doors shut during outages, and know that a full freezer holds temperature longer.
• Charge everything and fill the car. Obvious, but the lines get long fast.
• One last walk. Same five checks as below — do them before, so you know what changed after.

After the storm: the five-check walkaround

Do this before you forget — the week after is easy, three months later is a leak:

1. Roof — any missing or lifted shingles you can spot from the ground?

2. Gutters — clogged with branches and leaves?

3. Outdoor AC unit — debris piled against it? Anything bent or dented?

4. Windows and doors — check the seals, especially sliders.

5. Yard — any new limbs leaning on the house?

Then the inside: any new water stains on ceilings, any outlets that stopped working, any smell of mildew starting in closets. Catching it now is a repair. Catching it in January is a renovation.

The paperwork week

If anything's damaged, you'll need: the insurance policy, photos of the damage (take more than you think), your AC's model number, and your roof documents. Every one of these is something you could have saved on a calm Saturday. The storm doesn't care how organized you are — but the week after, organization is the difference between a claim filed in an afternoon and a claim filed in a month.

Your home has a lot to remember. Storm season is when that matters most — and you shouldn't have to remember it all.