Would our car, while parked in the garage, be a safe place for two people to ride out a hurricane? It is a mid-size sedan.
No, absolutely not. I would not dream of trying to avoid damaging winds and flying debris in a glass covered shelter. Especially if it is not securely fastened to a solid foundation.
When the building falls in on top of the car, how do you get out? Even a few loose boxes and miscelaneous junk can block opening the doors and the power door lift won’t have any power.
The best thing your car can do when the hurricane approaches is carry you two to a safe location following the evacuation route.
I would keep the car i the garage to protect it and find a safe indoor location for the people.
BTW, don’t do what my roommate and I once did in a hurricane, we flew a kite until a tree almost landed on us (we were very young).
The safest place in your home would be a basement or an interior room w/o any windows. This is also the safest place to ride out a tornado. The winds a hurricane generates can tear the garage apart and carry the car away! If your talking Category 3 or above, forget the house and get out of Dodge!(Remember Katrina!)
Kendan is correct. An interior room with no windows is the safest place. For most people, this might be a 1/2 bath, or a walk-in closet, but as long as it is a room with no windows, on the lower level of the house, this is supposed to be your safest place.
This would be an acceptable idea if you were caught out on the highway, stalled in traffic trying to flee the storm. But since you are at home you have other and better options. See suggestions above.
NOPE.
but you never know,pre planning does not make it impossible.
depends on the circumstances (at the time).
anything could save your life,timing is the key,but mother nature does not care.
do the best you can in the time you are given.
good luck.
How close do you live from the water? How far above the water?
We are 15 miles from the beach in north Florida. Garage floor is elevation 16 - above the flood level of a Cat 4 (which has never visited here). This neighborhood has never had a mandatory evac. All of the cautions sent in are valid - no problem. Considering the options:
Evacuate: distasteful, especially the problems of sitting in traffic jams and then getting back home. Sitting in an interior room: Ok, the overhead protection is a roof and a drywall ceiling. Sitting in a car: risky, but it has the same roof and drywall ceiling, plus a steel roof, plus an air conditioner, radio, comfy seats, etc. It’s tempting. Our choice will probably depend on the fear factor at the time.
Has anyone seen a study of the damage done to cars that have stayed in the attached garage (compared to the house itself)?
– NO – as the others say. But, since it’s on your mind now and there is no hurricane yet, do the rest of your emergency planning in total. My daughter is in Port Charlotte and her in-laws lost 3 of 4 homes a few years ago. In their house now they are pre-planning with ; pre-cut & drilled plywood for the windows with threaded inserts in the casements ; food & water stored in the inner-most room ; evacuation route planned ; celphone chargers in the car ; etc. You’re doing a good thing by asking these questions before disaster strikes.
The greatest danger posed by hurricanes is storm-surge flooding. At your location, that is not an issue. So now it’s the structural integrity of your house and big trees coming down and crushing things…Category 3 and up means flying objects that can take the windows out of your car rendering it useless…Look at the pictures of Homestead and answer your own question…
Here comes Bertha!
Unless you have an especially stout garage door, I’d find an interior room to ride out the storm. You might use any room if you have storm shutters or plywood over the windows. But be prepared to move into a windowless room if any of the shutters start to loosen. And while it seems like a pain to evacuate, sustaining injury and then waiting for help is not a pleasant alternative. Death coud be quicker, but then again, it might not be.
get in the car and drive. a hurricne moves at around 10 to 30 mph. you can out run one when it is approaching. but you must leave well beofre it gets to you. sometimes a 200 mile trip (three hour drive) will put you totally out of harms way, and in calm weather.
why would you stay and risk death, or harm? you just have to drive in the right direction. (usually north (inland) and slightly west(on the ‘good’ side of the storm.)) but that would really depend on where the hurricane is headed in relation to you.
i have riden out several hurricanes. i would really have NOT been there done that!