A hurricane is not an afternoon thunderstorm with a logo. Wind, rain, and outages last longer. Debris sits on the cage. Power may be out for days, which means the air conditioner that keeps humidity down is off. If you are in Ohio, Michigan, New York, or the UK, the useful question is not the cone on cable news. It is who walks the house when roads are safe, and what they film.
SafeNest Florida is still in testing and is not offering paid visits yet. once visits are running, the soft path is to Get a Quote. We do not go out while it is still dangerous. Storm checks, once visits are running, start from $149 after roads are safe.
Official sources, not a forecast from us
Follow the National Hurricane Center for tropical systems and Ready.gov hurricanes for household preparedness language. For day-to-day Central Florida storm risk outside a named hurricane, NWS Melbourne AFD is the local desk. We will not invent a track, a wind speed, or a claim that a visit would have prevented a loss. after thunderstorms covers ordinary late-summer cells. This page is the named-storm version of the same idea: document, do not repair.
UF/IFAS Closing Your Seasonal Home (FCS3154) still wants a seasonal house clean and dry, with the AC able to cycle. After a hurricane that may be impossible until power returns. The EPA wants indoor RH below 60 percent (EPA Mold Course, Chapter 2). A week without cooling in September is how closets go musty. That is physics, not a scare story.
What a post-hurricane vacant-home check films
When roads are safe: screens and cage, obvious roof scatter, standing water against the slab, pool overflow, trees on the house that we can see from the lot, then inside if it is safe — power, HVAC, ceiling stains, traps, fridge still cold. One continuous video, emailed when we leave. We do not tarp as a roofing company. We do not file your claim. We do not take a cut from the contractor you hire. How it works.
Indoor moisture after an outage is humidity and HVAC. Overflowed pools are pool level versus chemistry. Ordinary thunderstorms are after thunderstorms. Do not skip the house because a pool tech already came. They may never go inside.
Clermont, Horizon West, and Kissimmee
South Lake hills and conservation lots in Clermont catch wind and water differently than a downtown Winter Garden courtyard. Horizon West cages take fetch. Kissimmee, where Pete and Victoria own, sits on the same Central Florida power grid as everyone else. A generator at a neighbor’s house does not cool your air handler.
Florida has no statewide 14-day vacancy law. A hurricane does not pause your form unless the carrier says so in writing. Read the form. Ask your agent. vacancy-clause note. floir.com. Florida Statute 627.4091. We will not tell you a storm check keeps a policy valid. Dated video is a record of what the house looked like that day.
Before the storm, IFAS wants you to have a person who can close shutters or prepare the house if a hurricane threatens. That person is not automatically the same as the inspector who films after. If you want both, say so. We are not a shutter company and we do not promise to beat every other vendor to your street. After landfall, fuel, curfews, and downed lines decide the order, not a marketing page.
Share the video with a co-owner and with your agent if they ask for a condition record. Do not send it as a proof-of-occupancy argument. Occupancy is their word. The film is what the cage, the slab, and the air handler looked like that afternoon. If the house is unsafe to enter, we stop at the exterior and say so on camera. We do not invent an interior we could not walk.
Food in a fridge after a long outage is a health question, not a home-watch repair. IFAS describes ice-cube bags in the freezer as a melt-and-refreeze tell. We can film a warm fridge. We do not decide what you throw away from the UK. Take the video to your own judgment and, if needed, your local health guidance.
If you want a quote on the books for when visits can actually happen, use Get a Quote. No long-term contract. Plans, once visits are running, start from Standard $219 a month for a routine video round. Storm checks from $149 when roads are safe. Alarm or camera-offline visits from $199.
Do you go out during the hurricane?
No. We go when roads are safe. A visit in a closed storm is not brave. It is a liability. Storm checks are after.
Is this the same as a thunderstorm visit?
Same idea, bigger debris and a longer outage risk. Named storms get their own extra. Afternoon cells are the thunderstorm piece.
Will you tarp my roof or file the claim?
No. We document. You hire licensed trades. You talk to your agent. We do not mark up repairs and we do not give coverage advice.
What if the power is still out?
We film that. We look for water, heat, and smell. We do not restore power. Humidity after an outage is why the HVAC piece exists.
Does a storm check keep my insurance valid?
No. We will not say that. Florida has no statewide 14-day vacancy law. Read your form. Ask your agent.
Not insurance or legal advice. Read your own policy. Ask your agent. Regulator:floir.com. We will not tell you a visit or a video keeps a policy valid. Home watch is not property management.