Prepare now for winter windstorms

In this column, we will give you tips on preparing your home for fall’s windy weather. But first, we want to introduce you to our newest staff member.

Bilingual housing counseling

Evelyn Santiago has joined the NeighborWorks of Grays Harbor staff as a housing counselor in training, and we are pleased to announce she has completed her housing counseling certification and is ready to provide housing counseling services for those hoping to buy a home. Even better, Evelyn can provide her help to residents of Grays Harbor in English or Spanish!

We are thrilled that we now can more easily serve more members of our community!

We hope to tell you a bit more about Evelyn in an upcoming column. In the meantime, she can be contacted at ESantiago@aberdeen-nhs.com or by calling the office at (360) 533-7828.

Preparing for windy weather

What a magnificent fall we have had! And now, the rains have come. If this fall and winter are true to form in Grays Harbor, we will likely have our share of windstorms as well.

The recent events in Florida and the southeast reminds us that this is a perfect time to prepare for windy weather and power outages.

Clearing out the gutters

Leaves can quickly accumulate in your gutters in the fall. For your sake, and that of your house, keep them cleaned out. You don’t want water to overflow your gutters and cause damage to your house!

Using a ladder stand-off attachment if needed, examine your gutters to see if they need a clean out.  While you are examining the gutters, take a hose and test the downspouts to make sure they aren’t plugged. And, you also don’t want water puddling near your foundation or basement, so place a splash block or connect additional piping at the bottom of each downspout. Water in your basement or crawl space is one indicator that rainwater is concentrated too close to the house.

Tidy up summer’s accoutrements

If you still have some vestiges of summer’s fun in your yard – umbrellas, lawn furniture or even kids’ toys, it’s important to finish up your clean up so that they don’t become dangerous projectiles in a windstorm. 

This is also a good time to survey the trees in your yard, especially those near your power lines and within reach of your home. Do you have any large branches that are a potential threat to your home or your neighbors? Could they crunch a parked or passing car or hit a passerby? Trim them so they are at least one to two feet from your house.

Topping tall trees is an effective high wind control measure. If you don’t have the expertise – and most of us don’t – the Twin Harbors has several licensed, bonded and insured tree trimmers and fallers to do the work properly for you and the trees. The investment now could save you a fortune, and maybe even heartache later.

Turn off expensive electronics

Respect weather reports and high wind warnings. If a wind storm is imminent and a power outage is possible, make sure to turn off and even unplug computers, televisions and other expensive equipment. At minimum, plan ahead to equip your devices with quality surge protector devices. 

Did you know that if your appliance or electronic device is ruined when the power comes back on, it’s your responsibility? As a public entity, the PUD cannot use ratepayers’ money to pay out for damages where it is not at fault.

You may make a claim on your home owner’s or renter’s insurance to cover damages but you will need to weigh that against the possibility of increased insurance premiums in the future.  

Call when power goes out

What should you do to alert the PUD if your home is out of power?

The Grays Harbor PUD has an Outage Hotline you can call to let them know of a power outage. The number is (360) 537-3721, or toll free at 1-888-541-5923. Those numbers are only for use to report or learn about an outage; they are not for customer service questions.

However, the PUD is almost always already aware that your power is out and is working as quickly and safely as possible to restore it.

A great way to stay informed is to let the PUD notify you if there is an outage. Our Grays Harbor PUD offers several ways to get this information sent to individual customers, including via Facebook, X, text message or e-mail. Go to www.ghpud.org and select “outage center” on the homepage. Then select “outage alerts” to learn more about each of those options.

Safety with downed lines!

We would be remiss if we didn’t take a moment to pass along some key safety tips for power outages.

• Always stay away from any downed power lines and assume they are live and dangerous.

• If you use a generator always do so following the manufacturer’s directions. Pay close attention to having it placed so that the exhaust cannot enter your home and harm you with carbon monoxide.

• Smoke alarms and carbon monoxide detectors save lives. Make sure yours are working properly. 

Coping with a leaky roof

Wind can drive rainwater into unseen cracks and cause leaks! Keep a few items on hand in case you ever have a house leak in a storm. The “kit” to help contain water damage during a storm includes plastic tarps, thin plastic painters drops, a ball of twine, packing tape, a box of tacks or a staple gun, and some buckets.

If your roof springs a leak and water is dripping from one or several spots at once, hang a wide plastic tarp from the ceiling like a funnel to catch most of the drips that will go to one area of the tarp and then, with a small hole, into one bucket. Poke a wire clothes hanger into the center of the tarp under the pooling water and let it hang down. You may have to change the shape of the hanger to guide water into a bucket.

If wind-driven rain is pushing rain through a window area, tape the plastic sheet right to the glass and drape it into a curtain funnel directed into a bucket. Safely tackle the outside repairs once the storm is over.

When the storm is over, you will still have to fix the leak, but this advance preparation could save you a lot of damage, time and money.

Eric Bjella is the executive director of NeighborWorks of Grays Harbor; a nonprofit organization committed to creating safe and affordable housing opportunities for all residents of Grays Harbor County. For questions about home repair, housing counseling, homebuyer education and financing, call 360-533-7828, listen to the extension picks that will best help you and leave a callback name and number.