With the beginning of June comes the start of Hurricane Season. And you will need supplies in case a storm comes to Southwest Florida. But stocking up can cost a lot of money, so we set out to find the best options for your budget.
When prepping for Hurricane Season, there's a ton of information about what you should get and where to get it.
MORE: Fox 4 Storm Shield Hurricane Center
Disaster preparedness expert Jim Cobb showed us what he considered to be a well-stocked emergency kit.
On Amazon, the kit costs between $99 and $299 before taxes and shipping are added on. But we wanted to know if we could get the same supplies for less money.
At Gavin Ace's Hardware Store in Cape Coral, store manager Ed Swartly says that he's anticipating a big crowd once news of a storm hits. "They usually wait 'til the last minute, and then we have lines out the door."
It wasn't too busy when we stopped by the store in late May. Ed had his own list and took us around the store to help stock up. Ed pointed out a few things that don’t immediately come to mind when you start preparing for a hurricane.
“Shutter hardware, for instance, to make sure you have all your hardware to put your shutters up."
And a few other things when you're in a pinch, like duct tape. "Duct tape can fix just about anything.”
The list of needs for a hurricane kit is a long one, with most of those needs having to deal with the possibility of a power outage, like flashlights and batteries.
The total for our Ace Hardware stop was $265.56, which is only a bit cheaper than the hurricane kit we found online. But there's a catch; not everything we bought is in the kit that's online, and vice versa.
While the online kit is great if you have to get up and go, the things on Ed's list are good for staying put and securing your home.
But Ed says no matter where you buy your supplies, the most important thing is to buy everything early. "If you wait till the last minute, shelves are gonna be bare and you're gonna have to wait in long, long lines."
You're waking up to the first OFFICIAL day of the 2018 Atlantic Hurricane Season! We've already crossed Alberto off the list, Beryl is up next (but not in the near future). pic.twitter.com/pg5XPfvMz8
— Dani Beckstrom (@danibeckstrom) June 1, 2018
NOTE: The information included in this article was obtained independently by Scripps reporters. While purchases from links inserted in this article may result in a commission for Scripps, no Scripps reporter benefitted from that commission
