Don’t get caught in A BIG WIND with your guard down

The following are the results of a survey that was originally published on a local south Florida TV station’s site (you can find that article here). These results illustrate why despite the overabundance of Hurricane Preparedness information available this year that a blog like this is needed. The overall lack of knowledge is what makes us hurricane country citizens vulnerable to scams.

The survey, that included residents who live within 30 miles of the coast, found some startling results. Of those surveyed:

• 56 percent don’t feel vulnerable to a hurricane or related tornado or flooding
• 60 percent have no family disaster plan
• 68 percent have no hurricane survival kit
• 83 percent have taken no steps to make their homes stronger
• 13 percent said they might not or would not evacuate even if ordered to leaveExperts say that not evacuating could leave tens of thousands of lives at risk. Of the 13 percent of residents who said they are responsible for an elderly or disabled person, one in three had no disaster plan for them if a hurricane threatened. Correct Information Could Save Your Life
  
• One in five people surveyed said they would leave only 12 to 24 hours before a storm makes landfall, and one in three said they would drive as far as possible, trying to outrun the storm. (Emergency managers say residents should only go as far as necessary to find a safe shelter outside the evacuation zone.)
• The deadly threat of storm surge was one of the most serious knowledge gaps revealed by the survey. Of those surveyed, 68 percent did not know storm surge represents the greatest potential for loss of life from a hurricane. (Experts say storm surge can account for deaths well inland yet 13 percent of coastal residents said they would not or might not evacuate even if ordered to do so.)
• The survey also revealed as many as a third of residents may not be adequately insured. One in three of those surveyed said it’s been three years or longer since they reviewed their insurance coverage and an equal number said they didn’t have or weren’t sure if they had replacement coverage. Given the huge growth in property values in many areas, these residents may not have adequate coverage to rebuild if they suffered catastrophic losses.
• In addition, more than half of those surveyed thought their insurance policies covered flood damage or weren’t sure. In fact, homeowners only have flood protection if they have purchased federal flood insurance.
• More than one in four surveyed said it’s government’s responsibility to provide water, food, medicine and shelter in the first few days after a hurricane – or weren’t sure who should be responsible. (Officials say every resident should have a three-day supply of food, water and medicines.)
• Nearly half said they would not wait for officials to declare it safe to return, but would return to a hurricane-struck area as soon as the storm passed. (Most deaths associated with hurricanes happen after the storm.)
• Nearly half said their employers likely would not know where they were going or how to reach them after a storm. (Officials say recovery depends on businesses having a plan to get back into operation quickly after a storm, which requires knowing how to reach their workforce.)

Other problems pointed out by the survey included:

• 94 percent didn’t know that garage doors are the structural component most likely to fail during a hurricane. (Garage doors can be easily strengthened at modest cost with a reinforcement kit.)
• 70 percent wrongly thought most tornadoes occur within three miles of the eye of the storm. (Tornadoes associated with land-falling hurricanes are spawned in rain bands that can occur hundreds of miles from the eye of the storm.)
• 81 percent did not know that storm intensity is the least reliable forecasting projection. (A Category 1 or 2 storm could be a Category 4 or 5 at landfall.)
• 50 percent still thought masking tape would help keep windows from shattering. (Masking tape offers no protective value at all.)
• 67 percent thought candles or kerosene lamps are suggested items to use in the event of a power failure. (Emergency experts warn that candles and kerosene lamps are significant safety hazards.)

People all over Hurricane Country, from the Keys in South Florida to the Carolinas and Texas are seeing an upswing in the number of scammers lined up to take their money, steal their time and give them false hope. Our mission here at A Big Wind is to get the word out about these crooks so that you won’t become one of their victims. From research we’ve conducted it’s common to see scammers moving between different parts of the city to avoid detection and when the heat gets closer they move to other counties and even states to ply their trade of tricks.

John Holland, of The South Florida Sun-Sentinel wrote on May 27, 2006 about the growing number of arrests in Broward for roofing scams brought on by consumer’s desperation to protect their home before this year’s Hurricanes arrive.

“More than 100 homeowners report being victims of fraud since Wilma, and about a dozen people countywide have been arrested on charges including exploiting the elderly, grand theft and operating without a contractor’s license, according to court papers and county records. Both numbers are expected to grow over the next few weeks as investigations conclude and more victims come forward, investigators said.” writes John Holland, South Florida Sun-Sentinel.

“We’re being very aggressive and there are a lot more cases ready to go, but it’s still important that people let us know if they think they’ve been victimized,” said Broward Sheriff’s Office Detective John Murray. “A lot of people were told to expect waits of about six months, so they are just starting to realize that their roofer has skipped town.”

The Sun-Sentinel named several people associated with these charges including Laszlo Szabo, 39, of Margate, who was being held at the Broward County jail on $40,000 bond, while Anthony Schilling, 42 of Weston, and Leo Pass, 36, of Hallandale Beach, were out on bond at the time the Sun-Sentinel reported on the arrests.

“The sheriff’s office says it has identified 25 homeowners victimized by Szabo, 13 by Schilling and at least 11 by Pass. All are charged with multiple counts of theft and operating without a license. And all had polished deliveries, according to Murray and the homeowners who hired them.” wrote John Holland, of the South Florida Sun-Sentinel.

Hurricane Friends has a novel concept that might just fit into your evacuation plan this year. For $9.95, the Lakeland, Florida firm’s Web site promises to pair you or your family with prescreened volunteers willing to open their homes to evacuees before a big storm. After a nasty bout with Hurricane Charley last year Joe Shaffer made up his mind to never ride out a storm again. Now he’s signed up on Hurricane Friends as both a host house and as a potential evacuee.

The Sun-Sentinel wrote, “The idea appealed to him. With three kids, a cat and a dog, the Bartow resident said heading to a government shelter isn’t realistic and his family can’t afford a long hotel stay. And, unlike nonprofit sites that simply list contact information, Shaffer liked the mandatory criminal background check.”

“I would rather go to my family, but they are all either out in Nevada or up in Ohio and that’s a long way to go,” Shaffer said. “It seems like a good idea. I’m kind of a quiet person, but I have a personal interest here. We hope it catches on.”

Part 3 of 3

Today I’ll pick up the thread from Part 1 and Part 2 where I’ve outlined the first two parts of our mission at A Big Wind. If you’re skipping ahead, or reading this out of context, you can read the first two posts by clicking on the ‘Part 1 and Part 2′ two links above.

Our mission at A Big Wind is:

Hurricane protection through consumer protection, community involvement and commerce.

Commerce

What’s in it for me you ask?
If you’re a buyer or consumer we’ve already outlined how A Big Wind will help you protect yourself from both Hurricanes and Hurricane equipment providers. In just a minute we’ll give you even more good news on our future plans to help you and give back to the community at the same time.

If you’re a manufacturer, contractor or provider of some kind and you’re reputable then you’ve already begun to see how contributing to A Big Wind’s blog and forums will help give you free advertising and public relations and offer you a way to generate business for your company by simply doing good business. Nice!

We think we can build on this by also offering a set of tools to connect consumers and providers of Hurricane protection equipment. You could say that A Big Wind will make it a breeze (hee hee) to find the right product, at the right price from the right provider – all in one convenient place. While there are a small number of these directories available at the local level that partially address this need, no one is doing that all across Hurricane Country and no one is currently offering the range of tools that we plan to that leverage the latest technology. Ads in the newspaper or a two minute segment on your local News at 11 and advertisements in Hurricane guides are good but they just can’t compete with what you can do online today.

What will our tools do?
Our research and selection tools will include independent reviews, ratings and directories of providers from all across Hurricane country that feature background checks to make sure you’re dealing with a trusted, reliable source. As a buyer, most of the research will be done for you – at no cost to you. For the companies that will want to appear in A Big Wind’s marketplace your price of entry will be $0. Provided that you have the track record and honest business practices to get listed, you’ll be in front of our audience for free. How is that possible? Well, our tool will allow you to pay for only those consumers who contact you directly from our web site. You only pay when someone wants to do business with you. It’s a great advertising model known as ‘pay-for-performance’ that the Internet has made possible. Traditional media companies hate pay-for-performance advertising because they make their money off ads that YOU pay for whether they get you business or not. What can we say – times have changed.

How else will A Big Wind make money and why should I care?
Whether you are a consumer or advertiser you should care because it can dramatically influence the credibility of any source of information like A Big Wind. Like traditional media, A Big Wind plans to make money from advertisers wanting their messages to appear in front of you. You’ll see ads right on these pages. But unlike most media outlets we won’t take just anyone’s money and we have a plan to give back to our community. Our criteria for accepting advertising will be that the advertisers can demonstrate that they are legitimate, trustworthy businesses, with valuable services or products that you would likely be interested in. For you to find value in this community it’s critically important that we remain independent and able to voice our own opinions on A Big Wind. The last thing we want people to think is that we lack credibility because we take advertising money. That trust will only be built up over time and by acting in a manner consistent with our values. There are a couple of major ways we plan to show our commitment to our community while also maintaining our independence.

Let’s talk about commitment first. We won’t take a dime until we’re demonstrating that we support charitable organizations and relief efforts that directly help Hurricane victims or help promote Hurricane safety. That’s why the first ads that you see on these pages will promote charitable organizations – period. We will stand by this commitment for as long as we operate A Big Wind. In fact, we’ll make sure that our free ads for charities and other donations of time and service equal 10% of any profits we make. That’s our long-term commitment. The more money we make by building this community together, the more money A Big Wind will have to help our community. We’ll be on the lookout for consumers and business people who are like-minded. We’ll look for ways to partner with these people and organizations for the greater good.

Credibility in numbers

One of the most significant ways we’ll demonstrate our independence will be by having open access to our pages directly from YOU, our community. If you read Part 2 in this series you’ll know that we will feature comments and full reader stories from throughout our readership. You’ll also have access to our forum. We’re committed to publishing your stories, even if we don’t necessarily agree with all of them. As long as the stories follow rules of common decency, credibility and are aligned with our stated mission, you get published. We’re giving you this power because it will insure our independence. If we’re getting thousands of dollars a month from a window manufacturer you might question the credibility of a review we’ve written on their product (we would). But you won’t question it so much if you see that fellow consumers and contractors voice the same opinion. And the power of self-publishing doesn’t stop there. We know that by giving up control of our blog and forum content it will lead to a more vibrant and diverse conversation. This is what blogging and community is all about. Open access to what people really think. On the Internet, scammers and people who try to manipulate the truth via blogs are uncovered in a heartbeat. This has been proven time and again over the short time frame that blogs have been around. Our community will be our watchdog. If a contractor writes what appears to be a great story about how to select a good roof and their story is not factual people will find out and let everyone in the community know. Even so, we won’t take their story down. Instead we’ll use our own voice as a moderator to issue a correction or present the other side of the story. If an unbalanced consumer makes charges against a company that can’t be substantiated and are intended to defame a legitimate business person – we’ll find out. Again, even if we think you’re wrong we won’t delete your information. That’s the commitment it takes to have a real community. Because we’re a truly independent community there will be no EDITOR to bar a story from appearing, but we will act as moderators to enforce the conduct that we’ve clearly defined in our mission. The community will largely govern itself. People who are truthful, who have an intent to help other people, who demonstrate a commitment to this community will win out over those looking for a quick buck or to better only their personal aims.

I wish I was a good enough writer to have said all this in a couple of clear sentences – but I’m not. I hope you understand what we’re trying to do and I think it can be summed up like this. We’re business people and we’re people. We live and work in Hurricane country and we know what it’s like to deal with these issues first hand. We believe it’s good business to do something good with your knowledge and skills. That’s what we think we have the opportunity to do with A Big Wind and we hope you’ll come along and help us make it real.

Now, let’s start making it happen.

Part 2 of 3
Today, in Part 2 of our introduction of A Big Wind I’d like to pick up where I left off yesterday and talk more about our mission. To read part 1 of our introduction just click here. If you’re skipping ahead, or reading this out of context, our mission is:

Hurricane protection through consumer protection, community involvement, and commerce.

Yeah, we know it doesn’t sound very cool but we do believe what we eventually produce, with your help, will be highly valuable. Yesterday I wrote about the consumer protection role that A Big Wind will serve and today I’ll outline what I mean by community.

By describing some of our goals about creating an online community for people interested in learning more about Hurricane protection, I’ll also be addressing a critical part of how A Big Wind is different from other, highly useful, Hurricane protection information resources. We think what we’re doing will fill a void, rather than seek to replace or compete with resources that you could already use, such as your local newspaper or public safety organization.

Community

The word community probably conjures up a number of images in your head. On the Internet, community often represents a web site where you can visit to research, discuss and share information with other like-minded people, or people with similar interests. The web sites that best facilitate this combine news and information (presented more and more these days on blogs) and also forums, also known as discussion boards. A Big Wind will provide the web site (this blog), a forum or discussion board that we will launch soon, and thereby a community for those meetings and discussions to take place. We plan to facilitate and contribute to this developing community by writing articles about Hurricane protection topics and pointing you to resources where you can learn more about Hurricane protection information that can save both life and property.

Here are some concrete examples of how we will use this blog, and our soon to launch forum, to build this community:

• You’ll start out by reading stories that we write about Hurricane protection.
• You can get involved by voicing your opinions and experiences and how they relate to these stories.
• You can do this by writing comments. You’ll be able to do this on ANY of our stories featured on our blog here at www.abigwind.com.
• These comments will be seen by all members of our community providing they abide to basic rules of decency and aren’t just blatant commercials by manufacturers or service providers posted for commercial aim alone.
• We will also introduce ratings into our blog posts (look for this next week) so that readers can let both us and guest contributors know what they find most useful. That way we’ll all stay relevant, on topic and attuned to our reader’s needs.
• If you’re interested in writing a feature story of some kind to be published on A Big Wind you can contact us by sending us your story idea or content to bigw@abigwind.com. We’ll review your story, commentary, or how-to article and provided that your article helps serve the stated mission of A Big Wind then we’ll publish it. Everyone else who comes to A Big Wind will have the benefit of learning from your knowledge or wisdom.

Think about how valuable it would be to you if an experienced contractor wrote in to tell people how to check on the quality of your contractor’s work, exposing common short cuts or things that us lay people wouldn’t otherwise know to look for when having storm windows installed or a roof put on. Our forum will have sections like ‘Window Tinting for Storm Protection,’ ‘Manufacturer Discussions,’ ‘Fraud Alert,’ ‘Scams and Misleading Sales Practices,’ ‘False claims in advertising,’ ‘Selecting a contractor,’ etc. You can enter those discussions of interest to you and read a wealth of information while also posting your questions. If you already have information to contribute to the forums you can post your information for other community members to read and benefit from.

Why will you do this? Because if you’re here and reading this YOU have an interest, and probably some experience, with Hurricanes and how to protect both yourself and your home or business from the winds, flying missiles, and storm surge associated with our nemesis, not to mention loss of income, work, power, food and time. You also probably want to know more about Hurricane protection and how you can weather the next storm even better than the ones you’ve already encountered. Others, who may have just moved to somewhere in Hurricane country (welcome, now go buy your Hurricane supplies and have a plan to get out!) are all ears, and want to learn as much as they can about what to do and what not to do. Speaking of plans, here’s a good resource from the Florida Division of Emergency Management that actually lets you create a plan online step-by-step. Great, so we have a group of people, all over Hurricane Country that all share an interest. All probably have something to learn and many have something to contribute.

Keep in mind that everything I’m outlining here has been successfully done on the Internet before. But to our knowledge no one has used these revolutionary tools and collaboration strategies to focus on the topic of Hurricane protection. That’s where A Big Wind is different – we’re using the latest tools and technology and ways of interacting to drive positive change in the Hurricane protection world. We’re not going to reinvent the wheel in areas that other public and private organizations have already done a great job with. In fact, we hope we’ll be able to partner with all types of organizations that have similar goals to that of A Big Wind. This season, many newspapers have stepped up to offer some great Hurricane Guides that are wonderful resources. Cities, Counties, and States are all doing much more to educate people about Hurricane protection. But none have created a living, growing community, available 24/7, 365 days a year with all the aspects that we’ve outlined. Or perhaps these companies and organizations don’t have the freedom or flexibility that a truly independent start-up like A Big Wind has? We’re not beholden to anyone – exept our readers and contributors.

And of course we haven’t even talked about the final part of the equation: commerce. That’s for tomorrow. You might be surprised that our plans in this regard may just be the most useful to you. Check back tomorrow for more and in the mean time please don’t hesitate to comment or write us a question via the comment form at the bottom of this story. Of course if you’d like to write a private comment or question directly to us just send your e-mail to bigw@abigwind.com

What do you think so far? Don’t be shy. Remember, use the comment form at the end of any story on A Big Wind to post your comment or question.

Part 1 of 3

Huracan (West Indian)
Translation: Big Wind
aka Hurricane or what my wife calls me because I talk too much

Welcome.

Question: What is this place?

Answer: A Big Wind is a community blog and forum with one mission and many goals.

Our mission: Hurricane protection through consumer protection, community involvement, and commerce.

The long version? Well today I’ll feature how we envision our site coming to the aid of consumers and small business owners who need information on how to protect their home or structure. In future stories we’ll discuss how community involvement and commerce mesh with our vision for consumer protection.

Our mission is to help share news and information about protecting yourself from Hurricanes and Hurricane protection providers. You know, the manufacturers, suppliers, installers and contractors that sell and install everything from window films and Hurricane shutters to impact windows, roofs and alternative power sources like generators. Along the way we will feature general stories about Hurricanes and storm protection solutions as well but our niche will always come back to helping people make informed decisions about Hurricane protection while avoiding the scams and exaggerated claims of con men.

With your help we will discuss Hurricane protection alternatives, unravel confusing and misleading advertising and ultimately give you tools to find reputable and reliable local sources for your Hurricane protection needs. We will share your stories about what has worked for you and what hasn’t (along with those companies and organizations who have helped you and hurt you along the way).

Over time our goal is to provide you with a community to interact with and rely on when you’re looking for Hurricane protection help, whether you’re in Florida, The Gulf Coast states or somewhere along the Eastern Seaboard or out in the Atlantic where Hurricanes make their home. Someday, we may even cover Cyclones and Typhoons abroad!

Tomorrow we’ll outline how A Big Wind will be different from resources that are already available to you such as your local newspaper, government agencies, and other private and public safety groups. Check back with us tomorrow, and in the mean time, please feel free to send us an e-mail with your questions or comments at bigw@abigwind.com.

See you soon.

I want to start this blog simply.

Much will be explained in the coming weeks and months about what we intend to do with A Big Wind but for our first post I wanted to ponder the 2006 Hurricane Season that starts today.

They have names. 21 of them – from Alberto to William. Which storms will we get up close and personal with? Will it be Florence or Sandy, Tony or Valerie? Will Gordon make land fall and if so, where? Which storms will sputter out before doing any major damage – will it be Debby or Joyce? Which Hurricanes will take the lives of the innocent, unprepared, unprotected, or unlucky – Beryl, Nadine or Ernesto?

Hurricane season starts now. If you’re not prepared for Hurricane season already then seize today and GET prepared.

Here are 21 potentially great reasons to do so:

Alberto

Beryl

Chris

Debby

Ernesto

Florence

Gordon

Helene

Isaac

Joyce

Kirk

Leslie

Michael

Nadine

Oscar

Patty

Rafael

Sandy

Tony

Valerie

William

Did I mention that in many cities, counties and states across Hurricane Country that today is the last day to buy Hurricane supplies like water and batteries tax-free? Yeah, you’ve seen that on T.V., read about it online, and in the newspaper, but today is the last day to take advantage of it. Give yourself some peace of mind and save some money at the same time. Go – go – go!

P.S. And check back here soon if you want to learn more about how to protect yourself from storm and man alike.