The Orlando Sentinel (subscription required) has started their campaign to ensure that everyone in the Orlando region is sufficiently paranoid prepared. This morning's front page story Hurricane Season 2005: Hoping for the best includes the following boxed quote.
Now from June 1st right through November, there's this pit in your stomach. I've already got it. First clap of thunder, I start freaking out. I start pacing and trembling.
The poor woman. She is scared of thunderstorms. Since central Florida gets more of those than anywhere else (and the accompanying lightning), the family made a really poor choice of cities to live in. Several days ago, they ran another story about how the Orlando storm risk was higher. It was 2% higher, but that is still higher. They also posted some regional stories.
Happily, they also include an article today about a homeowner (an insurance adjuster) who is putting up aluminum hurricane panels. The best thing about the article is that it should get people preparing now for the storms that will come. He is using a horizontal direct-attach method using PanelMate fasteners. That is certainly sufficient if you can stand the sight of the PanelMate fasteners sticking out of your window frames.
My aluminum hurricane panels should be here in a week or two They are a custom-fit set ordered seven weeks ago. I am going with a vertical panel alignment with header and footer tracks. The header track will be permanently installed using Tapcon fasteners. The footer tracks will be removable using lead machine screw anchors and sidewalk bolts. They quoted me 6-8 weeks delivery for just the materials. Contractor installation will be available some time next winter, since everyone is booked solid through the summer. I decided to pass on that and do it myself to save the money and the time. I pity the people who get their new shutters a week after a storm hits.