Hurricane Prep: What to Clear Before a Storm in Central FL

Every storm season I haul the same debris in October that I could have hauled in June for the same price and a lot less stress. The pile behind the garage. The fence panel that's been leaning since spring. The dead limb over the driveway. The shed with the roof peeling back. In a hurricane, all of it becomes something the wind throws at your house. Here's what to clear before a storm in Davenport, Kissimmee and the rest of Central Florida, and when to do it.

The after-the-storm post covers county debris pickup and sorting. This one is about the week before.

What in my yard turns into debris?

Walk the property with one question: what here would move in a hurricane wind? The answers are almost always the same.

• The loose pile. Brush from the last trim, leftover lumber, the pallet stack, the old patio furniture nobody sits in. It's not a pile in a storm. It's a hundred separate objects.
• Fence panels that are already leaning. A fence that's plumb takes wind pretty well. One that's leaning has a post that's rotted at the ground, and that section goes first and takes the next two with it.
• The dead limb. Every yard in Poinciana and Haines City has an oak with one dead branch hanging over something. Dead wood doesn't bend.
• The shed that won't survive. Thin metal or plastic sheds with a roof that's lifting, a door that won't latch, or a floor that's rotted. When they go, they go as sheet metal, and sheet metal in wind is the worst thing on this list.
• Loose screen and trim. A pool enclosure with a torn panel, the aluminum awning that's half off.

If you look at it and think "I should deal with that," that's the list.

When should I clear it?

Before the cone shows up. Two reasons.

First, the queue. When a warning goes out, everyone with a leaning fence calls the same week. I run the trucks as long as the roads are open, but I can't get to all of it, and I'm honest about that on the phone. The people who cleared in June are watching the weather with nothing in the yard.

Second, the counties don't want it at the curb late. Osceola County's storm page asks residents to secure, bundle and tie down loose limbs and building materials ahead of a storm, and not to put vegetative waste at the curb within three days of a hurricane warning. A pile at the curb three days out is a pile the county can't collect in time, sitting where the wind can take it. Polk, Lake and Orange have their own guidance; the point is the same everywhere. Clear early or tie it down.

What should I do with each item?

That last row is the one I can't help with. Paint, fuel, propane, pool chemicals and batteries don't ride on the trailer before a storm any more than after. Polk County residents can drop them free at the county's hazardous waste facility in Winter Haven on Fridays and Saturday mornings. Don't let a storm decide what happens to a full propane tank.

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What does pre-storm clearing cost?

The same as any other week. There's no storm rate before a hurricane and none after it. A brush pile or a fence section is $225 to $700 by the trailer, all-inclusive. A shed teardown gets quoted from a photo, and the shed removal post walks through what that looks like. If the dead limb needs the Kubota with the grapple to move it once it's on the ground, I say so when I quote.

The thing that changes before a storm is my schedule, not my prices. Text early in the season and you get the day you want. Text the day after the warning and you get an honest answer about where you are in the line.

What Big Rob's does here

Storm debris cleanup is the page for before and after, fence removal handles the leaning section, and shed removal covers the one that isn't going to make it. Pre-storm calls come from Davenport, Kissimmee, Poinciana and Haines City, with Clermont on a scheduled run.

Walk the yard this weekend, take a photo of what would fly, and text it to (863) 225-2147.