Another preparation thought.

[vbhoutex]

If this has been posted about elsewhere I apologize.
After going through both Hurricane Alicia and Hurricane Ike here in Houston I have another preparation tip/idea for those in heavily treed areas along the coasts and for at least 100 miles inland.
If you can afford it(hopefully some can do it themselves if they are very careful)it is a good idea to have your trees trimmed and their canopy lifted every 4-5 years or so. We just had that done yesterday and besides the fact it makes our property look better if minimizes, to some extent, the probability of damage to your home from falling limbs and/or trees. Obviously it is no guarantee, but doing so makes it easier for the winds to move through the trees and gets rid of dead wood that might fall also. I know it helps because we had had our trees done a year or two before Ike hit and even though we had plenty of tree damage ours was much less than many of our neighbors who had not had it done. Just another idea for Hurricane prep.