Monday Market Update: The Calm After The Storm

Good morning Bay Area… we hope you are safe, warm and dry after the storm that rocked much of Northern California. News outlets are reporting on the recovery from what is being categorized as a level 4 major storm and the associated ‘bomb cyclone’ that caused winds from 99-102mph in some parts of the San Francisco Bay Area. Winds exceeded most expectations while rainfall was heavy but fell on the low end of anticipated levels. Over 200,000 NorCal residents remained without power Monday morning, while 68% of PG&E customers were impacted by the storm at some point.

While the statistics speak for themselves, we want to know how your home and family fared. Did you have everything that you needed? Did you have others reaching out for help? Is there anything you wish you had done to prepare differently? We would love to use this as a time to reflect on storm recovery and supply preparation. Here are some tips, resources & ideas to ensure that you stay safe in any weather. Because as soon as we get through the wet weather… we all know that wildfire season will follow shortly after.

Storm Recovery

- Have you walked the perimeter of your property (when it is safe to do so)? Look for misplaced debris, fallen trees and branches as well as holes in fences.

- Look for leaks: are your windowsills dry? Is there any visible flooding? Do any of your electrical systems have water damage? Do you see stains, mold or dampness?

- Does your roof have any sagging areas, missing shingles or signs of leaks?

- Don’t forget what you can’t see: be on the lookout for unusual odors, strange sounds or increased moisture levels (there are moisture meters!) coming from crawl spaces or basements.

-  Document everything with photos for both structural and cosmetic damages as soon as possible and be sure to call your insurance company ASAP.

*Get more tips from The Yale Ledger & Modernize.

Alerts & Outage Maps

- Have you signed up for your county’s emergency alert system? Did you receive notifications. Here are some important avenues for those notifications: ReadySCC, AlertSCC, Wireless Emergency Alerts/CalAlerts

- For PG&E power outage updates, maps and to sign-up for notifications, visit: https://pgealerts.alerts.pge.com/outage-tools/outage-map/

Supplies & Preparedness

- Did you have enough flashlights & batteries? Did you have ways to charge your phone and call for help if needed? Now is the ideal time to purchase what you were missing so you have it for next time!

- Ready.gov offers a great page on Building A Kit.

- See the National Weather Service Emergency Supplies Kit here

- Take a look at a list with pictures on The Family Handyman site… and don’t forget about your pets!

Whew! What a start to the week. We truly hope that in the aftermath of the storm you can say you were safe, felt prepared and had everything you needed. Last but not least… thank you to those who looked after others, checked in on the disabled and elderly and offered a helping hand where needed. We hope you received help if you were someone who could benefit from it… and offered help if you were in a position to give it.

Our best resource in tough times is quite often… each other.

Cheers,

Bobbi

Bobbi Decker
DRE#00607999

Broker Associate, Bobbi Decker & Associates
650.346.5352 cell
650.577.3127 efax
www.bobbidecker.com
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