Hurricane precautions.

I give mine to my son in law (who lives on fairly high ground by South Florida standards) and he puts them in his humongous Browning Gun Safe.

We know they won't blow away!

I'm not sure I understand the question but I don't do anything more that what I already have done, e.g. making sure I have ammo on hand, etc. Frankly, firearms are very low on my hurricane prep list because I already have what I need and I don't think it is likely at all that a firearm will be necessary in the aftermath of a hurricane. My experience has been that, more than at any other time, neighbors are watching out for each other during the week or so that it takes to recover power, water, etc after a hurricane.

Checking my water and making sure my fuel cans are full and checking the health of the trees near my house generally are the things that I specifically do when we are in the cone.

I lost a total of 10 trees to hurricanes Rita and Ike and fortunately none hit my house.

I would recommend hiding your best firearms in a safe, dry, hidden place away from prying eyes. And having two or three functional but 'throw away guns' to sacrifice if they come and confiscate arms like they did in Katrina.

And yes, I am well aware of the laws that were passed in many states after Katrina preventing confiscation. If it does happen, what are you going to do? Drive down to the police station and file a complaint if the roads and buildings are washed out or flooded under?

Hide and keep dry your surplus ammo and keep some of them in another place but accessible in some way. Like the other post suggested, a family member.

So, I suggest being a bit over cautious and have some marginal firearms around in the extreme case like something like that happens.
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It depends on how close to the flood plain you live... Whether you think your home will be flooded, blown away, or both. If you have a two story home that will likely survive both wind and flood, then putting your guns in hiding or in a safe on the second floor is a good idea. Better yet , if you have time before you evacuate, pack your guns and take them with you. If you don't have time or room, pack pieces so that the guns won't be immediately useful if stolen.... Barrels, bolts, bolt carriers, slides, cylinders, firing pins, etc. I figure that if my home is in a disaster area and is robbed by looters, I don't want my guns to be used in further mayhem.

I plan to take action far enough in advance to take my guns with me.

Frankly, firearms are very low on my hurricane prep list because I already have what I need and I don't think it is likely at all that a firearm will be necessary in the aftermath of a hurricane. My experience has been that, more than at any other time, neighbors are watching out for each other during the week or so that it takes to recover power, water, etc after a hurricane.

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This... Food and water to last at least a couple weeks.. + cold hard cash. That is far more important.

tarosean brings up a good point that I didn't mention. Cash. ATMs run dry before a strike and then immediately following the strike ATMs and POS systems don't work so cash is king.

Nothing different, as far as the guns go. The CCW is still the CCW and the AR is still on standby in the safe, as always.

Now, if a Cat 3-4-5 starts bearing down on my house, then I evac and the guns, laptop, and a few other valuables come with us, packed securely but nondescriptly. I've had to do that three or four times over the years, having lived on both the Gulf Coast of Florida and coastal NC.

I live in the Gulf Coast about 10 miles from the coast. I don't live in a flood area, so I just leave the guns in the safe that are not on HD duty.

I've lived on the coast all my life, in a house that's stood through a dozen or more hurricanes since 1870. I'm 20+ feet above mean high water so wind, trees, and debris are more of a problem than water. During a hurricane I make sure my family, guns, tools, animals, are all stored high and dry and away from windows

Where I live hurricanes, like blizzards, seem to bring out the best in people, not the worst. In 70 years I've never heard of a single instance of looting in my town. As with a blizzard we'll likely be cut off by downed trees and without power for a week or more, so chain saws, gasoline, canned food and drinking water are my main stockpiles. I'll share them with anyone in need.

Tinpig

Armed 24/7, I'm in the same situation as you. Not in a flood prone area. As the old adage goes, run from the water, hide from the wind. Obviously, if people have to bug out then their situation is different.

I was 150 miles away from the eye of hurricane Camille in (IIRC) 1969. That was a mother of a storm, Cat 5 and killed many people. If you are in the eye of one those just kiss your butt goodbye.

EVACUATE!

I've seen LOTS of guns ruined by hurricanes down here. Eye of Katrina came right through town in 2005. If a major hurricane is approaching, best thing you can do is get you and your family out of town and let any guns you don't take with you fend for themselves. Flood waters will do nasty things to guns, not much you can do to prepare them for it.

Mine are prepared by being covered by insurance.

If your collection is too valuable to be covered by your homeowners insurance (many times there is a limit of $2,500 or so on guns), then get something similar to what is available from Collectibles.

$524/year for $80,000 of coverage. So it's about $70 per every $10,000 of coverage.

NRA also provides $2,500 of free coverage to members, but you need to sign up for it.

I live inland enough that I stay put. Guns are on the 2nd floor. If the roof went away, I'd try and recover them as I would any belongings on the second floor.

Now during Ike, I had no issues. Just the same ol' loss of power for many days which meant food, water, gas, and cash were what you had on hand.

My dad on the other had lives maybe 100 yards from the water on the east side of Galveston Bay. The storm surge wiped out the small lower story on his stilt home and the three guns he had down there. The guns were found days later, but were a rusty saltwater mess.

As a followup given the weather in Alabama; what about those in tornado country? Do you rely on just a safe to be secure if your home is destroyed? Heavy rains often accompany tornados so a safe in the basement might only serve as a water retention device. I have a safe in the basement and a small safe in a bedroom closet but I am not sure either would survive a direct hit from a bad tornado accompanied by rain, but in my part of Colorado we rarely get the bad ones. 15 miles east is another story.......

I've been thru a lot of hurricanes. If we evacuate, like we did during Ivan, I case up half a dozen of my favorite long guns and a dozen of my favorite handguns and take them with me. The rest I leave in the safe but I am not in a flood zone.

Results of an EF5 indicate that any building not made of masonry will be ground up to dust, including most of the contents. All that can be deposited from a few feet to literally counties away downwind - photos from Joplin were found in farm fields near Republic, MO almost 50 miles away.

Gun safes in basements below grade largely survived, above grade they were ripped from the concrete and tumbled repeatedly becoming unrecognizable. Same for cars, we lost 5,200 of them and you had to id by VIN in many cases. A safe full of guns? Roll it end over end lifting it into the air ten feet repeatedly and it's going to beat them like a concrete mixer. A gun cabinet - those things we buy that aren't 1/4 plate steel - will likely burst open scattering the contents wherever. That is what happened to Walmart, Academy, and a sporting goods store. The larger box stores were masonry, the Walmart lost the block sidewalls and that separated the roof exposing the contents. Winds were estimated at 200mph, hurricanes can exceed 177mph and they sustain it for a much longer duration.

Anything you want to preserve needs to be stored below grade and in a flood resistant manner. Otherwise kiss it goodbye. While looting largely came from out of towners, most of it was shut down in the act as law enforcement was on the scene in high numbers about as fast as the looters could arrive. Most looters were looking for jewelry or other high value small items. If anything the guns left in the debris are subject to being returned to you directly or turned over to authorities by others like you in your neighborhood. Everyone turns out to help, all suffer equally.

If anything, fire is the larger problem year after year, homes not kept up to code have increased risk of fire as time goes by, and fire destroys a gun collection with no remorse. It can and will happen 365 days a year, not just bad weather season. Space heaters, overloaded circuits, kitchen accidents, and using flammables in an attached garage are all contributors.

Many Americans live in stick built frame homes on grade, it's the least optimal type and come fire or high water it's toast. You are left with the foundation and some debris.

After going through Katrina , I strap on all the handguns I can , like Clint Eastwood in the Outlaw Josey Wales and sling a rifle on one shoulder and a shotgun on the other. And with a few bandolier's of ammo criss crossing my chest like Pancho Villa, I'm ready, leave them and they will be lost/ gone / stolen / or ruined.
If you have them on you , they will stay safe .
Gary

Anything you want to preserve needs to be stored below grade and in a flood resistant manner.

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Very few locations prone to hurricane have basements. There are a few reasons for this, the primary being our water tables being so near the surface. Anything stored more than a couple of feet down in my area would literally be in what is effectively an underground lake.

Most hurricanes happen during small game season in Arkansas where I grew up. When I lived in South Louisiana, I just threw a shotgun or 22 lr or both in the trunk and with the wife and kids hauled burro to my parents house. Boredom is a problem waiting out a storm. A hunt helps pass the time. Maybe the best dove hunt I ever had was when Cammile tore up the Gulf coast. I think people who don't evacuate display less intelligence than a dove,. Now I am back in Arkansas where every body hunts deer, hogs and turkeys and a few ducks. I don't hunt those since squirrel season is open May through Febuary,

I do nothing different than normal, but that's my complete hurricane preparedness plan so I'm probably not the best example.