When 100 MPH winds hit a non-reinforced garage door, the door can buckle, fail, and be pulled off its hinges, allowing pressure to build up inside the house until it blows apart. Property damage analysis from past hurricanes shows that the garage door is often the first thing to go in a storm. The good news is that the largest moving part on your home can be one of the easiest to reinforce.

Replace your garage door with a storm-rated model approved by your local building code authority. For garage doors, that means braced steel construction with heavy-duty rollers, hinges, and tracks, and additional track-attachment points.