The Atlantic hurricane season runs from June 1 through November 30, and the climatological peak lands in the second week of September. NOAA called for a below normal season this year, which is welcome news and changes nothing about how a single storm treats a backyard in Lake County.
Clermont sits high on the Lake Wales Ridge, so flooding is less of a worry here than it is on the coast. Wind and debris are the real problems, along with the eight or ten inches of rain a slow moving system can dump on a pool overnight.
Do not drain the pool
This is the one that costs people a resurfacing job. An empty or half empty shell has nothing holding it down. After days of heavy rain the groundwater under the pool rises, and hydrostatic pressure can lift a concrete shell, crack it, or float a fiberglass pool right out of the ground.
A full pool is heavy, and that weight is what keeps it where it belongs. Overflow is not the emergency it feels like. Water spilling over the coping runs off across the deck and into the yard, and the pool refills its own level within a day or two.
If a major rainfall is forecast and the pool is already at the top of the tile, lower it a foot to eighteen inches at most using the filter waste setting. That is the entire adjustment. Anything more works against you.
The 48 hours before
Chemistry first. Balance the water and raise the free chlorine above normal, since storm runoff carries organic debris that will eat through a standard residual in hours. A pool that starts a storm at 5 or 6 ppm has a much better chance of coming out clear than one sitting at 2.
Power next. Shut off the breakers to the pump, heater, lights and any automation panel. If the pad could take standing water, wrap the pump motor in plastic sheeting and tape it closed at the top, or unbolt the motor and move it into the garage. Turn off the gas supply to a gas heater at the valve.
Then chemicals. Move every container inside, off the floor, and keep chlorine and acid apart. Wet chlorine tabs in a flooded shed are a genuine hazard, not a nuisance.
Leave the pool uncovered. A safety cover or solar blanket becomes a sail in tropical storm wind, and debris that lands on top of a cover is far harder to get out than debris that sinks to the floor.
Patio furniture, the right way
There is an old piece of Florida advice about throwing your patio furniture in the pool so it cannot blow away. Skip it. Metal frames leave rust stains on plaster that take an acid wash to remove, glass table tops break into pieces you will be finding for years, and chair feet scratch a pebble finish as they slide around.
Move furniture into the garage or the house. Take umbrellas out of tables and lay them flat indoors. Anything too heavy to move gets strapped down or laid on its side against a wall. Grills, planters, pool toys and the robotic cleaner all come inside too.
Screen enclosures on the ridge
Leave the screens alone. Cage panels are designed to blow out under load so the aluminum frame survives, and removing panels ahead of a storm changes how the structure sheds wind. What is worth doing is a walk around before the season starts, checking that anchor bolts are tight and that no fasteners have corroded through.
The bigger risk in Clermont is what is growing over the cage. Live oak and pine limbs that overhang a screen enclosure are the most common cause of storm damage we see in Lake County. Trim them back in spring, not the week a storm is named.
After the storm
Wait on the power. Do not flip breakers back on until utility power is steady, and never energize a pump motor that has been underwater. Water inside a motor housing means a replacement, and running it makes that certain.
Get the debris out early. Oak leaves, pine needles and small branches start staining plaster within a couple of days, and organic tannins soaking into a light finish are a real headache to remove. Skim and net before you worry about anything else, then empty the skimmer and pump baskets, which will be packed.
Test everything before adding anything. Rainwater dilutes the pool and drives pH, alkalinity, calcium hardness and stabilizer down together. Shocking into water with no alkalinity to hold it just wastes chlorine and swings the pH. Bring alkalinity back first, then pH, then chlorine.
Expect green if the power was out for more than two days. A pool that has sat unfiltered in ninety degree heat with storm debris in it usually needs a full green to clean treatment rather than a shock and a prayer.
Walk the deck and the shell once things are calm. Look for new cracks, pavers that have shifted, tile that has popped loose, and standing water at the equipment pad. Photograph anything you find before you clean it up, in case it becomes an insurance claim.
When to call us
Get in touch if the pump motor took water, if screen panels or the cage frame came down, or if the pool has gone green and is not responding. Our equipment repair team handles storm damaged pumps, heaters and automation, and our residential pool cleaning crews run green to clean recoveries through the fall.
The week after a storm is our busiest of the year, so calling early matters. Reach us at (352) 246-1350 or request service online. We cover Clermont and the rest of Lake County.
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