Hurricane Proofing Gets
Elaborate in Florida

DELRAY BEACH, Fla. -- As Hurricane Frances plowed through this coastal city last September, Gil Knauer and his wife were safely hunkered down inside their spacious home in a gated country-club community. Then the lights went dark for what turned out to be four days, spoiling food in the refrigerator and giving him a full-blown case of generator envy.

About 10 months later, with parts of the Florida Panhandle region reeling from yesterday's arrival of Hurricane Dennis and the entire state bracing for perhaps another unprecedented hurricane season, the Knauers aren't worried about the next power outage. The reason: He paid about $25,000 for a 40-kilowatt generator that burns propane from a 500-gallon tank buried in his front yard.

"I am just getting myself ready for the worst," Mr. Knauer, 61 years old, said Friday, as a work crew installed hurricane-resistant shutters on 33 windows and doors at his home. "It's like insurance." Mr. Knauer's gardener also removed some coconuts that could fly into windows from trees on his property.

After last year's four devastating hurricanes, demand is soaring for so-called whole-home standby generators, super-strong windows and other pricey defenses against the flying debris, swirling winds and inconveniences wrought by such storms. Protecting a home can cost more than $75,000, but lots of high-income Floridians are willing to pay and wait weeks or even months for installation.

Hurricane Dennis hit the Florida Panhandle and the Alabama coast yesterday with 120 mile-per-hour winds. Blinding rain and howling gusts flooded homes, raised rooftops, scattered debris and immediately caused power outages. More than one million people in the storm's path either were evacuated or rode it out.

Hiram J. Frank, owner of Personalized Power Systems in Boca Raton, Fla., sold 70 large generators in May, up from 10 to 12 a month before last year's hurricanes. "Everybody lost power last year, so everybody's coming to me now," he said. The three main sizes of generators sold by the company start at $13,500 for the 15-kilowatt model. A 40-kilowatt generator can keep electricity flowing for five days.

Felix Corraliza, project manager for Companies of R&S, a window- and glass-installation company in Miami, estimates sales of glass strong enough to survive a vicious storm without shattering have surged 50% since a year ago, even though it costs $40,000 to $60,000 to outfit an entire large house.

The buying boom partly reflects the wariness that lingers throughout Florida following the ravages of last year's hurricanes, which resulted in an estimated $18 billion in expected insurance payouts and more than $5 billion in aid so far from the Federal Emergency Management Agency. The repeated poundings also have encouraged people to devise elaborate storm-preparation strategies. Last week, the Palm Beach Post published a "survivor's guide" with "tried-and-true" reader tips such as packing loose photographs in Ziploc bags and stashing them in the washing machine, which would stay dry even if the roof blows away.

Meanwhile, many Floridians who realize the odds of being killed in a hurricane are remote nevertheless have learned the hard way how quickly power outages caused by windstorms can ruin treasured comforts. Last year, most of the 48 Koi fish Gabriele Alexander kept in a pond at her Boca Raton, Fla., home died when the standby generator ran out of propane, cutting off air circulation to the fish. "They were beautiful," she said, recalling how her fish, which can cost more than $100 apiece, nibbled food from the palm of her hand. She now has two large propane tanks for the generator.

Of course, the scramble for big-ticket hurricane-proofing items is in sharp contrast with the slower recovery and lesser fortifications in poorer communities. Those residents can't afford machine-powered window shutters and concrete safe rooms, which aren't covered by insurance. But some people who are spending big money to get ready for the next battering storm say they have no alternative.

John Van Hezewyk, 73, moved after last year's hurricanes into a house in Parkland, Fla., that he equipped with a concrete-block "interior compound" that could hold several monkeys plus himself and his wife during bad weather. Mr. Van Hezewyk, who has raised monkeys for some 40 years and has a sign on a monkey cage that reads "Primate Paradise," says few motels will accept animals, meaning his monkeys can't be evacuated. "We're safer right here in a good structure," he said.

Mr. Van Hezewyk also plans to install a 25-kilowatt generator just like the one at his former home that kept the lights on for eight days last year when most of the other houses in the neighborhood were dark. "We were sitting pretty," his wife Gayle recalled.

Roger Davis says he could stay put in his Palm Harbor, Fla. home during a hurricane because of the safe room he bought for about $6,000 in 2002. He also spent roughly $20,000 on a generator and $60,000 for toughened windows. "You don't have to be running away from your property every time there is a hurricane warning," said Mr. Davis, 61. Bentley Realty Group Inc., a Boca Raton real-estate developer, is including safe rooms outfitted with air conditioning and gas appliances in a new townhouse development in Fort Lauderdale, where the units are priced starting at mid-$500,000.

It isn't unusual for pricey hurricane-related improvements at one house to grab the attention of neighbors. Mr. Knauer, the Delray Beach resident, said he steered several other residents in his community to companies that specialize in installing generators, fuel tanks and other storm defenses.

One of Mr. Knauer's neighbors, Bill Adler, 61, decided to take a closer look after the four-day power outage triggered by Frances last September. His 4,600-square-foot home had closed-in shutters that made him feel like he was "living in a tomb."

Earlier this year, Mr. Adler, who is retired, had a 25-kilowatt generator installed, along with accordion-style shutters. "It's a feeling of comfort and security knowing that you have these systems in place," he said.

Email your comments to rjeditor@dowjones.com.