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• First thing, look up city/county evacuation zones.
• Choose an apartment building outside the evacuation zone.
• Look for a strong building (brick or concrete, no wood clapboards).
• Choose an apartment above the 2nd floor (3rd floor or higher) to stay dry in case of storm surge.
• If you have a car, ensure the building has an above ground parking structure (parkade).
• Ensure the parkade doesn't have concrete walls at deck edge, just steel cables or equivalent (let hurricane wind through, won't blow down).
• Choose a parking spot not on ground level or 2nd, choose 3rd level or above (don't want your car washed into other cars by storm surge).
• Don't park on the roof, you could get falling debris on your car.
• Better yet, look for an apartment with tennis court, basket ball court, running track, and/or some other facility on parkade roof. That way no one has to park there.

• Look up city/county evacuation plans and flood zones.
• Don't buy land in an evacuation zone.
• Don't buy land below sea level, anywhere that would be flooded if any or all levees broke, or would flood in a category 5 hurricane. Note: storm surge from a category 5 hurricane is typically 18 feet above normal.
• Don't build on a ground level concrete pad, either use concrete piles or piers (not brick piers) or a concrete basement.
• If you build a basement, first drive piles deep enough that the house won't settle, then cast the basement walls & floor in a single pour.
  • Most houses pour the walls first with footings at the bottom, then the floor is poured separately. This ensures the floor is not connected to the concrete walls. When the house settles the walls sink but the floor doesn't. This cracks the floor. Cracks let water in. Basement wall cracks are worse, when the ground is saturated and water is so deep it pools above ground even a couple inches, it can gush through wall cracks like an artesian well. To keep the basement dry even when the yard is flooded, the basement must be built like a concrete boat. That's why the single pour, and why you need good quality concrete. Ensure you get a concrete contractor who knows how to ensure it won't crack. If he says cracks are "normal" find someone else.
• Ensure the basement floor slopes down to a sump pit and install a sump pump with float switch. Any water that does get in will be pumped out.
• Use strong siding: brick, field stone, limestone, or stucco. We don't have cement siding up here but I'm told it resists hurricanes as well. Wood clapboards, vinyl or aluminum siding won't survive a hurricane.
• Quality framing: this web site says "Hip roofs that are attached to the walls via metal framing connectors which in turn connect to the actual foundation often are the structures that survive." I thought all wood houses were built like that. I even built garages with large bolts inserted into the cement foundation while it was still wet. When dry, holes drilled in the wall bottom plate (sole plate) with large washers and nuts firmly fasten the frame to foundation. Check it yourself while the frame is still exposed.
• 2x6 exterior walls: Unless your house uses a steel frame, exterior wall studs will be wood. Galvanized steel sheet wall studs can hold drywall but can't hold up the roof or second floor. 2"x6" wall studs require 24" centres, which means they're spaced 24" from the centre of one stud to the centre of the next. 2"x4" wall studs require 16" centres. That means the total amount of wood is exactly the same so no significant cost difference, but 2"x6" walls are much stronger. It also means you can fit more insulation in the walls. 2"x4" studs on 16" centres can be used for interior walls.
• Hurricane shutters or hurricane glass in all windows. Laminated glass will shatter but has a plastic membrane sandwiched between 2 layers of glass like a car windshield. If it's hit the glass fragments stay in place and debris that hit stays outside. To meet Miami-Dade certification it must endure a piece of lumber 2"x4" by 6 foot long hitting end-on at 34mph and still endure hurricane force wind (1,342 to 9,000 wind cycles) without an opening larger than 1/16" x 5". It must also endure 10 ball bearings at 50mph, then hurricane wind loading.
• Roofing: you can get shingles that are certified for 150mph wind (Class H). A category 5 hurricane has wind >155mph. Katrina was category 4 when it hit: wind speed 131-155mph. Actually Katrina was measured at 140mph. Hurricane Rita had sustained winds of 120mph with gusts above that. This means 120mph shingles (Class G) just don't cut it.