Rule One: Do Not Drain the Pool
Every hurricane season, somewhere on the Treasure Coast, a homeowner drains a pool to keep it from overflowing and turns a full pool into a structural casualty. Here is the physics: a gunite shell is a concrete boat buried in wet sand. The water inside it is ballast. When a storm dumps a foot of rain and the water table rises, groundwater pushes up on the empty shell, and a pool with nothing holding it down can lift, crack, or pop partially out of the ground. That is not a repair, that is a rebuild.
Your pool cannot meaningfully flood anyway. Once water reaches the deck, it simply sheets off into the yard like any other rain. If you want a margin, lowering the water a few inches, keeping it above the bottom of the skimmer opening, is plenty, and only if your deck drainage is poor. The full pool is also the best-protected pool: water is a shock absorber for flying debris.
The Prep Sequence, in Order
| When | Do this | Why |
|---|---|---|
| Watch is issued | Test and balance water, stock chlorine | Stores empty fast; balanced water resists what is coming |
| 1 to 2 days out | Superchlorinate the pool | A chlorine buffer fights the debris and dilution ahead |
| 1 day out | Clear the deck: furniture, toys, umbrellas, planters | Anything loose becomes a projectile at 100 mph |
| Hours out | Kill power to all pool equipment at the breaker | Protects motors and you from surge and flood |
| Hours out | Wrap or shelter pump, heater, automation | Wind-driven rain and debris damage electronics |
| Last step | Do not cover the pool | Debris sinks; a shredded cover is a second loss |
Power Down and Protect the Equipment
The equipment pad is where hurricanes do their expensive damage, and five minutes at the breaker panel prevents most of it. Shut off every pool circuit: pump, heater, salt cell, lights, automation. A pump that loses prime in the wind, or energizes mid-flood, is a burned motor; a surge through live automation is a fried board. Off means off at the breaker, not just the timer.
Then protect the hardware itself. Wrap the pump motor and automation panel in plastic secured with tape or cord, or unbolt the pump motor and bring it inside if flooding is likely at your pad; leave the heater unwrapped until it is fully cool. If your equipment sits low and your street floods, elevation is the real fix, something to raise with us during your next equipment upgrade rather than during a watch.
One more pad note: if you have a heat pump, make sure its factory hurricane tie-downs are actually anchored. It is a several-hundred-pound appliance, and storms have moved bigger.
Clear the Deck, and Skip the Old Furniture Trick
Anything that can move will move. Chairs, loungers, umbrellas, potted plants, toys, skimmer lids left loose: indoors or in the garage, all of it. You may have heard the old advice to sink patio furniture in the pool. Skip it: metal furniture stains plaster and can rust in place, and dragging waterlogged loungers out afterward damages the finish you paid for. The garage was always the right answer.
If you have a screen enclosure, know that in an extreme storm the screen panels are designed to give way before the frame does, which is a feature. Re-screening panels after a storm is routine work; a racked frame is not.
Load the Water Before the Rain
A hurricane is the worst thing that can happen to your water chemistry: massive dilution from rain, a yard’s worth of organic debris, and days without circulation while the power is out. You cannot prevent that, but you can pre-load against it. Shock the pool a day or two ahead so it rides out the storm with a strong chlorine reserve, and it will come back clear in days instead of weeks. Balanced, superchlorinated water before the storm is the single cheapest piece of hurricane prep there is.
After the Storm: The Restart Sequence
Resist the urge to flip every breaker the moment the wind stops. The right order:
- Look before you touch. Downed lines near the pool, standing water over the equipment pad, or a flooded pad mean you stop and call. Electricity and floodwater settle their disagreements at your expense.
- Clear the big debris by hand and net. Leaf rake, not your good vacuum. Branches and roofing scraps will tear cleaner heads and clog plumbing.
- Drain down to normal level. Use the waste line or a submersible pump to bring the water back to mid-skimmer, so the skimmer can actually skim.
- Inspect the equipment before energizing. A motor that took on water must dry out or be replaced; running it wet finishes it off. If anything was submerged, have it checked first.
- Restart, then clean the traps constantly. Prime the pump, run the filter, and empty skimmer and pump baskets several times a day for the first days. Backwash or clean the filter as pressure climbs.
- Shock again and rebalance. Test, superchlorinate, and run the pump long hours until the water clears.
Call us instead of guessing when: the pad was underwater, the pump hums but will not start, breakers keep tripping, the water is swamp green after a week, or the shell, tile, or deck shows new cracks. Storm recovery is a normal week for our repair crew, and it is far cheaper to fix one flooded motor than the filter, heater, and plumbing it takes down with it.
And if you would rather never think about any of this, our weekly service plans include storm-season eyes on your pool every week; All-In members with second homes up north get their pool prepped and recovered without flying down.
Hurricane Pool Questions
Should I drain my pool before a hurricane?
No. The water weighs the shell down against a rising water table; an emptied pool can lift or crack. At most, lower the level a few inches below the tile if your deck drains poorly. Overflow is harmless by comparison.
Should I turn off my pool pump during a storm?
Yes, at the breaker, along with the heater, salt cell, lights, and automation. Cutting power protects motors and boards from surges and from energizing while flooded, the two most common storm equipment killers.
Should I put patio furniture in the pool?
No. Metal stains and rusts against the finish, and hauling soaked furniture out scratches plaster. Store furniture in the garage or house. The pool’s own water is protection enough for the shell.
My pool is green after the storm. Now what?
Net out debris, restore normal water level, verify the equipment is dry and safe, then run the filter long hours while shocking the pool. Most storm-green pools clear within days; if yours has not cleared in a week, have us look.
Does homeowners insurance cover storm damage to a pool?
Policies differ on the shell, the enclosure, and the equipment, and deductibles for named storms are often separate. Photograph your pool and pad before the season starts; documentation decides claims.