New Wave of Gadgets Comes with Hurricane Season

It's now less than two months until the start of hurricane season, and already a flood of new gadgets and devices are hitting the market to help people deal with the aftermath of storms. But do those gadgets really work?

In an article in the Tampa Tribune, Neil Johnson takes a look at some of the new technologies to help deal with the effects of a hurricane. He says the past two years, which were relatively quiet in terms of hurricanes, haven’t slowed the growth of the hurricane products industry.

Among the products Johnson reviews are a new device to keep floodwater outdoors, a new method of tracking evacuees and an improvement to the ubiquitous blue tarp.

One is called a “DoorDam” and is meant to block floodwater from exterior doors. However, Johnson points out that blocking floodwater is “a job done by sandbags for years.”

Another, the EZ Tarp, is much like the blue tarps homeowners used after the 2004 and 2005 hurricanes on damaged roofs. Those blue tarps, however, eventually broke down in the sun and heat. The EZ Tarp, Johnson says, has been coated with special ultraviolet protection.