Hurricane and Storm Prep for Pool Owners

When a hurricane or tropical storm is tracking toward your area, the pool is understandably low on the priority list, behind boarding windows and stocking water. The good news is that pool prep doesn't take long and most of it works in your favor: a full, slightly over-chlorinated pool sitting quietly with the equipment off is one of the more storm-resilient things in your yard. Here's the calm version of what to actually do, in the order that matters.

Do this as soon as a storm is forecast

Start early, ideally a day or two before landfall is expected, while stores are still stocked and you're not racing daylight. None of these steps require special equipment.

• Remove everything loose from the pool area: furniture, umbrellas, floats, skimmer poles, solar covers, potted plants, and decorative items. Wind turns light objects into projectiles and turns pool covers into sails.
• Secure or store anything you can't bring inside, like a heavy grill or a fixed umbrella base, by tying it down or laying it flat.
• Trim back any dead or overhanging branches near the pool if you have time. You're not trying to storm-proof the whole yard, just reduce what could land in or near the water.
• Take a few photos of the pool, equipment pad, and yard before the storm. If you need to file an insurance claim afterward, before-and-after photos make the process much smoother.

Do not drain the pool

A full pool acts as ballast, its own weight and water pressure help hold the shell in place against ground saturation. This applies to plaster, pebble, vinyl liner, and fiberglass pools alike. The exception is if your specific pool has a manufacturer-documented hydrostatic relief system designed for this, but that's a conversation for your builder or installer ahead of time, not something to decide in the middle of storm prep.

Water level: lower it a little, not a lot

Heavy rain from a hurricane or tropical storm can raise the water level significantly over a day or two, enough to push water over the coping, into electrical equipment, or onto the pool deck. Many pool professionals recommend lowering the water level by roughly a foot below the normal skimmer line before the storm arrives, using the pump to drain it down through the waste or backwash setting if your filter has one. This gives the rain somewhere to go without overflowing.

• Don't lower it further than that. A pool that's too empty loses the ballast effect described above and offers no real additional protection.
• If you have an automatic pool cover, check its manufacturer guidance, some are designed to stay on through storms and some are not.
• Skip this step entirely if you're not confident operating your filter's valve settings correctly. A pool a little too full is a much smaller problem than a valve left in the wrong position.

Shut down and protect the equipment

Equipment damage from power surges, flooding, and flying debris is usually the most expensive part of hurricane pool damage, and it's also the most preventable. Do this shortly before the storm arrives, once you've finished lowering the water level.

• Turn off power to the pump, heater, and any automation or salt chlorinator at the breaker, not just at a timer or app. A direct lightning strike or surge can travel through a device that's merely switched off but still connected to power.
• If your equipment pad isn't already covered, and you have time, a tarp secured over the pump and filter can help keep wind-driven rain and debris out of motors and control panels. Don't seal it airtight, and remove it as soon as the storm passes.
• Bring any removable equipment indoors if it's genuinely portable, like a robotic pool cleaner or a floating chlorinator, but don't risk personal safety trying to disconnect anything complicated at the last minute.
• Leave the main drain and skimmer lines alone. There's no need to disconnect plumbing for a standard storm.

Chemistry: balance it, then let it sit

You won't be testing or dosing the pool during the storm itself, so the goal beforehand is to leave the water in a stable, forgiving state rather than a perfectly dialed-in one. Test and balance the water a day or so before the storm if conditions allow, aiming for the normal ranges rather than anything unusual.

Many pool professionals also recommend bumping free chlorine toward the higher end of that acceptable range, or giving the pool a normal shock dose, a day or two before the storm. Heavy rain dilutes the water and washes in organic debris, both of which consume chlorine quickly, so starting a little higher gives you more buffer before the pool turns cloudy or green while you're focused on everything else. Skimmer's chlorine calculator can help you work out a shock dose for your pool's volume if you're not sure how much to add.

After the storm: what to check first

Once local authorities say it's safe to be outside again, resist the urge to immediately fire the equipment back up. Walk the yard first.

• Visually inspect the pump, filter, and any electrical panels for standing water, debris, or visible damage before restoring power. If anything looks wet inside a panel or motor housing, wait for it to dry out or have a professional check it rather than powering it on.
• Clear large debris (branches, furniture, roofing material) out of the pool by hand before running the pump, so it doesn't clog the skimmer basket or pump impeller.
• Check the water level. If it's much higher than normal, drain it down gradually rather than all at once, and if it's noticeably lower with no obvious rain gain, that can be a sign of a leak worth investigating once things settle down.
• Test the water before adding anything. After heavy rain and days offline, the water is often cloudy, low on chlorine, and diluted in alkalinity, but you won't know how far off until you test, so don't guess-dose it.

It's common for a pool to look genuinely rough after a major storm, cloudy, greenish, full of leaves, even after only a few days offline. That's expected and almost always fixable with a normal green-to-clear routine: circulation, filtration, and a shock dose, followed by patience rather than repeated large chemical additions. Logging the before-and-after readings in Skimmer as you work through it also gives you a clean record if you end up filing an insurance claim for equipment damage.