Hurricane Katrina taught everyone that shuttering the windows and picking up the kids' toys in the backyard isn't all that needs to be considered when you're waiting for that approaching hurricane to hit land.

Usually, the first thing you think of is protecting your home. In hurricane-prone areas, today's building codes require that certain techniques and materials be used in construction that will increase the survivability of residential structures. So that's a start in terms of protecting your home from hurricane damage.

If your home wasn't built with such features, many of them can be retrofitted to older homes as well, including:

• impact-resistant shutters
• mulch instead of crushed rock for landscaping
• hurricane straps which attach the roof to the side walls more securely
• the addition of head and foot door bolt locks to reinforce their security

Here are 10 things you need to do now to make sure your home is protected as best you can.

But storm damage to your home and property is only a small part of the equation when it comes to surviving natural disasters like hurricanes. There many other things to consider. Things that could make the difference between life and death for you and your family.

If you live in a hurricane zone, then you already know what kinds of damage a hurricane is capable of wreaking on your life.

The fact is, no one can be 100% prepared for a hurricane; they are just too unpredictable.

But there are things you can do to lessen the damage that a hurricane can cause.

Following are 10 things you can do to help prevent damage to your home, life, and property in the event a hurricane blows through your town...

Tornadoes can rip a house apart in a matter of seconds. They can happen almost anywhere, but in the United States, they are most likely to happen in "Tornado Alley."

Here's a video explaining where Tornado Alley is, and why it is where it is. [NOTE: The weather experts mention the fact that 'tornado alley' is simply a term coined by the media... there's really not a scientific definition.]

When a tornado warning has been issued, people are urged to go into the safest room in their house, or a safe room. Usually that is the basement, but if there is no basement, your next best bet is to have a tornado safe room or storm shelter nearby.

A tornado room (or safe room) is built inside your home, while a tornado shelter is separate from the home and can either be built underground or above ground.

Both rooms and shelters can protect you from winds up to 250 mph and from flying objects moving at 100 mph. By the way, it's the missile-like flying objects that are the most dangerous effect of tornadoes!

It's tornado season again! That time of year when damage and injury from high winds will likely strike with very little warning.

Tornado season usually means the peak period for historical tornado reports in an area, when averaged over the history of reports. There is a general northward shift in "tornado season" in the U.S. from late winter through mid summer. The peak period for tornadoes in the southern plains, for example, is during May into early June. On the Gulf coast, it is earlier during the spring; in the northern plains and upper Midwest, it is June or July. Remember: tornadoes can happen any time of year if the conditions are right! -- The Online Tornado FAQ

Since 1875, the first year for which annual tornado deaths were reported by the NOAA, as many as 794 people have died in a single year from tornadoes! That was in 1925. Most recently, in 2008, there were 125 deaths reported.

With internal wind speed at times exceeding 300 mph, the condensation funnel of a tornado will drop down from the clouds, contacting the ground and destroying everything in its path as it travels along, possibly for many miles.

In some cases, ground contact area can be relatively small allowing the funnel to dart in and out of a neighborhood -- selectively damaging one house, while avoiding the surrounding neighbors completely.

At other times, a tornado can have ground contact as wide as a mile -- obliterating entire towns in a matter of minutes as it takes a clean slate approach to leveling a wide swath across the countryside.

Here's how to stay safe during a tornado...

Hay fever, allergies, sneezing and watery eyes. For some people, pollen creates havoc in their lives making a good portion of the year an annual endurance test they'd rather not experience.

My own father suffered from asthma and found the pollen situation in Nebraska more than his lungs could tolerate. The family would move numerous times trying to alleviate the impact the seasonal changes in pollen level had on his ability to breathe.

Today, forecasting trends in pollen distribution makes it much easier to determine when and where budding plant activity will likely create breathing difficulties. This is especially helpful for those who are sensitive or allergic to this reoccurring phenomenon.

For starters, check out how the weather affects pollen counts and can determine the severity of your allergies.

The old saying, "You're on thin ice" usually means you're probably speaking of a subject matter best left alone.

The reason behind the saying is obvious -- those who attempt to walk on thin ice are quite likely to be swimming in short order.

Every year, many who head out onto frozen lakes in search of that one good fishing hole in the ice end up at the bottom of the lake -- trapped in their vehicle.

There always seems to be that one guy who is oblivious to the rapidly approaching spring weather, and while trying to get in just one more weekend out on the lake, he ends up going through the ice.

Question: Fact or myth?...

You should open the windows in your house during a tornado or hurricane?

Answer: MYTH!

See why below...