How do you hurricane-proof a pond?

[Julles]

I read what Ruthie posted, about preparing for Hurricane Gustuv.  Now Houston looks to be hit, Saturday early a.m.   I'm wondering what to do to help the pond.

I'm going to remove my PVC pipe-and-chicken wire covers, because they are light and would blow away.  But should I put plywood over the pond?  Would that blow away (and smash into my windows?!)?

Little decorative things sitting around (faux toads, stained glass butterflies) - do they get blown away?  The pressurized filter is heavy (5 gallons of water inside); is it OK left in place

I'm wondering if it will suck the WH and WL out of my tubs, sitting all around the yard.

What else would you do?

[Ruthie]

My dad had a good way of explaining what to pick up and what could remain in place.  Imagine you are driving along in your car at 120 mph.  If the object would fly off the hood of your car, it's likely to become air borne during a storm.

I would skip the plywood on the pond, unless you could nail or preferably screw  it down.  I took all my tall potted plants (irises mostly) and put them on their sides.  Some parts of my garden are protected by a line of trees that act as a wind break, so my heavier lotus tubs went there, snug against a fence and a line of trees.  The smaller lotus tubs came inside.  They all managed ok.

I took my trickle filters down...just because Ididn't want to be fishing out lava rock and bioballs from the bottom of the pond.

I took the nets off...I was afraid they would just blow into the pond and gill net the fish.  But now I have a million leaves in the pond.  Like hurricane Andrew, Gustav defoliated some trees (my poor rose bushes are completely naked!) and I have a whole compost pile worth of leaves in the bottom of the pond right now.  So it's a toss up...to net or not to net.

If you don't have a safe overflow point, you can drain a bit of water off to allow for rain water to accumulate.  That way the fish won't wash out.

I took all my decorative doodads and brought them in.  Gazing ball, strawberry jars....anything top heavy.  Birdfeeders.  anything like that.

One site I went to suggested a partial (25%) water change, to make sure you have fresh, clean oxygenated water going into the storm.  I wish I had done that.

I also wish I had completely cleaned my filters before the storm, too.  I think a lot of the muck from the filter wound up in the pond when things got tipped over.

The other thing is a generarator.  For us, it ran a small window unit a/c, the fridge and the fish.  We lived in one room, but hey, it was a lot cooler than it was for the aftermath of Katrina and Rita!

I would check at Lowe's for those solar powered aerators.  Anything that will disturb the surface of the water will add oxygen in the event power is out for any length of time.  My dad has a large (acre sized) bass pond and the words of wisdom for low oxygen situations is to back a bush hog over to the pond edge and run it...anything to churn the water.  We were fixing to take the lilies out and run the weed eater in the water...if thing got really dire.  Btw....the lilies suffered no ill consequences.  They were blooming their little hearts out right through the winds and rain and sludgey water.

I am watching Ike close.  My mom and step-dad have opted to hunker down and stay in Houston.  They are stocking up on canned goods and pet food and drinking water and they were able to get a generator to run the window unit in their bedroom.

I will be keeping you in my thoughts and prayers!!!

[Ruthie]

ps...we are in the outer bands of this thing already.  Winds are gusting to 50-60 mph outside.   

I am officially sick of hurricane season.

If anyone wants to send us some cool fall weather down here, it would be greatly appreciated.   

[stacig]

i went thrugh gustov last week and katrina 3 years ago.i pumped the pond out alot to hold the excess water from overflowing.the fish will not stay in the pond thats how i lost them in katrina.put a net over it and thats about all was without power for 3 days . everyone is fine .

[reddad35]

There is no way to hurricane proof a pond. If there was then we would probably make our houses out of it.  You need to remove anything that might blow around from your yard. Everything that could be thrown even if you didn't have a pond. If you have enough time you could net them and place them in you tub in the house if you have an extra. You could buy a battery opperated aerator from a fishing store. It would take some time and muscle but you could use buckets to carry pond water to your tub. You could put a net over top of it. I would remove or lay down all your plants into the pond. remove about half the water.
 Since it is a hurricane that is coming you know that there will be plenty of cleanup afterwards. It would be much easier to place your fish back into the pond and raise your plants than to go and try to find them all. I think the solar powered aerator is a good idea since you live in a hurricane prone area.

[lorraine1960]

I put everything away that would go airbourne and laid the plants on they're side that were tall...left the ones in the pond that floated..the pumps were on till the electricity went out....took out all the large fish and put them in a small pond with a generator and the little ones stayed in the big pond and didn't gasp anymore after i took the big ones out...i did take the plants out of the pond though when i started catching them after 3 days cause they were hard to catch....but other then that    thats all u can do and pray...make sure you bunch up your plants on your porch and take your bird feeders down and wind-chimes......lorraine    GOOD LUCK.....i went thru katrina and gustav...i'm sick of hurrican season also but we have 3 more      doggone months.....

[perplexed ponder]

I have never been through a hurricane, but I am wondering. Wouldn't the wind blow through the PVC and wire covers and not blow it away? Or is you have to take the pvc off, can you lay chicken wire over the pond instead of plywood?

[Kat]

Sounds like lots of great advice.  One thing you might want to invest in is getting some battery operated airpumps (get them in the fishing dept. at WalMart) & spare batteries.  They run from about $6-10 depending on brand.  When we lost power this summer when it was over 100 degrees, I used them in my ponds so the fish would be OK.

[Esther]

You wonder what would blow off or into the pond... Watch the news videos of roofs of buildings blowing off and trees tipping over. So I would guess there isn't much that wouldn't blow around outside in a hurricane.

[Sunbeam56]

In my limited experience - everything in the backyard ends up in the pond.
So, if you have some cinderblocks or chimney tiles, put them in the bottom, to give the fish shelter from things falling in.

Otherwise, don't do a whole lot. If you have a generator you are better off - because aeration is a huge issue.

The fish hunker down in the bottom, and they will be fine, even if it floods.

When they had the big flood in San Antonio several years back, Water GArden Gems only lost fish in ponds that were above ground and floated off. 
The ponds that stayed in place, the fish did too.

[stacig]

it just depends we had a70plus winds last week throughgustov and my net stayed on the pond

[mapleleaf]

I just asked the same thing last weekend.
New pond mommy 

I have a small pond and it faired well. Thank goodness we were far away but we did still see some bad weather (on an Island)


good luck and you all are in my thoughts 
Pease

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