Before the season: the generator connection installed and tested under load, surge protection live at the panel, the panel itself sound (no warm breakers, no corrosion surprises), and a photograph set of the meter, mast, and panel for the record. Storm week is when every one of those becomes a queue instead of an appointment.
The North Port hurricane power plan is written in the calm season or it is fiction. Generator hookup with an interlock, surge protection at the panel, and a dock and pool equipment shutdown list are all March projects; in a storm week the electricians of two counties are restoring, not installing. This city's growth makes the point sharper: tens of thousands of newer residents are meeting their first Florida storm season in homes whose panels and hookups they have never read. Read them in spring, with a flashlight and time, and write the load list on paper.
During the outage: generator outside and away from windows, feeding the inlet, never a dryer outlet; the main breaker managed exactly as your interlock or transfer switch requires; and sensitive electronics unplugged where surge protection is absent, because the roughest power of an event is often the restoration surge, not the storm itself.
After: walk the service before assuming the home is whole. A mast pulled by a limb, a meter base shifted, or water in outdoor boxes are utility and electrician findings that should be assessed before full load returns. If half the house is dim or wild in brightness after restoration, that is a possible lost utility neutral: reduce loads, call the utility, and treat it as urgent, because that fault damages equipment by the hour.
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