What should be done to a vacant home before a hurricane?
Close and secure shutters or impact protection, clear the balcony, patio and yard of anything that can fly, confirm drainage is clear, photograph the property's condition before the storm, and make sure someone local is authorised and able to enter afterwards. The post-storm photo record matters as much as the preparation.
The preparation itself is straightforward and mostly physical: shutters or impact protection closed and latched, balcony and patio furniture, planters and umbrellas brought inside, drains and gutters cleared, the property sealed, and refrigeration and electronics considered if a long outage is likely.
The part owners underestimate is authorisation. After a storm, buildings restrict access, roads close, and an association will not let an unregistered person into your unit. Whoever is going to check the property has to already be on the access list with keys or codes in hand before the storm arrives.
And the photographs decide the claim. A dated set taken before landfall and another taken as soon as access is safe separates storm damage from what was already there. Without the first set, an adjuster is looking at damage with no baseline.