Regarding how to handle huge thunderstorms and hurricanes and tornadoes and snowstorms, let me just add...
Greetings from sunny Southern California. 
The wife and I lived in the San Fernando valley during the 1994 Northridge earthquake in which we lost our apartment when it was condemned. Luckily they gave us a morning to get out what we could.
We have since moved to even sunnier Southwest Florida. I prefer disasters with warning to those without.

I have Panamax MOV devices on all my equipment. With the frequent surges / brown outs we have here I have been looking at Zero Surge type devices. We also have a whole home surge protector provided by the power company.
I unplug the Panamax during thunderstorms.
Martin