Plan a meeting spot for your family. Deanna Frazier, a spokeswoman for the Federal Emergency Management Agency, said that forgetting to do so was one of the most common mistakes when Hurricane Harvey hit Texas last year. “Cellphones may not work or you may not have your cellphone with you,” she said. “There were a lot of people who were looking for loved ones and disconnected from them. Those are the kinds of things that you need to think about.”
Listen to local news media for the most up-to-date information on how to prepare and when to evacuate the area. “The biggest issue I see people running into is that they just wait too long,” said Alberto Moscoso, communications director for the Florida Division of Emergency Management. “When it comes to hurricane and storm preparation, now is always the right time.”
Take documents and protect valuables.
Photograph or scan important documents like driver’s licenses, social security cards, passports, prescriptions, tax statements and other legal papers. Upload the images online for safekeeping. Store documents in a fireproof, watertight container, or take them with you. FEMA’s Emergency Financial First Aid Kit has a checklist of documents you’re likely to need to claim insurance and other benefits.
Take irreplaceable keepsakes with you, if possible. Otherwise, move belongings with sentimental or monetary value upstairs or to high shelves to protect them from floodwaters.
“We put a lot of stuff on the bed,” said Donald Avery, a Houston resident who was evacuated from his home during Harvey. The floodwaters wouldn’t be that high, he remembers thinking. “Everything we moved to the bed was destroyed.” But his wife’s photograph collection, which they moved upstairs, was undamaged.
If he had known how much it was going to rain, Mr. Avery said, he and his family would have left earlier and would have elevated more of their belongings.
Bottle water and freeze food.
The Food and Drug Administration recommends switching your refrigerator and freezer to the coldest possible settings and moving fridge items to the freezer so they stay cold longer if the power goes out. Even in a power failure, a tightly packed freezer can stay cold for 48 hours. If you can’t fit everything into the freezer, add containers of ice to the fridge.
