Make Your Hurricane and Evacuation Plan
Good prep starts with a good plan. Your emergency plan should cover these five things, according to ready.gov:
How you will receive emergency alerts and warnings
A plan to shelter in place
Evacuation routes
How you and your family members will communicate in an emergency, including emergency phone numbers and other contact information programmed into everyone’s phone
An emergency preparedness kit
Your plan should cover two potential outcomes: evacuation and staying at home. Emergency managers from your local government will tell you which is safer.
Staying at Home
It may be safest to stay home if road conditions are bad. If this is the case for you, keep your emergency kit in a place where you can grab it easily if conditions change. Monitor the radio or local TV for hurricane updates. Stay inside until you’re notified that the hurricane is over—you don’t want to go outside too early only to have the weather get bad again
Be sure to stay away from windows to keep yourself safe from flying debris that may break them. Stay in a room with no windows or duck into a closet if necessary.
Understand that the situation may change and you may have to evacuate later.
Evacuating
If you’re in an evacuation zone, there’s no time to waste. Grab your emergency supplies, unplug your appliances, and if you have time, turn off your gas, power, and water.
Always use the evacuation routes that emergency management workers recommend, even if they’re busy. Never drive through floodwater.
Make plans to shelter with friends and family if you can. Check with emergency workers for information about public shelters if you need one, but know that because of COVID-19, this may not be the safest choice for you. Bring hand sanitizer, cleaning materials, and two masks per person to help mitigate the COVID threat.