Pre-hurricane Alert Checklist
You have to prepare a few things in advance. It’ll help you tackle the situation better when there’s a hurricane.
- Get yourself a hurricane alert service like NOAA.
- Monitor local weather news
- Keep notes of the local shelter locations
- Know the evacuation routes
- Prepare a rendezvous point for your family in case you get separated
Food and Water Checklist
If you’re going to hunker down during the hurricane, you’re going to need a good amount of food supply. Stock 72 hours’ worth of food supply. I’d suggest getting more if you can.
- One gallon of water per person
- Non-perishable food (canned food, dried fruits, dehydrated foods, etc.)
- Camp stove
- Disposable utensils
- Salt & Pepper
Clothes Checklist
It’ll be cold and raining throughout the period. You should keep a few winter clothes, rain-proof clothes in stock.
- A couple of sweaters
- Gloves
- Socks
- Raincoats
- Blanket
Medical Emergency Checklist
- Pain medications
- Diapers
- Female hygiene products
- Store a couple of weeks’ worth of your medical prescriptions
- First aid kit (plastic bandages, allergy medications, ointments, alcohol pads, creams, gauze, tweezers, one-time band-aids, and anti-biotic cream)
- Check the expiration dates once in a while so that you can replace them if outdated
Daily Necessities Checklist
- Flashlights
- Batteries
- Water container
- Radio
- Emergency tool kit
- Sunscreen
- Bug repellent
- Duct tape
- Protective head and eye gear
- Matches
Power Outage During hurricanes
You’ll experience extreme power outages during a hurricane. You’ll need to stay without electric power for a long period. Spending time without electricity is hard as we’re highly accustomed to it. So, you’ll need a way to make things easier for your family.
Problems
One of the main issues with power outages is the disconnection from the world. You can’t get information on what’s happening. Not only that, but passing time can become hard. You can do a few things to solve these things
Solution Checklist
- You could buy a generator or rent one in the days leading to the storm
- Fuel
- Store board games to pass the time during hurricane
- Phone and charger
- Hand-cranked chargers are quite good in these situations
- Battery-powered radio
- Two-way radios
Others Things That You Should Take Care During Hurricane Emergency
Keep Cash in hand
It’s not going to be easy since all the ATMs and banks might be closed. Keep a little amount of cash with you. But not too much since it can make you a target for robbers.
Prepare Your Family
When facing a hurricane. your family needs to know what to do and where to go. Assign tasks to the family members. Everyone should be in the same place. Let them know where the food stocks, go-bags are ahead of time.
Prepare a Few “Go" Bags
Go-bags are necessary for emergencies. A prepped go-bag increases your chances of survival significantly since you’re saving time and using that time to get to a safe place. One go bag is okay, but having multiple is a must for a large family.
Evacuation Plans and Routes
If there is a need for evacuation, the roads will be affected by traffic jams with thousands trying to get away to the shelters. So, it’s a good idea to have a specific route to the nearest shelter or the next one.
- Plant a route using a paper atlas
- Plan routes from your workplace, school, and markets, etc.
Personal Documents Checklist
Make an Inventory of Your Valuable Items
Note down all the items in your house and their place.
Make Hard Copies and Cloud Copies of Every Necessary Digital Belonging
You don’t know if you need to evacuate or not. It’s a good idea to make copies of every document so that you can reproduce them if you lose the original copies.
- Your and your family’s passport, birth certificate, social security card, and all other important personal, financial, medical documentation
- Get s water-sealed box to keep the documents safe
Avoid These Mistakes When Facing a hurricane
- Don’t be reluctant about your preparation just because you don’t live near the coast. Hurricanes can come deep inside landmass without notice.
- Ignoring Evacuation alerts
- Taking shelter in places with lots of trees
- Don’t start a generator inside the house
Hurricane Alert & News Resources
- Hurricane tracker from Accuweather, Weather Channel, and Wunderground, etc
- NOAA weather radio
- National Hurricane Center
- Fenna
- Keep the contact number of the local Red Cross organization
Final Words
Prepare today, worry less tomorrow. A hurricane preparation checklist = peace of mind. Having a checklist makes things a lot easier when hurricane season comes around the corner.