Is Your Family Ready for Hurricane Season?

Here is a question worth sitting with before hurricane season begins: If a named storm were tracking toward your area right now and you had 36 hours notice, would your family be ready to leave or would you be scrambling?

For most families, the honest answer is somewhere in between. And in a hurricane, somewhere in between is not good enough.

Tens of millions of people live in areas at risk for dangerous hurricane-related wind damage, storm surge, and flooding. Most hurricane deaths are related to flooding and many occur far from the coastline, when heavy rain triggers dangerous flash floods far inland. Hurricane Helene in 2024 killed more than 200 people across six states, most of them nowhere near a coast. This is not just a coastal problem. If you live in a hurricane-prone region or anywhere in the storm's potential path, preparation is not optional.

How to Honestly Assess Where Your Family Stands

The 36-Hour Test

A hurricane warning means dangerous conditions are expected within 36 hours. That is your actual preparation window, not the days before a storm is named, not the week before landfall. Thirty-six hours, and in that window you will be competing with every other family in your area for gas, water, batteries, and groceries.

Ask yourself right now: if a warning were issued today, what would you still need to buy or find? If the answer is more than a few items, your family is not as prepared as you need to be.

FEMA recommends having enough food, water, and supplies to sustain every member of your household for at least one week and for major storms, two weeks is the more realistic standard. The families who wait until the warning is issued are the ones sitting in four-hour evacuation traffic with a quarter tank of gas.

Know the difference:

A Hurricane Watch means hurricane conditions are possible within 48 hours, begin or complete your preparations now.
A Hurricane Warning means hurricane conditions are expected within 36 hours, evacuate if ordered, or finalize your shelter-in-place plan immediately. Once a warning is issued, it is too late to be shopping.

What Most Families Have

Most families in hurricane zones have at least thought about preparation. They may have a few extra water bottles, some canned food, flashlights that may or may not have working batteries, and a vague sense of where they would go if they had to leave.

That is a starting point, not a hurricane preparedness plan.

What Most Families Are Missing

The gaps that show up most consistently are not dramatic they are practical. Here is what families most often discover they are missing when it actually matters:

A written evacuation plan with at least two routes. Traffic, flooding, and road closures routinely make primary routes impassable. Your family needs a backup, and everyone in the household needs to know both routes before a storm is named.
Important documents in a waterproof, grab-and-go location. Insurance policies, medical records, identification, and financial account information should be together and accessible not scattered across the house. Note: standard homeowners and renters insurance does not cover flooding. Knowing your coverage before a storm is the kind of thing that saves families thousands of dollars in recovery.
Cash. ATMs and card readers go offline during power outages. FEMA specifically recommends cash as part of every hurricane preparedness kit - small bills, enough for fuel and essentials for several days.
A charged backup power bank. Communication with family members during and after a storm depends on a working phone. A dead battery in an evacuation scenario is a serious problem that is entirely preventable.
At least one week of food and water per person. FEMA recommends one gallon of water per person per day. For a family of four, that is 28 gallons minimum for a week, significantly more than most families have on hand.
Supplies for every member of the household, including children, seniors, anyone managing a chronic illness or medication, and pets.

The Hurricane Preparedness Checklist Your Family Needs Before June 1

Use this as your honest readiness check. Everything unchecked is a gap to close now, while store shelves are stocked and you have a clear head.

Supplies
☐ At least 1 gallon of water per person per day for 7 days (2 weeks for major storms)
☐ One week of non-perishable food per person
☐ Manual can opener
☐ Flashlights with fresh batteries (or hand-crank)
☐ Battery-powered or hand-crank NOAA weather radio
☐ Backup power bank for phones, fully charged
☐ First aid kit
☐ At least a 7-day supply of all prescription medications
☐ Cash in small bills

Planning
☐ Written evacuation plan with two routes and a destination
☐ Out-of-state contact person all family members know to reach
☐ Important documents in a waterproof, grab-and-go bag (ID, insurance, medical records)
☐ Insurance reviewed including flood coverage
☐ Local emergency alerts enabled on all household phones
☐ Know whether you are in a mandatory evacuation zone

For Families with Children
☐ Comfort items, activities, and extra food your child will actually eat
☐ School emergency protocol confirmed
☐ Children's survival kit packed and accessible

For Families with Seniors
☐ 30-day medication supply if possible
☐ Backup power for any medical devices
☐ Senior emergency kit with age-appropriate supplies

For Pet Owners
☐ Pet food for at least one week
☐ Pet carrier accessible and familiar to your pet
☐ Vaccination records in your go-bag
☐ Pet-friendly shelter or hotel along your evacuation route identified
☐ Pet emergency kit packed and ready

The Pet Problem

More than one in five pet owners have evacuated their homes due to a disaster or emergency and nearly half left at least one pet behind. After Hurricane Katrina, the consequences of that gap were so severe that Congress passed the PETS Act requiring emergency shelters to accommodate household pets. Yet most pet-owning households still head into hurricane season without dedicated pet supplies ready to go.

The reason is almost always the same. In the scramble of an evacuation, gathering pet food, locating the carrier, finding vaccination records, and identifying a pet-friendly shelter along the route feels like too much to manage alongside everything else. So the pet kit gets deprioritized until it cannot be.

A dedicated hurricane pet bundle solves this before the storm is named. The supplies are packed. The records are organized. The only remaining question during an actual evacuation is which pet-friendly hotel along your route still has availability.

The Standard Your Family Should Hold

FEMA's guidance is clear: gather enough supplies to keep your household safe and comfortable for at least one week, accounting for the unique needs of children, older adults, people managing chronic conditions, and pets. The Red Cross echoes this, adding that families should have a plan to both evacuate and shelter safely in place because the right decision depends on the storm and your specific situation.

That is the standard not bare survival, but genuine readiness for every member of your household.

If your current hurricane plan does not include a written evacuation route, one week of food and water, important documents in one accessible location, and dedicated supplies for your pet, there is work to do before June 1.

The good news is that it does not have to be complicated or expensive. The families who come through hurricanes with the least stress are not the ones who prepared the most, they are the ones who prepared at the right time, before the storm had a name.

Peace of mind, packed and ready.

Frequently Asked Questions About Hurricane Preparedness

What is the difference between a hurricane watch and a hurricane warning?
A hurricane watch means hurricane conditions, sustained winds of 74 mph or higher, are possible within 48 hours. A warning means those conditions are expected within 36 hours. When a watch is issued, complete your preparations. When a warning is issued, evacuate if ordered, or make your final shelter-in-place decisions immediately.

How much water does my family need for a hurricane?

FEMA recommends one gallon per person per day, for a minimum of seven days. A family of four needs at least 28 gallons. Plan for more if you have pets, infants, or family members with medical needs. For major storms, a two-week supply is a stronger standard.

Should I shelter in place or evacuate?

That depends on your location, the storm's strength, and whether local authorities issue an evacuation order. If you are in a mandatory evacuation zone, leave early. If you are not ordered to evacuate, an interior room on the lowest floor above expected flood level is your safest shelter-in-place option. Never wait until the last minute to make this decision, traffic becomes gridlocked 24 to 48 hours before landfall.

What about hurricanes if I don't live on the coast?

Hurricane hazards extend far inland. High winds, flooding, tornadoes, and extended power outages affect communities hundreds of miles from where a storm makes landfall. Every family in a hurricane-prone state should have a preparedness plan, not just those on the coast.

Find related reading at the Emergency Preparedness Hub

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