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Hurricane Preparation Tip #5: Prepare to Evacuate

October 16th, 2020

Monitor your local news and weather reports

If you know a hurricane is approaching, monitor your local news to know how quickly you should prepare and if an evacuation is necessary. Become familiarized with the flood zones in your community and plan accordingly.

Know your emergency communication plan

If you refer back to our earlier tips, we have stressed the importance of communicating with your personal network on your plans, specifically your evacuation plan. Communication can be tricky if a disaster like a hurricane hits, so letting people know where you plan to be will be helpful if they need to contact you. 

Have a place to stay lined up

Be prepared to evacuate your home if necessary. Do you know your nearest emergency shelter? Shelters may lose power, so if you require electricity for your health needs, consider where else you can stay that has a generator. Also consider whether there is a place you can stay if you need to evacuate to an area outside your local community.

Locate the nearest emergency shelter

Depending on the seriousness of the hurricane, you may have to leave your local community but you may not have time to reach your planned destination. If you need to find shelter quickly in a community that is unfamiliar to you, find the nearest emergency shelter with this FEMA mobile app: https://www.fema.gov/about/news-multimedia/app. The app gives you real-time alerts, emergency safety tips, and helps you locate emergency shelters and disaster recovery centers.