How to Prepare Your Household for a Hurricane

Hurricane preparation starts with a location decision, not a shopping trip. Can your household safely remain where it is, and where will you go if it cannot? Settle the people, transport and care arrangements before a storm threatens, then use current local instructions to put that plan into action.

Know your zone and read the right forecasts

Look up your address in your local emergency management agency's evacuation-zone information. Save its official alert channels and designated routes, and enable Wireless Emergency Alerts on your phone. Make sure everyone knows who will monitor updates and pass instructions to anyone who needs help receiving or understanding them.

Use current National Hurricane Center forecasts and local National Weather Service updates alongside local emergency instructions. NOAA's forecast guide explains that the cone shows the probable track of the storm's center, not the storm's size or its entire hazard area. Dangerous conditions can extend outside it and well inland.

Check storm surge, rainfall flooding and wind forecasts separately. A hurricane's category describes wind intensity, not its surge or rainfall threat. A lower category or weakening storm is not an all-clear. Inland households need to consider flooding too, including whether water could cut off their route or reach their destination.

Decide where to go before you need to leave

Identify more than one possible destination and route. Choose a location outside anticipated surge and flood danger with a building suitable for the expected wind, following local guidance. There is no universally safe inland mileage. NOAA's preparation guidance notes that a well-built friend or relative's home outside flood-prone areas may be an option; evacuation need not mean driving hundreds of miles.

Ask hosts in advance whether they can accommodate your household. Check current shelter availability with local officials rather than assuming a familiar building will open. Confirm pet arrangements, accessibility and any assistance you need at the actual destination. Have another option if the first becomes unavailable or falls within the threatened area.

Agree who is driving, who is collecting anyone who needs assistance, and how you will reconnect if separated. If you have no vehicle or need accessible transport, contact local emergency management and transport providers early to confirm available arrangements. Do not leave an essential ride as an unconfirmed offer. Our household evacuation plan covers contacts, responsibilities and go-bag organization.

Make medical continuity part of the route

If someone depends on powered equipment or life-sustaining treatment, involve their care team and equipment supplier before a threat. Arrange an individualized backup and relocation plan, including needed supplies, transport and a confirmed destination capable of supporting their care. Ask what to do if the first facility or route becomes unavailable.

Ready.gov's disability planning guidance calls for accessible transport planning, checking the availability of treatment facilities, and discussing powered medical equipment with a health care provider. A general shelter is not a guarantee of electricity, medicine refrigeration, suitable staffing or treatment. Do not interrupt therapy or change treatment to fit a travel plan; work with the care team on continuity and the help needed to relocate.

Leave promptly when local officials order it

An evacuation order is the signal to act, not to wait for a stronger hurricane category. NOAA's hurricane guidance says local evacuation orders can precede storm or storm-surge watches and warnings. Start planning well beforehand so that a search for a perfect destination does not delay an urgent order.

Take essential medicines, documents, communication supplies and pet necessities, and follow current recommended evacuation routes. Do not take an improvised shortcut around barricades. Ready.gov's evacuation guidance warns that routes can be blocked and roads or bridges washed out. Never drive into floodwater, even if the route looked usable earlier.

If conditions make travel unsafe or your arranged assistance fails, seek current instructions and help from local emergency authorities. Call 911 for immediate danger. Do not turn an order to leave into an attempt to cross flooded roads, and do not assume that unsafe travel means your home has become a suitable shelter.

Finish home tasks only while conditions are safe

Arrange appropriate window protection and secure loose outdoor items well before unsafe weather. Renters should coordinate responsibilities with the landlord in advance. NOAA's storm-threat guidance also emphasizes keeping phones and vehicles charged and having important documents and a communication plan ready to take.

Keep departure essentials together, with paper contacts and protected copies of important records. Assign manageable tasks so one person is not trying to secure the home while everyone else waits in the vehicle. Do not climb ladders, work on roofs or continue outdoor work as conditions deteriorate. Unfinished property protection must not delay an evacuation.

Keep supplies focused on what your household can actually use: safe drinking water, familiar food usable without cooking, medicines, lights, a battery-powered radio, phone charging supplies, hygiene items and individual or pet necessities. Separate what goes with you from what stays at home. Use our emergency grocery planning guide for food and water choices, and the home power outage starter checklist for basic outage preparation. Extra supplies do not make an unsafe location safe.

Shelter for wind only in a suitable location

Remain only where local instructions and the building's location and condition allow it. A windowless interior room can provide wind protection in an otherwise suitable building outside surge and flood danger. It is not a flood solution, and an interior-room plan never overrides an evacuation order. NOAA's storm protection guidance distinguishes wind shelter from the need to get away from flooding.

Keep essential supplies and alerts accessible while sheltering, and follow changing official instructions. Do not go outside because the weather suddenly becomes calm: the eye can bring a misleading pause before dangerous conditions return. CDC's hurricane guidance says to stay inside through apparent calm and wait for an official message, not a visual guess that the storm is over.

Return only when officials permit it

Check official instructions both where you are staying and at home before starting back. NOAA's after-storm guidance says to return only when officials say it is safe. Continue avoiding floodwater, downed power lines, compromised roads and damaged buildings even after the weather improves.

Permission to return to an area does not certify your particular house as safe. Do not enter a structurally damaged building; seek local guidance or a qualified assessment when its safety is uncertain. Keep the household at a suitable alternative location rather than treating the first trip home as a deadline to move back in.