Now Is the Best Time to Prepare for the 2024 Hurricane Season

Last year, Hurricane Idalia brought a renewed focus and commitment to ensuring older adults had the support, information, and resources they needed to stay safe and evacuate from storms. To help older adults and their caregivers get more prepared, FEMA’s Ready Campaign launched a campaign to empower older adults to take three essential preparedness steps: assess your needs, create a plan, and engage your network. We developed new resources for older adults, including a Disaster Preparedness Guide for Older Adults to support older adults with easy-to-read, user-friendly worksheets and checklists so they can create a personalized plan, and we created a Disaster Preparedness Guide for Caregivers with the Rosalynn Carter Institute for Caregivers to directly help caregivers feel more prepared and in control when disaster strikes. Family caregivers are often the first responders in a disaster, and this new guide addresses the barriers to preparedness many caregivers face.

Help Your Friends and Neighbors

You can be a force for good by helping others plan evacuation routes and strengthen their homes against hurricane damage. Consider checking with neighbors, older adults, caregivers, or those who may need additional help making and completing their hurricane plans.

Know When to Go and Where to Go

It’s important to know if you live in an area that could be at risk during a storm. You may only need to go 10 miles inland, depending on the evacuation order, and you may not necessarily need to leave the state to stay safe until the storm passes. That’s why it’s critical to understand where your evacuation routes, zones, and areas are ahead of time, and to pay attention to directions from local officials.

Stay Connected

If you need to evacuate, make a family emergency communication plan so you know how to get in touch during and after a storm. Write down your family, friends, and loved ones’ phone numbers and make sure you have a plan to connect after the storm passes. Have several ways to receive alerts, including through the free FEMA app, local media, and alerts from the National Weather Service.

Being Prepared and Resilient

Personal resilience is at the heart of preparedness. By learning your area’s risk from hurricanes, you are better armed to take actions to protect yourself, your loved ones, and your home from whatever may come. You can build your resilience by having the supplies you’ll need to be safe and comfortable for seven days. Whether you need to evacuate or stay at home, your basic supplies should include non-perishable food, water, a battery-powered or hand crank radio and

flashlights with a supply of extra batteries, any medications you take, and pet supplies. Visit Ready.gov and Listo.gov for additional items for your kit.

Strengthen Your Home Against Hurricane Damages

The best time to make your home strong is now. Check your roof, protect your windows and exterior doors, and make sure trees and shrubs around your house are trimmed and in good condition.

Save Your Documents and Know the Importance of Flood Insurance

Print out documents ahead of time and have them ready to go when you evacuate. You may need to access those documents when applying for assistance following the storm. If you do apply for assistance from FEMA, the new changes we’ve made will better assist you during the recovery process and will provide you with flexible funding as you jumpstart your recovery. We understand how difficult our programs can be to navigate, which is why we recently changed our eligibility criteria to help people recover faster, while building back stronger. We also improved our customer experience by simplifying the application process to make it easier for people to apply for assistance. Visit the FEMA.gov page for more information on these new changes. Lastly, since most homeowners, renters, and business insurance policies do not cover flood damage, we encourage people to get flood insurance from the National Flood Insurance Program.

Floridians are no strangers to hurricanes, and as we approach the 2024 Hurricane Season, I encourage everyone to act today to protect yourself, your loved ones, and your home before we reach the height of hurricane season.