How to prepare your family for a hurricane ahead of the 2024 season

MAKE A FAMILY COMMUNICATION PLAN

Even the best plans can go astray when disaster strikes. If your family members are not all in the same place when a hurricane hits, have you considered how you’ll get in touch with each other? Do you have a designated meeting spot? What if your neighborhood is evacuated? It’s vitally important to create a plan now to ensure you’ll all know what to do, how to find each other, and how to communicate in an emergency.

• Choose the same person for each family member to call or email, so that everyone has a single point of contact. During or after a hurricane, it might be easier to reach someone who’s out of town or outside the state.
• Make that contact person the “ICE” (“In Case of Emergency”) contact in your cell phone. If you’re injured, emergency personnel often will check your ICE listings to reach someone you know. Notify the person you’ve listed that he or she is your emergency contact.
• Be sure every member of your family knows the emergency contact’s phone number and has a cell phone or a prepaid phone card to call that person.
• Text, don’t talk, unless it’s an emergency. It may be easier to text and you won’t tie up phone lines for emergency workers. Text messages can often get around network disruptions when phone calls can’t.

• Keep your family’s contact info and meeting spot location in your backpack, wallet, or cell phone or taped inside your school notebook.
• Designate someone from outside the area to be the primary contact for out-of-town relatives and friends to check on your well-being. Following a hurricane, landlines and cell phone networks may be out of service for extended periods.
  
  

BE PREPARED AND STAY AWARE

It’s important to be prepared and stay aware when hazardous weather threatens. A communication plan is only one element of what you’ll need to have in place with your family when a hurricane is imminent. Get your family together well before hurricane season begins so that you can establish a plan for how to respond to a natural disaster. Here are some ideas:

• Discuss the type of hazards that could affect your family.
• Know your home’s vulnerability to storm dangers.
• Determine your evacuation route and destination. Plan to go to family or friends who live in safer areas. Use county evacuation shelters only as a last resort.
• Establish an alternate plan if your friends should be out of town, your primary evacuation route is flooded, or other unforeseen circumstances arise.
• Put together a family communication plan as outlined above.
• Have a plan for what to do with your pets if you need to evacuate (see below).
• Review your homeowners and flood insurance policies and keep them with you in a secure, waterproof place. The impending arrival of a storm is the wrong time to check if you have the proper insurance.
• Register any individuals with special needs with your county’s emergency management office.
• Create a list of prescription medicines that you will need to refill and take with you.
• Stock non-perishable emergency supplies and food.
• Prepare a disaster supply kit.

PREPARE YOUR PETS

You will need a plan for your pets, too. Consider two different pet emergency kits:

• In one, put everything your pets will need to stay where you are.
• The other should be a compact, portable version to use if you and your pets have to evacuate.
• For more information and a detailed list of disaster preparedness tips, go to aspca.org.

GET YOUR SUPPLIES NOW: FOLLOW THESE CHECKLISTS

Supplies are a critical part of every family’s health and safety. Assemble the supplies you’ll need well in advance of hurricane season each year. It pays to be prepared.

When a storm is imminent, time to shop will be limited. If supplies are even available, you will have to scramble to find them. During recent hurricane seasons, many Southwest Florida residents had to contend with shortages of plywood, batteries, flashlights, water, ice, generators, and other storm necessities.

Every time a storm is predicted to make landfall near Southwest Florida, shopping lines are long, shelves are bare, and stress levels are high. Supplies can be divided into several categories, but the essentials should be gathered ahead of time and kept easily accessible throughout the hurricane season.

THE ESSENTIALS

These are the supplies you should always have on hand. Be sure to place the items that you will most likely need for an evacuation in an easy-to-carry container.

• A minimum of one gallon of water per person per day. Keep at least a three-day supply per person on hand.
• Additional water for food preparation and sanitation.
• Bags of ice.
• Partially fill plastic soft drink bottles, one liter or larger, with water and place them in the freezer. The bottles will freeze without cracking. If the power goes out, the frozen water will help keep the freezer cool, and when the ice melts, the water will be drinkable.
• Fill up your car’s gas tank and portable gas canisters. Make sure those canisters are stored safely.
• Keep cash handy. Banks may not be open, ATMs may not be accessible and debit cards and credit cards may not be viable if power is lost.

SPECIAL NEEDS

If you have family members with special requirements, such as infants and elderly or disabled persons, remember to include items and supplies that may be unique to their needs. That can include setting aside anything from extra diapers and baby formula to special medications and a spare walker.

GROCERIES

• Baby formula
• Bread
• Crackers
• Canned fruits
• Canned juice
• Canned meats
• Canned vegetables
• Dry cereal
• Instant coffee and tea
• Peanut butter
• Quick-energy snacks
• Ready-to-eat soups

MEDICAL SUPPLIES

• First-aid kit for your home—for how to stock your kit, consult the American Red Cross at redcross.org.
• First-aid kit for your car
• Insulin
• Denture needs
• Prescription drugs (minimum two-week supply)
• A supply of aspirin or non-aspirin pain reliever
• Contact lenses and supplies
• Eyeglasses, along with a spare pair, if you have one
• Heart and high blood pressure medicine
• Insect repellent
• Itch-relief cream

DOCUMENTS

• Important telephone numbers
• Record of bank account numbers
• Family records (birth, marriage, death certificates)
• Record of credit card account numbers and companies
• Inventory of valuable household goods—with pictures, if possible
• Copy of will, insurance policies, deeds, stocks, and bonds
• Copy of passports, social security cards, and immunization records

SANITATION

• Disinfectant

• Toilet paper, towelettes, paper towels
• Soap and liquid detergent
• Hand sanitizer
• Personal hygiene items
• Household chlorine bleach
• Large bucket or trash can with lid for storing water to flush toilets

Tools & Supplies

• Battery-operated radio or TV
• Flashlight and lanterns
• Extra batteries and extra bulbs
• Lighter or matches for your grill
• Antenna for your TV
• Extension cords (heavy-duty and three-pronged)
• Manual can opener/utility knife
• Plastic sheeting/tarps
• Duct tape
• Generator
• Gas cans
• Old towels for cleanup
• Paper cups, plates, and utensils
• Plastic trash bags
• Full propane tank
• Charcoal and lighter fluid
• Camp stove
• Sterno
• Thermos for hot food
• Coolers with ice for cold food
• Tree saw for cutting fallen limbs
• Hand tools: knife, axe, pliers, screwdrivers, wrench
• Hammer and nails
• Fire extinguisher
• Fix-a-flat
• Mops, buckets, and cleaning supplies