What Things Do I Need To Be Ready For A Hurricane?

I hope it doesn’t happen, but if a storm comes your way it’ll be too late to ask yourself or anyone else, “What things do I need to be ready for a hurricane?”

There are lots of news stations and papers and web articles about hurricane preparedness, as in what to know to get ready for a hurricane, or what happens when they hit, but this article is a list of items that will come in handy for the fateful day when a storm hits your house; hurricane survival items, if you will.

Did I omit anything? Comment bellow…

Firstly, familiarize yourself with shelters, and best evacuation routes, but if you stick around and try to ride out a storm make sure you have the following in stock.

What Things Do I Need To Be Ready For a Hurricane? Here’s the List

Short answer: You need to eat, you need some lifestyle items, you need personal items, you need health items. Here comes the more descriptive, detailed answer to the question, "What things do I need to be ready for a hurricane?"

Food Rations

You’ll need to have stored bottled water, non-perishable snacks, food items that don’t require cooking or refrigeration. Of course your fridge and stove won’t be functioning when the power is out, and even if you have a bbq grill for the cooking, how will you keep meats fresh long enough to make it to the day you want to cook them, unless you have a generator and a small energy efficient fridge (4 cubic feet or less)? If you plan to go the generator and small fridge route, ensure that the gene you buy will have enough power for the startup of the fridge you have.

Phone Charger

Unless you have a generator, you’ll need some solar power for some small items. There likely won’t be much sunlight to charge anything big, like a battery bank for larger appliances, so consider small gadgets of necessity first. Safety-wise, that has to be your phone, and a solar charger that can get a full charge on it with little sunlight.

Lights

It’ll be dull light for a percentage of each day, and then comes the night. You’ll need minimal lighting to get around. LED lights use the least power so they’ll last longest on batteries. Otherwise, there are some small lights that have rechargeable batteries that could be charged by solar. Those would be a second thought. If you think you’ll need solar lighting, better plan for that now.

Storm News

In order to know what’s going on outside, you will need a radio. Since the electricity will probably be off, there are hand-cranked radios available for off-grid living, and of course you can buy battery powered radios as well. (with extra batteries).

Batteries

FYI, you can get portable battery packs and even some that can be charged by the sun. If you don’t have those, at least ensure that you have numerous batteries of the size needed to run the items mentioned above.

A Generator

A power generator would make your life easier while you’re in your house without electricity during a storm. Calculate your generator need by the number of watts you may have running at any one time and keep in mind that electric items start up with a bit of a surge. Generators have to be powerful enough to handle the surges of whatever you’re expecting to run.

Storm Shutters

Ideally you would be safer anywhere in Florida if you could prevent the high winds from getting into your house and lifting your roof off. Category 2 hurricanes present winds that are fast and strong enough to cause windows to break, and once the rain comes in and brings the wind in with it, your roof is very vulnerable. Roof damage or disappearance doesn’t just happen by wind blowing it away, roofs are lifted off from the inside. Wind is the Big Bad Wolf, don’t let it in.

How do you prevent the high winds from breaking into your house? Hurricane Shutters.

Go Bag

If it’s evac time or you waited beyond that, your house is damaged and not habitable, you need to get out. Fast. A backpack is ideal for fast flight, but any lightweight luggage with which you can run may suffice.

In 2017, Jeff Rossen was NBC News’ national investigative correspondent, and he interviewed hundreds of disaster victims, and compiled their recommendations into this quick list of stuff to have ready.¹.

Personal Items
While getting ready for a typical day, list every toiletry you use, then buy a travel-size version of each. Include your eyeglasses, a rudimentary first-aid kit, a roll or toilet paper, hand or baby wipes and a multipurpose tool with a knife and can opener.

Clothing
Pack a few days’ worth. Include layers you can add or remove, plus lightweight rain gear and waterproof boots.

Medication
Pack about three days’ worth of each of your prescriptions, which should last until you can get to a pharmacy that’s open. If you need larger items, such as an oxygen tank, make sure you have a portable version.

Documents
Fill a zip-top waterproof bag with photocopies of your

• birth certificate
• driver’s license
• Social Security and Medicare cards
• power of attorney and will
• any marriage, adoption or naturalization certificates
• proof of address
• insurance
• medical and immunization records
• and information about your credit and ATM cards.

Sustenance
Bottled water is essential. Granola or energy bars are great because they are small and filling, and they come in a variety of flavors. Basically non perishable snack foods that fit into your go bag with other stuff.

Cash
In addition to enough money for a few days, include small bills and a roll of quarters. If you need to buy something out of a vending machine, you don’t want to start asking equally desperate strangers for change.

¹ Jeff Rossen, Packing Your Emergency Preparedness Kit