Hurricane season checklist

Get ready once

• Decide where you would go in an evacuation: a friend inland, a hotel, a shelter. Write it down.
• Photograph every room, the outside of the house, and the roof. Store the photos somewhere not in the house.
• Read your insurance declarations page. Know your hurricane deductible and whether you have flood insurance (most policies do not include it).
• Put documents in a waterproof bag: IDs, insurance, deeds or lease, prescriptions, a list of medications and doses.
• Check the generator, the shutters or plywood, the chainsaw. Buy what is missing while the shelves are full.
• If anyone in the house needs power for medical equipment, oxygen, or refrigerated medicine, register with the Florida Special Needs Registry.
• Pets: find a pet-friendly shelter or hotel now. Vaccination records and a carrier go in the kit.

A storm is in the forecast

• Fill prescriptions. Pharmacies close early and open late.
• Fill the car. Get cash; card readers fail when power does.
• Water: one gallon per person per day for seven days. Food that needs no cooking for seven days.
• Charge everything. Buy or charge a battery pack for phones.
• Confirm your destination if you would evacuate. Tell someone outside the state your plan.
• Trim what you can; secure or bring in anything the wind can lift.

Watches and warnings

• Shutters up or plywood on. Bring in everything outside.
• If your zone is ordered to evacuate, go. Take the documents bag, medications, chargers, pets, and seven days of clothes.
• If you stay: freeze water in bags to keep the refrigerator cold longer. Fill tubs for flushing, not drinking.
• Set the refrigerator and freezer to their coldest settings.
• Know where you will shelter inside the house: an interior room without windows, lowest floor that will not flood.

Stay put

• Stop driving. Bridges close at sustained tropical-storm winds.
• Charge phones to full; switch to low power. Turn on wireless emergency alerts.
• Fill the car's gas tank if you have not, then park it away from trees and out of flood-prone spots.
• Put the generator outside, 20 feet from any window or door, never in a garage. Never.

The first week

Most hurricane deaths in Florida happen after the storm: carbon monoxide, electrocution, chainsaws, heat, and driving into water. Slow down.

• Generators outside only, 20 feet from the house. Carbon monoxide is odorless.
• Treat every downed line as live. Stay out of standing water near them.
• Photograph damage before you clean up. Then call your insurer; the claim number is what you need first.
• Do not sign a contract with anyone who knocks on the door. Ask your county for licensed contractor lists; report scams to the state.
• Call 211 for help with food, water, shelter, and recovery. If a long-term recovery group exists in your county, it is on your county page.
• Check on neighbors, especially anyone elderly or alone.

For official instructions, follow your county emergency management office and the Florida Division of Emergency Management. This guide is general guidance from Florida VOAD's member organizations and does not replace local orders.

The first week after guide goes into more detail.