Hurricane prep

What It Means

Hurricane prep is the work a household does ahead of a hurricane so it can either leave safely or ride out the storm at home. It starts well before any storm: learning your evacuation zone, gathering supplies and deciding how to cover windows and doors. Then it speeds up in two stages that the National Weather Service announces, a hurricane watch and a hurricane warning.

How It Sounds at Home

• "We're in zone B, so we'd have to leave."
• "They upgraded it to a warning, put the panels up."
• "Grab the go bag and the dog's food."

The Breakdown

Before the season

• Look up your evacuation zone and learn the route out, then practice it with everyone in the house, pets included.
• Decide where you'd stay if you had to leave.
• Pack medication, disinfectant supplies and pet supplies in a go bagEmergency kitA packed set of water, food, light, first aid and other basics that lets a household get through several days on its own after a disaster. See more or the car trunk. Ready.gov warns you may not be able to get these for days or even weeks after a storm.
• Buy shutters, or plywood, steel or aluminum panels, so you're not shopping when a storm is already coming.
• Clear drains and gutters.
• Make or update your home inventoryHome inventoryA room-by-room record of what you own, with photos, values and receipts, kept to prove a loss to your insurer after a fire, theft or storm. See more and keep a copy away from the house.

When a hurricane watch is issued

• Hurricane conditions are possible in your area. National Weather Service watches go out 48 hours before tropical-storm-force winds are expected.
• Put up shutters or panels and bring in outdoor furniture.
• Go over the evacuation plan in case a warning follows.

When a hurricane warning is issued

• Hurricane conditions are expected. A warning goes out 36 hours before tropical-storm-force winds, because outdoor work gets hard once they arrive.
• Finish every preparation.
• If local officials tell you to evacuate, leave right away.

Good to Know

Follow evacuation orders from your local officials, and in an emergency get out and call 911. If the power fails and you run a generator, Ready.gov says it must stay outdoors, at least 20 feet from windows, doors and attached garages, because its exhaust carries carbon monoxide. Gutter work puts you on a ladder: OSHA's ladder guidance is to inspect the ladder first, set it on firm, level ground and keep three points of contact, and Buhata's own suggestion is to hire a pro for anything on a second storyUser storyA short description of something a product should do, written from the point of view of the person who needs it, often in the form "As a, I want, so that." See more or the roof.

Related Terms and Categories

• Storm shutters

  Covers fixed over windows and glass doors before a storm so wind pressure and flying debris can't break the glass and let wind and rain inside.

• Emergency kit

  A packed set of water, food, light, first aid and other basics that lets a household get through several days on its own after a disaster.

• Generator maintenance

  The routine care that keeps a home generator ready for an outage: oil changes, filter and spark plug checks, test runs and safe storage.

• Home inventory

  A room-by-room record of what you own, with photos, values and receipts, kept to prove a loss to your insurer after a fire, theft or storm.

• Insurance deductible

  The part of a covered loss you pay yourself before your home, renters or auto insurance pays the rest, set as a dollar amount or a percentage.

• Sump pump

  A pump set in a pit in a basement floor that switches on as groundwater collects there and sends it through a pipe away from the house.

Home maintenance and repairs