The Calm Before the Chaos; Preparing For Hurricane Season

The 2026 Atlantic hurricane season is officially underway — and while forecasts call for 12 to 15 named storms, 5 to 9 hurricanes, and up to 3 major storms, there’s one number that matters most: one. It only takes one storm making landfall in your community to turn an ordinary week into a life‑changing event.

 In this episode, we break down what you need to know, and what you need to do, before the peak of hurricane season arrives. From understanding your local evacuation zone to reviewing your insurance coverage, building a family emergency plan, and assembling a supply kit that can sustain you for at least seven days, we walk through practical, realistic preparation steps that make a real difference.

 You’ll also hear why waiting until there’s a cone on the forecast map is one of the biggest mistakes people make, and why preparing as if help may not arrive for a week isn’t extreme, it’s smart.

 Whether you live in a coastal evacuation zone, a low‑lying area, or simply want peace of mind this season, this episode will help you prepare calmly and confidently, before the shelves empty, the gas lines form, and the winds begin to rise.

 Don’t wait for the warning. Start preparing now.

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Transcript

SPEAKER_01 0:00

Every hurricane season comes with numbers, forecasts, storm counts, probability. But here's what those numbers don't tell you. It only takes one. One storm making landfall in your community. One night of surge, one wrong assumption that it won't be that bad. And here's the hard truth. When that one storm hits, emergency responders can't be everywhere at once. After major hurricanes, neighborhoods sometimes wait days, even weeks for assistance. That's not failure. That's the scale of the disaster. Which means that self-reliance matters. Food, water, medication, a plan. Prepping as if help may not arrive for a week isn't extreme. It's realistic. It could make all the difference this season. Today's episode will help you get prepared for hurricane season. Even if you don't live in a hurricane prone area, this episode will help you be better prepared regardless of where you live.

SPEAKER_00 1:19

Welcome to Practical Prepping. Today is May 4th, 2026. This is episode 553. This is the Prepping Podcast with No Bunkers, No Zombies, and no Alien Invasions, just Practical Prepping, where we teach everyday people how to prepare for life's emergencies, disasters, and crises. We're here to help you get prepared. Hi guys, I'm Krista.

SPEAKER_01 1:45

And I'm Mark. And if you'd like the expanded notes for this episode, go to practicalprepping.info forward slash five five three. And we're going to put links to some of the resources in there that could be critical after a hurricane, or even if you just want to learn more.

SPEAKER_00 2:03

Now, Mark, this week is National Hurricane Awareness Week because that 2026 hurricane season is approaching.

SPEAKER_01 2:11

The official Atlantic season runs from June 1st through November 30th, and the eastern Pacific season dates are usually May 15 through November 30, with the peak activity period being August through October. Here are some of those numbers that we mentioned, and then we just put them out there. These are guesses by well-educated folks. Okay. And I've combined them. It was not as wide a gap in a lot of these as as I saw, but I just combined all of those and went from the lowest to the highest. And they're talking about 12 to 15 named storms.

SPEAKER_00 2:49

Okay.

SPEAKER_01 2:50

Five to nine hurricanes and one to three major hurricanes.

SPEAKER_00 2:56

You know, it only takes one to make a season very devastating. And especially if it hits your community. And I can speak to this because I was a landlocked citizen of the Charlotte, North Carolina area in 1989 when famous Hurricane Hugo slammed right through our inland area. And so I'm a believer now that a hurricane can impact you even if you're hundreds of miles away from the shore.

SPEAKER_01 3:21

We had Ivan that was still a hurricane when it got to Birmingham, Alabama.

SPEAKER_00 3:26

And don't forget Hurricane Helene, which slammed the western North Carolina, eastern Tennessee area with devastating flooding.

SPEAKER_01 3:35

And that's what I was going to say. As that one continued on, it still had 74 mile an hour hurricane force winds when it got to North Alabama.

SPEAKER_00 3:45

Oh gosh, yeah.

SPEAKER_01 3:46

So you don't have to live on the coast to need some hurricane preparation.

SPEAKER_00 3:53

You need to pay attention. First of all, you need to really kind of assess your risk.

SPEAKER_01 3:57

You know, we talk a lot about risk assessment.

SPEAKER_00 4:00

Right. And I think that's, you know, again, if you're not living in a hurricane prone area, you may be surprised what could be impacting you as a result of a hurricane taking place hundreds of miles away.

SPEAKER_01 4:12

Now, if you live in those coastal areas, identify your local evacuation zone. Those are by numbers, and all of the cities on the coastal areas will have those. But the highest risk areas are those coastal regions, low-lying areas, and mobile home communities.

SPEAKER_00 4:33

You need to be aware if you live on the coast or any coastal community, how far below sea level you may be. You may be at sea level or you may be below, and that's important information to have.

SPEAKER_01 4:44

A lot of Florida is, you know, a hill is 10 feet high above seed level. Yes, they're not real high a lot of times. But you can also sign up for local emergency alerts.

SPEAKER_00 4:57

I think most of the cell phone providers actually offer that now.

SPEAKER_01 5:01

They do push those through, but you can sign up with one from NOAA. You can find one with the National Weather Service. I mean, there's all kinds of good apps there.

SPEAKER_00 5:14

Well, speaking of that, do you know you can actually download the FEMA app. That's the federal emergency response. And also the NOAA, NOAA, the weather radio, have the radio and have that programmed so that you can receive information about the risk of hurricane.

SPEAKER_01 5:31

Yeah, I know we always talk about how you need to have two or three ways to receive warnings. That's really critical in the short notice things. I mean, we don't always get 36 hours on tornadoes. We may know there's going to be some severe risk, but you know, we may not get but five minutes of warning with that.

SPEAKER_00 5:53

That's the nature of a tornado. With a hurricane, though, sometimes we have a week or more where they're already beginning to track it coming across the room.

SPEAKER_01 6:00

They're watching it. And then at about 48 hours out from the expected landfall, they'll put out watches. And those will be wider. And then as that narrows some, at about 36 hours before expected landfall, they'll put out warnings as they've narrowed that down quite a bit.

SPEAKER_00 6:22

And that's when the evacuation routes may also be published.

SPEAKER_01 6:26

Now, one thing that you definitely want to do while it's still dry before the storm comes, is look at your insurance and your documentation.

SPEAKER_00 6:36

Very smart. You've got to review your own homeowner's insurance coverage.

SPEAKER_01 6:40

Yeah, and flood insurance most of the time is separate from standard policy.

SPEAKER_00 6:46

Absolutely. And did you know that in most states, you have to have a 30-day waiting period for flood insurance to be in effect before you can make a claim. Exactly. So you're not going to be getting flood insurance the day before landfall.

SPEAKER_01 7:00

Exactly. You just ahead of time.

SPEAKER_00 7:05

Yeah. Let this hurricane awareness week really open your eyes to what you need to do.

SPEAKER_01 7:11

And then go through and document your belongings with photos or with video.

SPEAKER_00 7:16

Very smart. VIN numbers, identification numbers, serial numbers if needed.

SPEAKER_01 7:20

Yeah. Have pictures of that, have video of that, walk around through your house, film certain areas, your TV. We bought this TV at such and such for this amount of money. Just have that documented so that you can show your insurance company that you actually had these things.

SPEAKER_00 7:41

And this is another way to keep you from being stressed with stressed and pressed, I call it, stressed at the disaster and pressed for information that just may not be forefront in your mind. And you don't have to rely on memory. You'll have the proof. Also, think about storing your important documents in some waterproof containers with some digital flash drive backups. Now here's another tip. In a pinch, you can store valuables and documents in your dishwasher. Seal it up, don't turn it on, of course. But it's waterproof. So if flooding should strike your home, at least the dishwasher contents will be safe.

SPEAKER_01 8:17

Right. And not necessarily so with a refrigerator.

SPEAKER_00 8:21

That's true. You also want to build a family emergency plan. You've got to think about this. You've got to choose an evacuation destination.

SPEAKER_01 8:31

Yeah, that that can be a relative's. It can be we're going to go north so many miles and we're going to get a hotel. It could be we're going to go north a ways and then we're going to turn west away from this thing and get a hotel. But you need to have an idea of where you're going. What you don't want to do is just get in the car and start driving.

SPEAKER_00 8:51

Yeah, without communication. You have to have some kind of a plan and make sure that everyone that you are responsible for also understands that plan and when to activate on it.

SPEAKER_01 9:02

And have multiple evacuation routes.

SPEAKER_00 9:05

That is very important because of storm. Sometimes you know the storm can be coming from a different direction, and you can't always evacuate just one way.

SPEAKER_01 9:13

And those may be clogged up.

SPEAKER_00 9:15

Exactly.

SPEAKER_01 9:16

But go ahead and establish an out-of-state contact person.

SPEAKER_00 9:20

Very smart.

SPEAKER_01 9:21

We've done that with our family. We can make two phone calls and let everybody know that we're fine. Actually, we can make one, and they will make the rest of them.

SPEAKER_00 9:34

But if needed.

SPEAKER_01 9:35

That covers the North Carolina bunch, it covers the Tennessee bunch, it covers the Alabama bunch. You can make one phone call out of it. And in our case, we could say, we're fine, everything's fine, we're without power, but everything's fine. We could also say, hey, bring help.

SPEAKER_00 9:55

Whatever the situation expects, you know, that's what you got to get.

SPEAKER_01 9:58

But the main thing is to let folks know that you are safe. So you want that out-of-state contact out of the impact area, and they need a list of everybody to contact. So what we did, we made a pretty extensive list and put that on, I put it in a word file, and we emailed that to all of our family members that have computers and we printed it out for those that didn't.

SPEAKER_00 10:26

Also, think about your pets. Identify some of the pet-friendly accommodations that you may have to go if you are evacuating. Get that information up front and try to get to those places as early as possible so that you don't have to worry about Fido or Fluffy. Some of you others may have barns full of horses and barns full of cows. You've got to make other kinds of arrangements and think about that. So put some thought into what your animal friends are going to be needing in the midst of a disastrous hurricane.

SPEAKER_01 10:56

And are there any special considerations for medical needs and elderly family members in your family? You can register for special need shelter programs if that applies to you. You can call your local EMA and they will tell you how to get in touch with that. And one of the things that helps to be in that program is they can facilitate the movement of people. Even if it's somebody that's bedridden, these special need shelters can facilitate the movement of those people when necessary. Let's talk about preparing our house.

SPEAKER_00 11:33

Yeah, now is the time to start trimming some trees, remove some of those dead branches and brush that just may be piling up.

SPEAKER_01 11:40

That cuts down on the flying debris that can go through your roof.

SPEAKER_00 11:44

Mm-hmm. Right. You may want to think about installing some storm shutters on the outside of your home. You could do that with actual exterior shutters, or you may have to go get some pre-cut plywood panels, but get some plywood now while it's available before any storms have been forecast, because that is when a lot of folks will wait until the hurricane has been identified.

SPEAKER_01 12:06

And as that cone narrows, people start to panic and go and buy out all of the plywood.

SPEAKER_00 12:14

Well, and think about this the home improvement stores will also not get delivery of extra plywood if the storm is coming. So you've got to look at it from the store's perspective. When they sell out, they're going to be out till after the storm has passed.

SPEAKER_01 12:28

But if you do that now, you can pre-cut those to fit windows and you can number those pieces of plywood.

SPEAKER_00 12:35

Very smart.

SPEAKER_01 12:35

This goes on window one, this is window two, this is window three. It cuts down on the time necessary to put those up and to have them in place before the storm gets there.

SPEAKER_00 12:47

That's some good thinking there, Mark. You also want to locate their utility shutoffs. A lot of people have natural gas coming in their home. Obviously, you've got water and some electricity. You may need to understand that if you are evacuating, you may want to go ahead and cut off some of the utility.

SPEAKER_01 13:02

You do want to turn off all of your utilities before you evacuate. There's several reasons for that, but you want that to happen. But another thing that you can do in your house is that you can elevate your valuables in flood-prone areas.

SPEAKER_00 13:18

If you've got an attic, you know, run some stuff up there.

SPEAKER_01 13:22

You could go to the attic, you can move it to the second floor, you can move it out of the basement. Just get it out of the flood-prone areas. Now let's talk about building an emergency supply kit.

SPEAKER_00 13:34

That sounds like practical prepping.

SPEAKER_01 13:36

It is. Now, this is not a bag.

SPEAKER_00 13:38

Okay.

SPEAKER_01 13:39

It's a kit.

SPEAKER_00 13:40

Okay.

SPEAKER_01 13:40

And it doesn't even have to be in one container.

SPEAKER_00 13:44

Oh, no, that's good news.

SPEAKER_01 13:45

But what we're looking at is a recommended duration of a minimum of seven days of supplies per person.

SPEAKER_00 13:53

And number one on the list?

SPEAKER_01 13:55

Water.

SPEAKER_00 13:56

You know I'm going to say water.

SPEAKER_01 13:57

Minimum one gallon per person per day.

SPEAKER_00 14:01

But one gallon per person per day is a good rule of thumb at least.

SPEAKER_01 14:06

And then non-perishable food and at least one manual can opener.

SPEAKER_00 14:11

Yeah, that's true. You know, we've talked about it many times. You may not have any access to heating your food, but if you open a can, you can eat beans cold out of the can. They're cooked, they're safe to eat. It may not be pleasant, but you're not going to starve.

SPEAKER_01 14:24

Oh, if they're pork and beans, they're quite pleasant.

SPEAKER_00 14:27

Yeah, they're pretty good. Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 14:28

Quite pleasant. But you can have a way to heat the food. Now, if we're going to be without seven days, I don't want to be just opening cans and eating out of the cans.

SPEAKER_00 14:36

No, we've got a plan for that.

SPEAKER_01 14:38

We've got a plan for that. And that plan is first a camp stove.

SPEAKER_00 14:42

Yes.

SPEAKER_01 14:42

After the camp stove, we've got a grill, we've got a smoker. We can cook on an open fire if we need to. Absolutely. But have a way to heat that food because hot food can be quite comforting when you're in stressful situations.

SPEAKER_00 14:59

And it's easy enough to do.

SPEAKER_01 15:00

But you also want a two-week or more supply of prescription medications.

SPEAKER_00 15:07

True.

SPEAKER_01 15:07

Here's the reason why. The pharmacies may be hit. Pharmacies may not be able to fill your prescriptions for several weeks.

SPEAKER_00 15:16

That's the whole reason we talk about self-reliance, is you've got to get the mindset that if you're out of pocket from where you live, your community can also be equally impacted. And so you can't just assume that grocery stores and pharmacies and drugstores and hospitals and things are all going to be operating on a normal schedule.

SPEAKER_01 15:38

They're not.

SPEAKER_00 15:38

They'll be just as impacted as you are, and you've got to become self-reliant.

SPEAKER_01 15:43

We want a first aid kit that's more than a boo-boo kit. There can be injuries during the storm or during cleanup.

SPEAKER_00 15:52

True.

SPEAKER_01 15:52

And during the storm, EMS is not coming. There's a point when that thing gets to a certain point, they put the first responders into shelters and they lock them down. Yeah. And nobody is going out, nobody's coming to save you during the middle of a hurricane.

SPEAKER_00 16:10

Yeah, and that's just natural common sense. Yeah, hard to accept sometimes, but but it's just reality.

SPEAKER_01 16:17

It is true. But you, if you think about it, you could have a broken arm during uh damage and during the storm. Have some splints, some SAM splint, or something to make some splints out of. Cuts are very common. People get cut up with some of this stuff. That's true. And you want more than band-aids. You want a kit that is an adequate first aid kit to take care of you and your family until EMS can get there.

SPEAKER_00 16:49

Naturally have some flashlights and extra batteries for those flashlights because without power, you're going to be running flashlight or any other type of artificial lighting longer than you normally would. So batteries can only last for so long. So have some dangerous.

SPEAKER_01 17:04

But look at having LED lanterns instead of candles. Much safer. Much safer. During hurricanes, you can get gas lines broken.

SPEAKER_00 17:14

And you don't want to be striking any matches.

SPEAKER_01 17:15

You don't want open flames there. So LED lanterns, they're not expensive at all. We've got them on the featured items page on the website, and I think a four-pack is like 20 bucks.

SPEAKER_00 17:30

And they do last a long time. They last a long time. They're easy to use. Put them where you can find them, position them around the house, and you can have a ready source of light when you need it.

SPEAKER_01 17:39

Yeah, we have one right behind Krista's chair on the bookcase. Hopefully, we've got a flashlight usually in my pocket, but there's also a couple in the little lazy Susan on the table between our chairs. There's a flashlight available there. We can get to that LED, and then we can get to our lights out kit. So have those things in place ahead of time. Battery-powered or hand crank weather radio.

SPEAKER_00 18:10

Still a winner.

SPEAKER_01 18:11

Information is critical.

SPEAKER_00 18:13

You do need to know what's going on out there.

SPEAKER_01 18:15

We love that Midland NOAA Alert weather radio.

SPEAKER_00 18:19

Right.

SPEAKER_01 18:19

That's on the website as well. Uh it goes off quite regularly here in North Alabama this time of the year.

SPEAKER_00 18:26

It's spring.

SPEAKER_01 18:27

But it it will wake us up during the night. We can get all kinds of information from that. You also want to have phone chargers and power banks. Have those ready. Have your devices charged, but if you're without power for several days, you may need a way to recharge that. And you may need to ration your cellular device usage.

SPEAKER_00 18:53

Exactly.

SPEAKER_01 18:53

Now that's going to be killer-only kids. I understand that.

SPEAKER_00 18:57

It's called a coloring book and a box of crayons. I mean, invest, you know. Really seriously. Have some of those little travel games. You can buy a little travel etch a sketch. You can have coloring books. You can have building blocks. You can have uh, you know, you got to think old school sometimes on the entertainment aspect of storm survival.

SPEAKER_01 19:17

And have some cash in small bills.

SPEAKER_00 19:19

That's right. We've said that many times. You want to have ones, fives, tens, and twenties. Don't be stuffing your wallet with a bunch of hundred dollar bills, because if you have to make change somewhere, have to buy something, where you're buying may not be able to give you change.

SPEAKER_01 19:33

Right.

SPEAKER_00 19:33

So you're going to want to do your business in small increments.

SPEAKER_01 19:37

And the other thing there is, especially after the storm, a lot of these places have lost power. They can sell you something, but they can't take debit cards, they can't take credit cards. Right. And a lot of times in the evacuation zones, people will prefer cash when they're selling gasoline. So that's just keep that in mind. Hygiene supplies.

SPEAKER_00 20:02

That's right. You know, things to clean your house and things to clean your own self.

SPEAKER_01 20:06

Yep. And hopefully you've still got some of that toilet paper from 2020.

SPEAKER_00 20:11

If you got some, that is.

SPEAKER_01 20:13

If you got some. Right. But don't forget those. There's some basic tools that you need: a multi-tool, duct tape, tarps, general prepper stuff. We've talked about those enough.

SPEAKER_00 20:26

Most people get the idea.

SPEAKER_01 20:28

But you want some special items for infants, elderly, and pets.

SPEAKER_00 20:32

Exactly.

SPEAKER_01 20:33

And ding ding ding, lots of insect repellent.

SPEAKER_00 20:37

You know, that's right, because these storms usually occur in America in the warm season of the year. And nothing loves a hurricane aftermath more than a set of mosquitoes.

SPEAKER_01 20:48

And they they come out worse than the love bugs in Louisiana.

SPEAKER_00 20:52

The flies, the beetles, you get the picture.

SPEAKER_01 20:55

So lots and lots of insect repellent and get the good stuff, the deep woods type stuff. You want some good stuff here.

SPEAKER_00 21:04

Now what are we going to do when we know that a storm, a hurricane, is approaching? We know it's going to make landfall. Everybody's now heightened their alert. What do we do next?

SPEAKER_01 21:15

If it's a cat three or above, I'm going to visit somebody north of here. Okay.

SPEAKER_00 21:19

So that's your you draw the line at a cat.

SPEAKER_01 21:21

I draw the line. If it's cat three, I'm gone. But what you can do, and this applies to smaller hurricanes as well as the larger ones. Okay. You want to fill your vehicles with gas early. There can be a run on the gas stations.

SPEAKER_00 21:36

Right. And remember, like I said about the home improvement stores, the gasoline trucks won't be running if the storm is coming either. They can't safely put those vehicles on the road. So yeah, you got to get your gasoline while you can.

SPEAKER_01 21:47

And while the storm is approaching, go ahead and fill your bathtubs and whatever containers you can with water.

SPEAKER_00 21:55

Good call.

SPEAKER_01 21:56

You may need that for flushing, you may need that for drinking.

SPEAKER_00 22:00

Also, think about this freezing water bottles to preserve food. We've often said to screw the lid off of a water bottle and squeeze out about a half an inch or so to give it some headspace, because as we know, frozen water will expand. And you've got to give it somewhere to expand or it'll bust up the plastic. But freezing those water bottles becomes a way to keep things cool and frozen. And it just helps. And then when it thaws, you can drink the water.

SPEAKER_01 22:27

You've got more drinking water, but especially a freezer. A full freezer is much more efficient than a half full freezer.

SPEAKER_00 22:35

Exactly.

SPEAKER_01 22:36

So if you have space in your freezer, fill it up with water bottles. Water bottles. With water jugs. Then after the hurricane or after the power goes out, that helps keep your food stored safer. And you can also take a couple of those, and I'm picturing here one gallon jugs, and put those over in the refrigerator, and that will help keep the refrigerator cooler.

SPEAKER_00 23:04

Okay. Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 23:05

So that's why you want to be freezing water so that you can preserve that.

SPEAKER_00 23:10

Also, you need to secure your outdoor furniture and anything that can be a projectile. Now, this includes those hanging baskets, the wind chimes, anything that can be loose, the the uh picnic table on your patio, put these somewhere where the wind can't blow them all over the place and break something because some people have lost glass doors and windows from their own lawn furniture that was not secured.

SPEAKER_01 23:35

And you want to move valuables to upper floors. We mentioned this a while ago. This isn't some of the planning process, but uh you can move those valuables off of the ground level, off of anywhere that's uh uh subject to flood, because in these coastal areas you get a lot of storm surge that comes in from that storm.

SPEAKER_00 23:56

Yeah, you don't want to lose everything if you can help it.

SPEAKER_01 23:59

No, and if you can put it on an upper level, that helps. And if you do that while the storm's approaching, hey, you may do it in vain, but you're not left scrambling at the last minute.

SPEAKER_00 24:12

Something else you need to keep in mind is that you need to keep an ear to the news reports about any evacuation orders because it sort of starts in two phases. It'll start as a first phase of we recommend that you vacate the area, and then it can move into the we are mandating you will evacuate.

SPEAKER_01 24:34

Now they don't go through.

SPEAKER_00 24:36

They're not going to come at they're not gonna drag you out of your house. I mean, there are people that have resisted the evacuation order and died. And many of them that lived to tell the tale vowed never to do that again.

SPEAKER_01 24:48

Pay attention to those evacuation orders and do what the local authorities tell you to do. Here's a trick: wash your dirty clothes while the storm's approaching.

SPEAKER_00 25:00

Well, there you go. And then maybe store them in a higher area. That way, at least you'll have clean clothes.

SPEAKER_01 25:05

You'll have clean clothes. If you don't have water, if you don't have power, you can't wash clothes. Right. So if you pre-wash those, go ahead and wash everything that's dirty, bed sheets, towels, clothes, whatever. Get the laundry done, and then you're set for the storm.

SPEAKER_00 25:24

Now we're going to talk about what to do during a storm and even after the storm. But first, we want to tell you that today's cup of coffee comes from Tony. Tony is a longtime supporter of our podcast, and we want to thank him so much for that support. Now, do we bring you value in our podcast? Have you learned something? Have you got an idea of something that you need to do, or in some other way have received value from our show? Would you help us by giving back a little? You can go to practicalprepping.info slash support. You'll find ways that you can support our show. And that would include a coffee membership. It's only$5 a month, but it really helps us offset expenses that are incurred during the show. So please consider helping us out at practicalprepping.info slash support.

SPEAKER_01 26:13

Okay, here's what to do during the storm.

SPEAKER_00 26:16

Okay.

SPEAKER_01 26:16

Number one, stay in an interior room on the lowest non-flooding floor.

SPEAKER_00 26:22

So not the basement.

SPEAKER_01 26:23

Not the well, if that's not going to flood. If that's not a flooding area.

SPEAKER_00 26:28

Well, you might have a basement on top of a mountain, you'd be okay. Exactly.

SPEAKER_01 26:32

I mean, mother's was not in the floodplain. Okay. And she had a basement. But yeah, you want to on your lowest non-flooding floor.

SPEAKER_00 26:42

Okay.

SPEAKER_01 26:42

If the surge is predicted to be 18 feet and your first floor is 12 feet above sea level, you probably want to look at floor number two.

SPEAKER_00 26:54

I don't know. A flood surge that much, I don't think I'd even want to be in the house.

SPEAKER_01 26:58

True. But if you've ignored those evacuation orders and you've stayed there, you got to get upstairs.

SPEAKER_00 27:04

I'm going to take that advice from that Mark and Krista couple. They know what they're talking about.

SPEAKER_01 27:08

And stay away from the windows. Krista was talking about the lawn furniture blowing through the window. You can have limbs, you can have all kinds of things. You're not safe standing there looking out the window.

SPEAKER_00 27:20

You're not, first of all, you're not going to see a hurricane. You're going to experience all the wind and the rain. And it can wreak some havoc. So don't be foolish. If you would tell a child not to do it, then you don't do it either.

SPEAKER_01 27:34

And be really safe with your generator.

SPEAKER_00 27:36

Exactly.

SPEAKER_01 27:37

And have a carbon monoxide detector there with it. And never ever use a generator or a grill inside of an enclosed area.

SPEAKER_00 27:48

We have to say this every year because every year somebody does it and it's It's fatal. It's terrible.

SPEAKER_01 27:54

It's fatal.

SPEAKER_00 27:55

Now what's going to happen after the storm has passed us by?

SPEAKER_01 27:58

First thing, and this sounds hard to do when we don't know.

SPEAKER_00 28:02

I know.

SPEAKER_01 28:03

Wait for the all clear before returning.

SPEAKER_00 28:06

From an official.

SPEAKER_01 28:07

From the official all clear before returning.

SPEAKER_00 28:10

And why is that?

SPEAKER_01 28:11

Well, they may have search and rescue operations going on.

SPEAKER_00 28:15

Oh, sure.

SPEAKER_01 28:15

They may be trying to get roadways open.

SPEAKER_00 28:18

They've they've got to deal with some down power lines and they've got to deal with floodwater.

SPEAKER_01 28:23

Exactly. It may take a little bit before you're able to get back in, but don't try to get in there before they give the all clear.

SPEAKER_00 28:32

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 28:32

One thing, a lot of those entrances to areas are manned checkpoints and they will not let you in. Right. There are roads going into cities that they man and they will not let you into the city.

SPEAKER_00 28:48

Yeah, even if you live in there.

SPEAKER_01 28:49

And then at some point, it's if you live here, you can come here. But if you don't, stay away.

SPEAKER_00 28:55

Yeah, we've got to let the officials do the official stuff. Now, something else, you need to confirm that your tap water is safe before you start pulling those faucets open and drinking or bathing in it because it may have been affected by a flood surge or damage to the utilities.

SPEAKER_01 29:11

Sometimes in hurricanes, the water system and the sewage system, they merge.

SPEAKER_00 29:16

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 29:17

So you really want to be careful with that.

SPEAKER_00 29:19

That's a no-can do. Yeah. And also document your damage before you start any cleanup. This is extremely important for your insurance claims.

SPEAKER_01 29:28

And this way you've got the before and after. You've got the pictures that prove what you had, and now you have the photographs or the video that documents the damage and do that before you start cleaning up.

SPEAKER_00 29:45

You know, think about this. You may have to replace a roof. The neighbor's tree may have fallen on your house. Well, you need to be able to maybe send a drone up to get pictures, but you want to see the impact and the severity of that damage in order for the insurance claim to be fair and equitable to you, the one who's paying for the insurance.

SPEAKER_01 30:07

And I say before you even begin is because we get busy starting doing cleanup and stuff gets forgotten. And then file your insurance claims. You can register with FEMA. There's a lot of resources available for that, but you'll just have to get in line and file the insurance claims and then stay on top of that.

SPEAKER_00 30:32

We'd like to give you two main takeaways from our show today. Number one, prepare as if help may not arrive for a week. And number two, start preparing now rather than waiting for the storm to hit.

SPEAKER_01 30:48

We do appreciate you being here today. And please share this episode with friends and family that live in hurricane prone areas. It could save their lives. You know, there are a lot of people that move to the coast that have never experienced hurricanes, so they don't know what to expect. This could be an episode that could be life saving for somebody that you love.

SPEAKER_00 31:12

Well worth it.

SPEAKER_01 31:13

And as Krista always says, Stuff happens.

SPEAKER_00 31:16

Stay prepared.

SPEAKER_01 31:18

And we'll see you next time.