The time to prepare for a hurricane is before the season begins, when you have the time and are not under pressure. If you wait until a hurricane is on your doorstep, the odds are that you will be under duress and will make the wrong decisions.
Take the time now to write down your hurricane plan. Know where you will ride out the storm and get your supplies now. Those supplies that you need will probably be sold out by the time you reach the front of the line. Being prepared, before a hurricane threatens, makes you resilient to the hurricane impacts of wind and water.
It will mean the difference between your being a hurricane victim and a hurricane survivor. Here are templates that you can download, print, and fill out to help you in making a plan:.
Here are a few easy steps to start your emergency communication plan:. Understand how to receive emergency alerts and warnings. Make sure all household members are able to get alerts about an emergency from local officials.
Sign up for KTAlert and make sure all household members phone numbers or emails are listed. Plan together in advance so that everyone in the household understands where to go during a different type of disaster like a hurricane, tornado, or wildfire. Collect information. Create a paper copy of the contact information for your family that includes:. Identify information and pick an emergency meeting place. Things to consider:.
Share information. Make sure everyone carries a copy in his or her backpack, purse, or wallet. You should also post a copy in a central location in your home, such as your refrigerator or family bulletin board.
Practice your plan. Have regular household meetings to review your emergency plans, communication plans and meeting place after a disaster, and then practice, just like you would a fire drill. More information to complete your written hurricane plan can be found at Ready. A recent survey indicated that 91 percent of pet owners are not prepared for the next natural disaster. A disaster can strike at any time! Therefore, it is encouraged that all families to be safe and prepared by planning for their furry family members as they plan for themselves.
Before a disaster, call your veterinarian to begin your planning process—if your pet is not up-to-date on their vaccinations, schedule an appointment to do so. Create a pet disaster preparedness kit with items placed in waterproof bags or containers. Your kit might include:. Ensure your pet is microchipped! In addition to ensuring your pet is always wearing up-to-date identification tags, talk with your veterinarian about microchipping your pets and ensure your account and contact information is kept current, to increase the likelihood of a reunion if your pet gets loose amidst chaos.
In the event of a natural disaster, never leave your pets behind in vehicles, tethered, or crated without you or a member of your family. Pets left outdoors are at risk for diseases—in the event of heavy rains and flooding, mosquitoes multiply, increasing the likelihood of the spread of heartworm disease to your pet, so ensure your pet is on year-round heartworm preventive medicine—as well as storm-related injuries, and, possibly, death. Before a disaster, visit with your veterinarian—if your horses are not up-to-date on their vaccinations, schedule an appointment to do so.
Ensure your horse has can be identified with a form of permanent ID, such as a microchip or freeze brand and make sure chips and brands are appropriately registered. Ensure your herd has can be identified with a form of permanent ID, either through individual animal IDs or a herd identification.
Make sure holder brands are registered with the appropriate authorities. Consider creating a POC persons to contact list—with names, telephone numbers, e-mails of those who might need to be contacted at any stage of evacuation and relocation. This helps remove the natural tendency to hesitate until the last minute to start the movement of your herd or complete all that needs to be done before a disaster.
Most people in the City of Katy do not need to evacuate during a hurricane. The City encourages those who require electricity for medical purposes or live in mobile homes to evacuate ahead of a storm. Remember, that after a hurricane or tropical storm, especially one that generates a lot of rain, it may be necessary to evacuate areas around streams, creeks, rivers and bayous. Be prepared to evacuate and to shelter in place, depending on the situation.
Stay tuned to local information sources such as Radio and TV , including City of Katy Facebook to find out about evacuation orders in your neighborhood. Once you have determined whether you need to evacuate, and which route you and your family should take to leave town, become familiar with the Hurricane Evacuation Contraflow. During hurricane evacuations, at the discretion of the county Judge - inbound lanes of local freeways can be reversed to allow vehicles moving outbound to do so faster.
Some lanes normally closed to regular freeway traffic are also opened to help speed evacuations, these "evaculanes" are designated with a blue circular shield on the roadway. Check your evacuation route to read more about the Contraflow for your chosen route. Have enough non-perishable food, water and medicine to last each person in your family a minimum of 3 days.
Electricity and water could be out for at least that long. Many of us have cell phones, and they all run on batteries. Always to remember that no two families are alike. If you have infants or very young children, or if you are elderly or disabled, you may have additional items that you need everyday that should be in your go kit. Your shelter-in-place kit should be used for emergencies where you might have to quickly evacuate or shelter in place.
Supplies in a shelter-in-place kit are intended to help people survive the first hours in an evacuation or shelter-in-place situation. There may be situations where you need to stay in your home for a period of time. This includes riding out a hurricane. Remember to replace stored food and water every six months, keep a supply of fresh batteries on hand and keep your most important up-to-date family papers in a fire and water proof container.
Stocking an emergency water supply should be one of your top priorities so you will have enough water on hand for yourself and your family. While individual needs will vary depending on age, physical condition, activity, diet and climate, a normally active person needs at least two quarts of drinking water daily. Children, nursing mothers and people who are ill need more water. Very hot temperatures can also double the amount of water needed. Because you will also need water for sanitary purposes, and possibly for cooking, you should store at least one gallon of water per person per day.
When storing water, use thoroughly washed plastic, fiberglass or enamel-lined containers. Never use a container that has held toxic substances. Camping supply stores offer a variety of appropriate containers. Plastic containers, like soda bottles, are best. Seal your water containers tightly, label them and store them in a cool, dark place. It is important to change stored water every six months. Hurricanes can bring significant flood damage to your home or business. Talk to your insurance agent today about purchasing flood insurance.
Call your insurance company or agent and ask for an insurance check-up to make sure you have enough homeowners insurance to repair or even replace your home. Act now as flood insurance requires a day waiting period. If you plan to ride out the storm in your home, make sure it is in good repair and up to local hurricane building code specifications. Many of these retrofits do not cost much or take as long to do as you may think.
Have the proper plywood, steel or aluminum panels to board up the windows and doors. Remember, the garage door is the most vulnerable part of the home, so it must be able to withstand the winds. Help protect your present dwelling by retrofitting your home. The most important precaution you can take to reduce damage to your home and property is to protect the areas where wind can enter. You can do this by protecting and reinforcing these four critical areas:. A great time to start securing, or retrofitting, your house is when you are making other improvements or constructing additions.
Remember: building codes reflect the lessons experts have learned from past catastrophes. Contact the local building code official to find out what requirements are necessary for your home improvement projects. Many Americans rely on their neighbors after a disaster, but there are also many ways you can help your neighbors before a hurricane approaches.
Learn about all the different actions you and your neighbors can take to prepare and recover from the hazards associated with hurricanes. Start the conversation now with these Neighbor Helping Neighbor strategies. Neighbors Helping Neighbors empowers community leaders to involve and educate individuals from their community about simple steps one can take to become more prepared. Forty-six percent of individuals expect to rely a great deal on people in their neighborhood for assistance within the first 72 hours after a disaster.
When the whole community comes together to respond to and help recover from these emergencies — neighbor helping neighbor — we can often meet the needs of everyone. The Neighbor Helping Neighbor approach seeks to support state, tribal and local agencies, civic organizations, faith-based groups and other community organizations that serve the whole community. FEMA works to provide these organizations with additional tools and preparedness training opportunities so they can become more prepared.
Please read more about Neighbors helping Neighbors over at Ready. Please enable JavaScript in your browser for a better user experience. Am I a Resident? Apply For Jump to subpage Here are a few steps you can take to prepare in advance of any storm: Be sure your property is secure.
Tie down or put away any items outside your home that could blow away or fly through a window. For example, please make sure to secure your trash and recycling bins — do not leave them at the curb.
Remove any dead trees or overhanging branches near your home or power lines. Update your emergency kit and be sure to include enough food and water to last for 3 days for each person in your home. Be sure to have flashlights and extra batteries in case of power outages. Also make sure you have cash and a full tank of gas, as gas stations and ATMs will not work during a power outage. Know Your Risk. Flooding Tropical cyclones often produce widespread, torrential rains in excess of 6 inches, which may result in deadly and destructive floods.
Most of the area will be uninhabitable for weeks or months Tornadoes Some tropical cyclones seem to produce no tornadoes, while others develop multiple ones. When associated with hurricanes, tornadoes are not usually accompanied by hail or a lot of lightning. Tornadoes can occur for days after landfall when the tropical cyclone remnants maintain an identifiable low pressure circulation. They can also develop at any time of the day or night during landfall.
However, by 12 hours after landfall, tornadoes tend to occur mainly during daytime hours. Complete A Written Plan. Create a paper copy of the contact information for your family that includes: phone work, cell, office email social media medical facilities, doctors, service providers school Identify information and pick an emergency meeting place.
Things to consider: Decide on safe, familiar places where your family can go for protection or to reunite. Galveston County -- Residents, excluding the Bolivar Peninsula, are free to return to their homes. State highways 87 and are being cleared of debris and are expected to be opened later Thursday.
TxDOT is assessing conditions before restarting ferry service. City of Galveston -- Mandatory evacuation order and curfew have been lifted. Harris County -- Residents who evacuated as part of the voluntary evacuation order a free to return to their homes. Houston -- Residents who evacuated as part of the voluntary evacuation order are safe to return home. Jefferson County -- Mandatory evacuation order that takes effect at a.
Read the order here. Evacuation buses are available at several sites in Beaumont. You can see the full list of bus locations here. City of La Porte -- La Porte is under a voluntary evacuation.
Residents should strongly consider evacuating by early in the day Wednesday. City of Lake Jackson -- Voluntary evacuation order for low-lying areas outside the hurricane levee.
This does not include Lake Jackson. Orange County -- Orange County and city officials are calling for a mandatory evacuation for all of Orange County at 6 am, Tuesday. Citizens who cannot evacuate themselves can find transportation resources at either of the two embarkation sites in the county.
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