As you were all aware with the recent hurricane that devastated parts of Florida, hurricanes here can be massive and most definitely deadly. During hurricane prep, it showed a lot of people were unprepared, under-stocked, and had no idea what to do.
During the year, you should always be prepared, not just when the news announces that there is a chance for a hurricane to strike, that’s when you’re already too late and behind the ball curve. On hand, you should always have an emergency 2-week supply of canned food and bottled water. But if you choose to wait till the hurricane is close by, you might struggle to find necessary and essential supplies. During Hurricane Ian, Costco ran out of almost every kind of liquid; Walmart’s were out of water; Target and Publix had some but limited their water sales.
It’s not just essential to have food and water, you also need a first aid kit, extra pet food on hand (under the assumption you have a pet), external phone battery charger, and 4 triple A, and 4 double A batteries for flashlights.
For if and when you lose power, limiting the number of times you open your fridge and freezer will be essential to keeping the food from perishing.
When evacuations happen, they are not “suggestive”, they are meant to be followed. As you recently saw, the evacuation was necessary in parts of southern Florida as the storm surge was above 18 feet. Even though your area is in an evacuation and the hurricane does not go throughout your area like it happened in Clearwater and Tampa, it’s still ideal to evacuate. A hurricane can change paths at any time.