The short answer
Prepare before a storm threatens: know your evacuation zone and local alerts, make a household communication and transportation plan, assemble supplies for your needs, protect records, and follow official instructions for your area and home.
Work through these steps
- 01
Know your zone and local instructions
Use official county and state resources for evacuation zones, shelters, alerts, and orders. A flood zone, evacuation zone, and storm-surge risk area are related concepts but not interchangeable.
- 02
Plan for people, pets, and medications
Decide where you will go, how you will travel, how household members reconnect, and what documentation, mobility, medical, or pet needs must be handled early.
- 03
Build supplies around your household
Plan water, food, lighting, communications, charging, sanitation, first aid, prescriptions, pet needs, and comfort items using current official guidance and realistic storage limits.
- 04
Protect the home without unsafe improvisation
Understand the property’s approved shutters or protection system, bring in loose exterior items, clear safe drainage paths, and use qualified help for roof, electrical, structural, or generator work.
- 05
Organize insurance and recovery records
Keep policy contacts, deductibles, inventories, receipts, photos, identification, and emergency numbers available offline and in a secure backed-up location.
MoveIn provides general educational information. Verify property-specific, legal, financial, insurance, tax, safety, and construction decisions with the appropriate official source or qualified professional.