That means that it is important for you and your family to have a plan that makes you as safe as possible in your home. Here are some important steps help you to create your plan.

Develop a Family Plan

1. Discuss the type of hazards that could affect your family. Know your home's vulnerability to storm surge, flooding and wind.

2. Locate a safe room or the safest areas in your home for each hurricane hazard. In certain circumstances the safest areas may not be your home but within your community.

3. Determine escape routes from your home and places you will go. These should be measured in tens of miles rather than hundreds of miles.

4. Make a plan that allows you to care for family members and friends with special needs but allows you sufficient time to care for other family members.

5. Make a plan now for what to do with your pets if you need to evacuate.

6. Stock non-perishable emergency supplies as part of your hurricane survival kit. Collect other special survival kits if you're a homeowner, are caring for a family member with special needs, or if you have a pet.

7. Have an out-of-state friend as a family contact, so all your family members have a single point of contact.

8. Post emergency telephone numbers by your phone and make sure your children know how and when to call 911.

9. Check your insurance coverage. The actual cost of new construction in Florida has soared in recent years. Your coverage must be adjusted to reflect the fact that it may cost as much as 50% more to repair or rebuild your home. Beware of the difference between actual cash value and replacement value policies. Actual cash value policies will pay only the depreciated value of your lost property whereas replacement value policies pay an amount equal to that required to repair or replace your property with new construction. Also, in Florida it's a good idea to pay for ordinance or extended replacement coverage because the additional cost of complying with Florida's strict building codes is not automatically factored into most standard replacement value policies. Check with your insurance agent. Finally, flood damage is rarely covered by homeowner's insurance. Flood insurance is inexpensive and easily available. Again, contact your insurance agent, but remember, if there's a named storm active in the Atlantic Basin, most insurers place a moratorium on writing new policies or adding coverage to an existing policy.

10. Use a NOAA weather radio. Remember to replace its battery every 6 months, as you do with your smoke detectors.

11. Take First Aid, CPR and disaster preparedness classes.

Creating Your Hurricane Supply Kit

More information can be found here.

Having a Place to Go

Develop a family hurricane preparedness plan before an actual storm threatens your area. If your family hurricane preparedness plan includes evacuation to a safer location for any of the reasons specified with in this web site, then it is important to consider the following points:

1. Select an evacuation destination that is nearest to your home, preferably in the same county, or at least minimize the distance over which you must travel in order to reach your intended shelter location. In choosing your destination, keep in mind that the hotels and other sheltering options in most inland metropolitan areas are likely to be filled very quickly in a large, multi-county hurricane evacuation event.

2. If you decide to evacuate to another county or region, be prepared to wait in traffic. The large number of people in this state who must evacuate during a hurricane will probably cause massive delays and major congestion along most designated evacuation routes; the larger the storm, the greater the probability of traffic jams and extended travel times.

3. Sometimes smaller roads are less congested and may be more passable than larger highways. Consult a hurricane evacuation map (see below) to determine the best route. (Note: Maps marked with an asterisk not available. Available maps in Adobe® Acrobat® format - get Adobe® Reader here.)

   All Florida	Charlotte	Gilchrist	Jefferson	Monroe	Sarasota
   Panhandle	Citrus	Glades	Lafayette	Nassau	Seminole
   North FL	Clay	Gulf	Lake	Okaloosa	St. Johns*
   Central FL	Collier	Hamilton	Lee	Okeechobee*	St. Lucie
   South FL	Columbia	Hardee	Leon	Orange	Sumter
   Alachua	De Soto	Hendry	Levy	Osceola	Suwannee
   Baker	Dixie	Hernando	Liberty	Palm Beach	Taylor
   Bay	Duval	Highlands	Madison	Pasco	Union
   Bradford	Escambia*	Hillsborough	Manatee	Pinellas	Volusia
   Brevard	Flagler	Holmes	Marion	Polk	Wakulla
   Broward	Franklin	Indian River	Martin	Putnam	Walton
   Calhoun	Gadsden	Jackson	Miami-Dade	Santa Rosa	Washington

4. If possible, make arrangements to stay with the friend or relative who resides closest to your home and who will not have to evacuate. Discuss with your intended host the details of your family evacuation plan well before the beginning of the hurricane season.

5. If a hotel or motel is your final intended destination during an evacuation, make reservations before you leave. Most hotel and motels will fill quickly once evacuations begin. The longer you wait to make reservations, even if an official evacuation order has not been issued for your area or county, the less likely you are to find hotel/motel room vacancies, especially along interstate highways and in major metropolitan areas.

6. If you are unable to stay with friends or family and no hotels/motels rooms are available, then as a last resort go to a shelter. Remember, shelters are not designed for comfort and do not usually accept pets. Bring your hurricane survival kit with you to the shelter. Find pet-friendly hotels and motels.

7. Make sure that you fill up your car with gas before you leave.

Preparing Your Home

More information can be found here.

Caring for Those With Special Needs

When a hurricane threatens, individuals with special needs who have to evacuate will probably be most comfortable at the home of a relative or friend, presuming they can be appropriately cared for there. But if the alternative is a special-needs shelter, you need to pre-register before the storm. Register with your county Emergency Operations Center or other agency so workers can contact you and arrange evacuation when a hurricane threatens.

Who typically should go to a special-needs shelter? People who are too sick to go to a conventional shelter but not sick enough to go to a hospital. This includes people on oxygen or kidney dialysis, those dependent on electric-powered life-support systems, people with severe asthma who must be in an air-conditioned space, and those with other conditions that limit their abilities and mobility. People who are on ventilators, require a hospital bed, or need one-on-one around-the-clock support should go to a hospital.

It's important to pre-register because cots, special meals, oxygen, and medical personnel are provided at the special needs shelter. Pre-registering lets emergency management personnel know what kind and how much of a specialized resource they will need at a particular shelter. To find your county emergency operations center, check the phone book. Typically they are listed in the front near the evacuation maps and lists of shelters. Or check the blue county pages.

1. Pre-register your special needs individual with the appropriate county Emergency Operations Center. They can redirect you to the appropriate agency that can handle detailed registration requirements if necessary.

2. Gather up a hurricane survival kit that includes necessary additional supplies and medicines for your special needs individual.

3. Remember that any individual with special needs will be far more comfortable in the home of a friend or acquaintance - even the best of shelters are crowded, uncomfortable, and noisy.

4. Plan your evacuation strategy with the special needs individual in mind. If you are caring for a special needs individual, work it into your evacuation route planning. Remember, there may not be enough room at the special needs shelter for you or other caregivers.

Create a Pet Plan

1. Gather up a hurricane survival kit that includes supplies for you pet.

2. Make sure that your pets are current on their vaccinations. Pet shelters may require proof of vaccines.

3. Have a current photograph.

4. Keep a collar with identification on your pet and have a leash on hand to control your pet.

5. Have a properly-sized pet carrier for each animal - carriers should be large enough for the animal to stand and turn around.

6. Plan your evacuation strategy and don't forget your pet! Specialized pet shelters, animal control shelters, veterinary clinics and friends and relatives out of harm's way are all potential refuges for your pet during a disaster.

7. If you plan to shelter a pet work it into your evacuation route planning.

8. If you plan on evacuating to a hotel or motel find one that accepts pets.