The 2025 hurricane season is about to begin, renewing interest in the potential weather scenarios that could unfold in both the Atlantic Ocean and the eastern Pacific.
- Understand the Risks of a Hurricane
- Create an Emergency Plan
- Know Your Evacuation Zone
- Recognize Warnings and Alerts
- People with Disabilities
- Check Your Important Documents
- Strengthen Your Home
- Prepare with Technology
- Help Your Neighborhood
- Gather Supplies
- Stay Safe During a Hurricane
- Dealing with the Weather
- Returning Home After a Hurricane
- Wear Protective Clothing and Work with Another Person
This topic is especially relevant following devastating events like Hurricane Otis in 2023, which heightened awareness among the Mexican population about the importance of staying informed and prepared for extreme natural phenomena.
Hurricanes are dangerous and can cause significant damage through storm surges, wind damage, rip currents, and flooding. They can occur along any U.S. coast or in any territory in the Atlantic or Pacific oceans. Historically, storm surges have been the leading cause of hurricane-related deaths in the United States.
Understand the Risks of a Hurricane
Hurricanes aren’t just a coastal problem. Learn how rain, wind, water, and even tornadoes can occur inland, far from where a hurricane or tropical storm makes landfall. Start preparing now.
Create an Emergency Plan
Make sure all members of your household know and understand your hurricane plans. Include your workplace, daycare, and any other places you frequent in your hurricane preparedness plans. Ensure your business has a continuity plan to keep operations running during a disaster.
Know Your Evacuation Zone
If you live in an evacuation zone, you may need to leave quickly when a hurricane approaches. Know your evacuation routes, practice them at home—including with pets—and identify where you will stay.
Follow the instructions of local emergency managers, who work closely with state, local, tribal, and territorial agencies and other partners. They will provide the most up-to-date recommendations based on the threat your community faces and the appropriate safety measures.
Recognize Warnings and Alerts
You should have multiple ways to receive alert messages. Download the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) mobile app to get real-time alerts from the National Weather Service for up to five locations anywhere in the nation. Sign up for community alerts in your area and learn about the Emergency Alert System (EAS) and Wireless Emergency Alerts (WEA), which do not require a subscription.
People with Disabilities
Determine if you or anyone in your household might need additional assistance during an emergency due to a disability.
Check Your Important Documents
Make sure your insurance policies and personal documents, such as identification, are up to date. Make copies of these documents and store them in a password-protected digital space.
Strengthen Your Home
Clear drains and gutters, secure outdoor furniture, and consider installing storm shutters.
Prepare with Technology
Keep your cell phone charged when you know a hurricane is in the forecast, and purchase backup charging devices to keep your electronics powered.
Help Your Neighborhood
Talk to your neighbors, elderly residents, or those who may need extra help about their hurricane plans to see how you can assist others.
Gather Supplies
Prepare enough supplies for your household, including medications, disinfectants, and pet items in your go-bag or vehicle. After a hurricane, you may not have access to these supplies for days or even weeks.
Stay Safe During a Hurricane
Pay attention to emergency information and alerts.
If you live in a mandatory evacuation zone and local officials tell you to evacuate, do so immediately.
Dealing with the Weather
Determine the best way to protect yourself from high winds and flooding.
Take shelter in a designated storm shelter or an interior room if high winds occur.
Go to the highest level of your building if you’re trapped by flooding. Do not go into a closed attic. You could become trapped by rising floodwaters.
Never walk, swim, or drive through floodwaters. Remember: Turn Around. Don’t Drown! Just six inches of fast-moving water can knock you down, and one foot of moving water can sweep away a vehicle.
Returning Home After a Hurricane
Follow local officials for special information and instructions.
Be careful while cleaning. Wear protective clothing, masks, or appropriate face coverings if cleaning mold or other debris. People with asthma and other lung conditions (link in English) and/or weakened immune systems should not enter buildings with indoor water leaks or visible or detectable mold, even if they are not allergic to mold. Children should not help with disaster cleanup.
Wear Protective Clothing and Work with Another Person
Do not touch any electrical equipment if it is wet or if you are standing in water. If it is safe to do so, turn off electricity at the main breaker or fuse box to avoid electric shock.
Do not wade in floodwater, as it may contain dangerous pathogens that cause illness. This water may also contain debris, chemicals, waste, and wildlife. Underground or downed power lines can also electrically charge the water.
Only make emergency phone calls. Phone systems are often down or overwhelmed after a disaster. Use text messages or social media to communicate with family and friends.
Document all property damage with photographs. Contact your insurance company for assistance.
https://www.ready.gov/es/huracanes
