16 Hurricane Essentials You Don't Want to Be Without

Florida residents might be forgiven for thinking hurricane season arrived early this week after more than 2 feet of rain soaked Fort Lauderdale, temporarily closing its airport. Forecasters expect a slightly less active hurricane season this year with 13 named storms, six actual hurricanes and two of those being major hurricanes of Category 3 or higher. Hurricane season officially begins June 1 and runs through Nov. 1. 

A few simple steps taken in advance make storm preparation affordable even on a tight budget. The American Red Cross and Federal Emergency Management Agency recommend a three-day supply of food, water, and other essentials for evacuating to a safe zone and two weeks' worth for sheltering in place.

Related: Emergency Supplies to Stock Up On at Costco and Sam's

A well-equipped first-aid kit is essential for any household, stormy weather or not. But storm prep requires extra supplies. The recommendation to keep three days of supplies to evacuate also applies to household medications and medical devices, including syringes, prescription drugs, hearing-aid batteries, contact lens cleaner, and related items.

Related: Essentials For Any First Aid Kit

Have at least one flashlight or lantern for every member of the household. LED lights powered by lithium-ion batteries are usually cheaper, both upfront and long-term, while those powered by more-expensive alkaline batteries are usually brighter and more powerful. Stockpile extra batteries for the lights and any other battery-powered emergency items, such as fans. Alkaline batteries (AA, AAA, C, D, and 9-volt) are especially prone to corrosion, so emergency devices not in use should never be stored with alkaline batteries inside. 

For more smart safety tips, please sign up for our free newsletters.

The American Red Cross sells a specialized hand-crank weather radio plus flashlight and smartphone charger for $40, but consumers can make do with a cheaper battery-powered device. (Also, battery-powered objects are far more convenient than hand-cranked ones.) Any emergency device should pick up weather radio frequencies from the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration in addition to the more common AM and FM stations.

When power goes out in an extended area, ATMs and credit-card readers don't work. Whether evacuating or sheltering in place, keep enough cash on hand, preferably in small bills, to get by until the power is restored. Even when an emergency isn't looming, etting aside $1 and $5 bills is also a good way to build up a savings cushion.

Any emergency kit requires a supply of food that can be stored without refrigeration and eaten without cooking or preparation. Many ordinary canned heat-and-serve foods, such as baked beans, pasta, and stews, also double as emergency rations. They can safely be eaten cold, though they won't taste as good. Store at least one manually operated can opener with the food supply — and keep an eye on expiration dates. Other inexpensive foods include crackers and no-refrigeration sandwich fillings, such as peanut butter, honey, and single-serving jams and jellies; canned fruit or fruit cups; pudding cups; trail mix; raisins and other dried fruit; granola or energy bars; summer sausages; and meat jerky.

A barbecue grill or wood- or gas-powered camp stove can cook and heat foods outdoors. But never use such items inside a house, garage, or any other building. Even with all windows open, there's a deadly risk of toxic, suffocating fumes filling the space. If cooking outdoors isn't possible, keep a supply of ethanol gel cans (used for chafing dishes), which don't generate enough heat for cooking or boiling water but typically are sufficient for warming canned items.

Minimum recommendations call for a gallon of water per person per day, though residents of hot climates and those prone to excessive perspiration need more. Empty plastic soda or juice bottles can be washed and reused to store tap water but don't use milk jugs or dairy containers, because it's impossible to know that washing has removed all traces of milk proteins.

Water alone is sufficient to prevent dehydration and maintain good health, but drinking nothing but lukewarm water gets monotonous after a while. Consider stocking powdered drink mix and shelf-stable liquids, including single-serve milk and juice boxes. Choose drinks sold in cardboard boxes or plastic bottles rather than breakable glass.

When you first hear that a storm might strike during the coming week, start making and storing as much ice as the freezer can handle. Also, start eating as much food as possible out of the fridge and freezer to avoid waste in case the power goes out. Fill clean, empty plastic bottles with water and freeze them to serve as an emergency supply of ice and water. Be sure to leave a couple of inches empty at the top, so the freezing water has room to expand. The filled bottles even reduce electricity consumption in normal circumstances, because keeping ice frozen uses less energy than cooling empty air, and helps food stay cold during a power failure.

Natural disasters such as hurricanes and tornadoes, flash floods, and earthquakes can threaten public water supplies. Sometimes tap water must be boiled before drinking or bathing with it because of storm-runoff contamination, but it's still safe to flush a toilet with it. Far worse is a disaster bad enough to cut off water supplies altogether. Bottled water bought for drinking is too expensive to flush down the toilet. Instead, fill the bathtub (make certain the plug doesn't leak) and store water in large pails or washtubs to shelter in place after a storm. Add bleach to forestall microbial contamination, and use this water only for flushing, not drinking or bathing.

For personal cleaning without water, use pre-moistened towelettes or baby wipes — not as good as a shower or bath, but better than not washing at all. Also maintain a two-week supply of any additional hygiene items required by members of the household. Parents who usually rely on cloth diapers for their children may want to instead rely on disposable diapers during emergencies.

A lack of clean running water can leave you with no ability to wash and reuse regular dishware and utensils, so make sure to stock up on disposables. In addition to paper plates and plastic utensils, lay in a supply of small, disposable aluminum pie pans or chafing dishes to use as "cooking" pots for heating emergency canned foods.

Don't discard those plastic shopping bags — save them for an emergency. If a natural disaster is bad enough to suspend regular garbage pickup for several days, plastic bags with no rips or tears in them are a good way to store used disposable dishes, empty cans, dirty diapers, and other stink-inducing, vermin-attracting forms of garbage until it can be thrown away for good. Tie each bag shut to keep the stink in and the bugs out.

When preparing for an impending disaster, it's easy to overlook everyday tasks such as doing laundry. But washing machines won't work during power outages, and wearing fresh socks and underwear every day becomes even more important when limited water supplies mean rare opportunities to bathe. Also, be sure to have at least one pair of good, sturdy shoes — if a natural disaster leaves the ground littered with debris, wearing sandals that offer only minimal protection for your feet is a bad idea.

With air conditioners out of commission during hot-weather power outages, battery-operated fans are the next best thing. The ideal minimum is one fan per person, plus two extra fans to draw air in and out of open windows. People who live in hot but dry climates can set up a makeshift swamp cooler by simply running a battery-operated fan over a shallow pan of water. The moving air causes the water to evaporate, drawing heat out of the atmosphere as it does. But swamp coolers won't work in humid conditions; if the air is already hot and muggy, adding more water to only makes matters worse.

In cold weather, turn metal coffee cans into crude space heaters by burning four or five metal-cup tea-light candles in the bottom (after tearing off the can's paper or plastic labels, of course). Keep the coffee-can space heaters on stable, fire-resistant surfaces, beyond the reach of pets or small children, and never leave burning candles unattended. Vegetable-wax candles don't emit toxic vapors but like any open flame do consume oxygen. When using metal coffee cans as a primary heat source, crack open a door or window every few hours to let in fresh air.

In addition to basic survival supplies, stock some books, portable board games, decks of cards, puzzle books, and other nonelectronic amusements. After the initial excitement of a storm wears off, life without electricity (or sleeping in an emergency shelter) can get tedious quickly. A few engrossing reads, a deck of cards, coloring books, and word games can help young and old alike pass the time until life returns to normal. 

Related: Things That Could Save You in Almost Any Emergency