Hurricane Preparedness

Know your Risk and Make an Emergency Plan

In Florida, it’s no secret that we are susceptible to hurricanes. While you can’t prevent them, you can prepare by knowing what risks you face and having an emergency plan in place for your family or business. Learn more about emergency preparedness (alerts), including how to plan and prepare for a disaster.

NOAA Radio Broadcast Channels and Alert Polk Registration

Communication is key in any emergency and knowing what information to pay attention to can make a difference.

• Register for Alert Polk  to get local alerts via email, phone and/or text messages. It’s a free service, but text messaging rates may apply.
• NOAA Weather Radio Frequencies for Polk: 162.500 and 162.550 MHz

Special Needs Shelter Pre-Registration
If you or a loved one needs accommodations in a special needs shelter, you must pre-register. Visit our Special Needs page for more information.

Pet shelters
If you have a pet, don’t forget to incorporate them into your emergency plan. Not all shelters are pet friendly. You need to know ahead of time, where you will go. Prepare a Hurricane Pet Plan.

Insurance documentation and other personal documents
Creating a digital document inventory will help you during and after a tropical storm or hurricane. Using your cell phone’s built-in camera is an easy way to start the process. Don’t forget identification cards and other important documents that you might need following a storm.

Prepare your home and yard
You don’t want to wait until a hurricane is bearing down on your home to start removing unwanted vegetation. Check your local Yard Waste regulations. Do it before it’s too late.

By waiting until the last minute to cut limbs and trim overgrown vegetation, you risk creating a larger hazard that might not be collected in time. Visit Waste and Recycling for more details.

Gather supplies and prepare your emergency kit
For hurricanes, it’s recommended that you have a seven-day supply of food and water at the ready for everyone in your household (scroll down for example food and water lists). While that might seem like a daunting task, we’ve created a shopping list that can spread out that expense over several weeks.

Drinking Water Preparation and Safety

Hurricanes can damage structures that may impact water and sewer lines. Having a bathtub full of drinking water is a quick way to have clean water until services are restored. Plan for one gallon per person per 24 hours. Store at least a three-day supply and use bottled water that has not been exposed to flood waters if it is available.

Ways to ensure water is safe for drinking:

Boil

If you don’t have bottled water, boiling water for one minute will kill most types of disease-causing organisms, such as cholera, typhoid, salmonella, giardia, E. coli and amoebas. Let the boiled water cool and store it in clean containers with covers.

Disinfect Using Bleach

If you can’t boil water, disinfect it for drinking or other use by adding 1/8 teaspoon (or eight drops) of regular, unscented, liquid household bleach per gallon of water. Stir it well and let it stand for at least 30 minutes before using it.

Filter Before Disinfecting

If the water is cloudy, filter it through layers of clean cloth or allow it to settle, then draw off the clear and use heat or bleach methods for disinfection.

Well Water Systems

If you have a well that has been flooded, the water should be tested and disinfected after flood waters recede. If you suspect that a well may be contaminated, contact your local or state health department or agriculture extension agent for specific advice.

Pre-register for Volunteer Opportunities

Following a natural emergency, volunteers are needed for many positions in local disaster response. If you would like to help others in your community, apply at Volunteer Opportunities.

Hurricane Preparedness for Small Businesses

Your business needs to be prepared for unforeseen natural disasters, such as hurricanes, to minimize the impact of these events. According to the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA), almost 40 percent of small businesses never reopen their doors after a disaster. Now is the time to create a recovery plan, or re-evaluate your current plan, for how your business will continue if a hurricane strikes.

Make sure insurance policies are in place and all documents are updated. Review your policies to know what your insurance covers. Make sure you know:

• What the process is and timeframe for filing an insurance claim
• What you will do about the things that aren’t covered in the policy, and
• How long your business can exist if you aren’t operating.

Resources to help you plan:

• FloridaDisaster.biz is available to provide Florida business owners critical information to prepare, respond and recover from hurricanes and other disasters.
• Florida Emergency Networks were organized to assist state agencies and local governments with purchasing functions during emergencies.
• The Florida Division of Emergency Management Planning for Businesses is another resource.

Here are more tips to help you prepare for a hurricane:

• Protect your electronics
• Back up your data
• Protect the interior
• Have a communication plan in place, and
• Manage your supply chain.

Seven-Day Hurricane Supply Suggestion

Wonder what a meal plan might look like for a family of four for seven days when you have no power or how much food to buy? We have a examples below.