We came back from a weekend vacation and immediately found out a major category 5 Hurricane was headed directly for us. We decided to put up shutters, secure our house and lawn, pack, stocked up on non-perishables, make travel plans, \u00a0clean and evacuate all within 48 hours! We have always stayed for hurricanes in the past, \u00a0so evacuating for this hurricane was a first, and it taught us some new lessons. If you are faced with an evacuation, or may have to evacuate in the future, these tips will lessen the confusion, keep you level-headed, and help you evacuate efficiently!<\/p>\n
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You have to make fast, split of the second decisions when you evacuate, and can make mistakes that way. So discuss beforehand and have a plan! For us, in Florida, it\u2019s never a matter of IF it\u2019s WHEN you will be faced with this decision.<\/p>\n
Previously decided:<\/p>\n
This might be strange, but after years of dealing with hurricanes, having all the laundry done, with plenty of clothing, towels, and underwear is a significant stress relief. As soon as you know evacuating might be a possibility start doing the laundry! This way it will be easier to pack, and you can do it ahead of time in-between other tasks. When we came back from our trip I immediately started preparing. We\u00a0didn\u2019t know if we were going to stay or go yet, but I started doing that laundry.<\/p>\n
This is why we have a savings people, this is why! Evacuating is an emergency and a big one, and that is why you should have a savings in the case of an emergency. Go to the bank and take out at least $600 out in cash (or more if you have kids). This will be handy if you find that there are power outages further down the road, or if you come back home to no power. Mike and I always take out cash when we go on trips, thankfully this was one task we didn\u2019t need to do because we already took out cash for our weekend trip we came back from.<\/p>\n
Having a plan is one thing but putting it into practice was another, and it was\u00a0eery. Before this hurricane, we had only talked about the worst case, and now we were actually preparing for it. The stress is unexplainable, but having that checklist and knowing what we were going to bring with us brought peace and kept us level-headed. Here is what we took:<\/p>\n