Hurricane Preparedness Checklist: What to Do in the 72 Hours Before Landfall

Hurricane Isaias made landfall near Destin, Florida, around 8:30 p.m. CDT on Friday, October 9, as a Category 2 hurricane with sustained winds near 105 mph. It has since weakened to a post-tropical cyclone moving north across Alabama toward the Tennessee Valley, and the National Hurricane Center issued its final advisory on the storm at 4 a.m. CDT Saturday. The danger has shifted to water: 4 to 8 inches of rain (locally up to 15) across southern Alabama, the Florida Panhandle and Big Bend, and southwest Georgia, with flash, urban, and river flooding possible across much of the Southeast this weekend. If floodwater reached your home, my what to do after a flood checklist covers re-entry safety, well water, food, and mold.

This guide is the checklist I would finish in the 72 hours before any hurricane reaches the coast: what to do and when, how much water and power you need, and what the watch, warning, and evacuation terms ask of you. It applies to any Gulf or Atlantic storm you may face this season.

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What happened with Isaias

Isaias formed from Tropical Depression Nine in the southern Gulf on Wednesday, October 7, and became a hurricane late that night. It strengthened to a Category 3 with winds near 120 mph on Friday, October 9, then weakened slightly before making landfall near Destin, Florida, around 8:30 p.m. CDT as a Category 2 with winds near 105 mph. Overnight it weakened to a post-tropical cyclone over Alabama, and by early Saturday all hurricane, tropical storm, and storm surge warnings had been discontinued.

Rain is now the main threat. Through the weekend the National Hurricane Center expected 4 to 8 inches (locally up to 15) across southern Alabama, the Florida Panhandle and Big Bend, and southwest Georgia, and 2 to 5 inches (locally up to 10) across much of the rest of the Southeast, with considerable flash flooding and landslides possible in the Southern Appalachians. A tornado risk continued Saturday across the eastern Florida Panhandle, Georgia, and the Carolinas, and dangerous surf and rip currents continue along the Gulf Coast. The storm is a good reminder that landfall is not the end: for people inland, the flood risk can last for days after the wind is gone.

Why Gulf storms escalate quickly

Early October water in the Gulf is still very warm, and warm water is the fuel. When wind shear is low, a storm can intensify in hours rather than days. A 40 mph tropical storm on Wednesday can be a major threat by Friday, and that is exactly what the current forecast describes.

The Gulf is also small. Once a storm is organized, it may have only a day or two of open water left before it reaches land. That squeezes everything you need to do (shopping, fueling, evacuating, charging gear) into a short window. By the time a watch becomes a warning, shelves may be empty and roads crowded.

Finally, landfall is not the end. Weakening wind speeds make the headlines, but the rain keeps coming, and people a few hundred miles inland who never felt hurricane-force wind can still face flooded roads and days without power. Start now, not when the label changes.

The 72-hour hurricane preparedness checklist

This is the order I would work through. The tasks that take the longest, like shopping, fueling up, and charging gear, go first.

If money is tight, most of this costs nothing. Filling containers, charging what you already own, and deciding your evacuation trigger in advance are free, and they are also the highest-value steps. A low-cost water treatment option closes the next-biggest gap for most households. A power station is a bigger purchase worth making once the free steps are covered.

Water: how much you need and how to treat it

Water service can fail before, during, or after a hurricane: power loss at a treatment plant, line breaks from flooding or fallen trees, or a precautionary boil-water notice. Any of those can leave you without safe tap water for days.

The standard planning number is one gallon per person per day for at least three days, and I would stretch it to seven if you are anywhere near the forecast path, since flooding can delay repairs. For an exact number for your household, use the emergency water calculator.

Stored water runs out, so treatment is the backup plan. A manual pump filter like the Survivor Filter Pro handles higher-volume treatment (bathtub water, rain catchment) and keeps working as long as you keep pumping. Purification tablets like Aquatabs are the simpler backup: a 100-tablet bottle treats roughly 400 gallons and takes almost no space, which makes it a good fit for a go bag. For a household, the HydraPak Seeker+ 6L Gravity Filter Kit combines storage and filtration in one setup. To decide between filters and tablets, see water purification tablets vs. filters.

Backup power: keeping the essentials running

Hurricane outages commonly last from a day to more than a week, depending on tree and line damage. Decide before the storm what needs power: a refrigerator, a CPAP, medication that needs refrigeration, phones for updates, a sump pump if you are prone to flooding.

For most households with that kind of list, a larger power station like the Goal Zero Yeti 300 is the more capable choice. It can run a basic CPAP overnight and recharge phones and lanterns for days, especially if you can top it off with solar between rain bands. It will not carry a full-size refrigerator for long, so plan on keeping the fridge closed and using a cooler for essentials. If you want something compact for phones, a lantern, and small electronics, or you are more likely to evacuate than shelter, the Barebones Block Tower is the lighter, more portable option. The full tradeoffs, including generators, are in my backup power deep dive.

Lighting matters too. Candles are a real fire risk in a house stressed by wind and flooding, so I prefer rechargeable lanterns. I cover what holds up in a multi-day outage in my emergency lantern guide.

Watch, warning, or evacuation order

These terms trigger different actions, and mixing them up costs time you will not have.

Do not wait for a warning to start preparing, and do not wait for a mandatory order if a voluntary one has been issued for your zone and you have somewhere safe to go. Voluntary means you should leave.

If an evacuation order comes

Timing is the key variable. A route that takes 90 minutes in normal conditions can take six or more hours once a whole coastal region is moving, and that gap grows as departure slips closer to landfall. Leave when the order applies to you, not when traffic looks bad and not because the sky still looks fine. If anyone in your household has mobility limits, medical equipment, or pets, build in extra time.

Grab your go bag instead of packing under pressure. Use the go bag builder to put one together for your household, and see my 72-hour go bag list for what belongs in it, and car emergency kit vs. bug-out bag explains the difference between a stay-in-place kit and a bag built for leaving. Take your power station and a filter or tablets with you. They are as useful at a shelter as at home.

Bring a real first aid kit too, not a 50-piece box of adhesive bandages. Cuts from storm debris and cleanup are among the most common injuries after these events. I compare two serious options in Mountain Man Medical Trauma Kits: Sweetwater vs. Yellowstone.

Always put official orders first. For evacuation zones and shelter information, go to your county or state emergency management page, FEMA, or the Red Cross. I keep a state-by-state list here: FEMA, Red Cross, and state emergency resources. In Florida, see the Florida hurricane preparedness guide.

Gulf Coast resources: Louisiana, Mississippi, Alabama and the Florida Panhandle

If you live on the Gulf Coast between southeastern Louisiana and the Florida Panhandle, including communities such as Gulfport, Biloxi, Pascagoula, Mobile, Gulf Shores, Pensacola, Destin and Panama City, storm surge is the threat that most often drives evacuation decisions. Surge pushes water far above normal tide levels and can flood neighborhoods that see very little rain. Bays and sounds such as Mobile Bay and the Mississippi Sound can carry that water well inland, so being a few miles from the open Gulf is not the same as being safe from it.

Your first job is to find out whether your address is in an evacuation zone, because orders are issued by zone and by county rather than by storm name. Florida residents can look up their zone with the state’s Know Your Zone tool. In Alabama, Mississippi and Louisiana, ask your county emergency management office, and use the state agencies for official alerts: the Alabama Emergency Management Agency and Louisiana GOHSEP. My state-by-state list of FEMA, Red Cross and state emergency resources covers the rest, including Mississippi.

For forecasts written for your own county, use your local National Weather Service office. New Orleans/Baton Rouge covers southeast Louisiana and south Mississippi, including Gulfport and Biloxi. Mobile/Pensacola covers coastal Alabama and northwest Florida. Tallahassee covers the central and eastern Panhandle, including Panama City. The National Hurricane Center’s forecast cone shows where the center of the storm may track, not how far the impacts reach, so look at your local office’s surge, wind and rain forecasts as well.

Two items are worth handling now. Standard homeowners policies generally do not cover flood damage, and flood insurance through the National Flood Insurance Program typically has a 30-day waiting period, so a policy bought today will not help with a storm that is already in the forecast. What you can do today is photograph or video every room and the outside of your home for any later claim, and put policy numbers, copies of IDs and a medication list in a waterproof pouch with your go bag. I am not an insurance professional, so confirm your coverage with your agent.

After landfall, power and water service can be down for days in hard-hit coastal areas. My power outage emergency kit guide covers how to keep lights, phones and food safe once the storm has passed.

If you run a generator after the storm, the danger that gives no warning is carbon monoxide. Per the CDC, keep it outdoors and at least 20 feet from any window, door or vent, never in a garage, and keep a battery-operated carbon monoxide alarm inside the house. If the alarm sounds, get everyone outside and call emergency services.

If you are inland

Once a hurricane moves inland, wind damage risk drops but the rain risk often does not. For Isaias, heavy rain and flash flooding are expected to continue well inland through the weekend. The practical risks are flooded roads, downed trees taking power lines with them, and washed-out shoulders you cannot see until you are in them.

The same checklist applies: water, power, a charged phone, and a plan for what to do if your road floods. I go deeper on flash flood safety, and if you live downstream of a dam or in a known flood zone, read my evacuation checklist for flood and dam-failure scenarios. Once the water goes down, my after-flood checklist walks through re-entry, well water, and food safety.

FAQ

What are the most important things to do before a hurricane?

In order: fill your gas tank and fuel containers, get at least a week of any prescription medications, charge every device and power bank you own, secure or bring in anything outside that wind could turn into a projectile, and store or prepare to treat enough water for several days. If you are in a zone that might face an evacuation order, decide your personal trigger point for leaving before the order is issued, not after.

What should I buy to prepare for a hurricane?

If you are starting close to empty, prioritize water treatment first (Aquatabs or a pump filter like the Survivor Filter Pro are the cheapest, most shelf-stable options), then a backup power source for phones and any essential medical devices, flashlights or rechargeable lanterns rather than candles, a battery or hand-crank radio for updates, non-perishable food, and a real first aid kit. Buy to fill genuine gaps rather than restocking everything every storm.

What should be in a hurricane emergency kit?

At minimum: one gallon of water per person per day for three to seven days, a way to treat more water, non-perishable food, a flashlight or lantern with spare batteries or charge, a phone power bank or larger power station, a first aid kit, copies of important documents in a waterproof pouch, small bills in cash, and any medications you take regularly. If evacuation is possible, pack it so it can double as a go bag.

How much water do I need per person for a hurricane?

Plan on one gallon per person per day for drinking and basic hygiene, for at least three days. If a storm could cause extended outages or inland flooding that delays repairs, stretch that to seven days if you have the space. The emergency water calculator on this site will do the exact math for your household, including pets.

What should I do if I am not near the coast but still in the storm’s path?

Take it seriously even without surge or hurricane-force wind. Inland flooding from a weakening tropical system can be as dangerous as landfall itself, especially where heavy rain stalls. Avoid driving through flooded roads, know whether your home is in a flood-prone area, watch for flash flood warnings, and keep the same water, power, and communication basics ready that you would for a direct hit.

When should I leave if an evacuation order is issued?

As soon as it is issued for your zone, not when conditions start to look dangerous and not when you see how traffic looks. Evacuation orders are timed to get people out before roads become impassable, and that window closes faster than it looks from inside the storm’s approach. A voluntary order means you should leave. It is not permission to wait for a mandatory one.

How do I find my hurricane evacuation zone?

Evacuation orders are issued by zone, so look up your address before a storm is in the forecast. Florida residents can use the state’s Know Your Zone tool. In Alabama, Mississippi and Louisiana, contact your county emergency management office or check your state emergency management agency’s website. If you cannot find your zone online, call the county office and ask which zone or area your address falls in.

Does homeowners insurance cover hurricane flooding?

Standard homeowners policies generally cover wind damage but not flood damage, which usually requires a separate flood insurance policy. Policies through the National Flood Insurance Program typically take 30 days to take effect, so waiting until a storm is in the forecast is usually too late. Confirm your coverage and any hurricane deductible with your insurance agent.