It’s that time of year again – Hurricane season and in that comes preparation. With emergency evacuation, there seems to be not enough time to get all of the required supplies together. If you want to stop the panicked dashing around the house trying to prepare everyone to evacuate, get ahead of it by putting together a bug out bag! The good news is that it isn’t as hard as it may sound.
The essentials to include in your bug out bag
The bag that you pack may be dependent on the emergency that you are running away from.If possible, it’s ideal to have various bug out bags that range from preparations from chemical-related evacuations, house fire or storm evacuations such as those encountered in hurricane season – windstorm, tornado and/or flood evacuations. If you don’t want to take on that approach, make sure you’re ready to go for, well, everything!
Access to water
While having water bottles filled with fresh, clean water is ideal, it may not be practical all the time. On top of a few bottles in your bag, also include some sort of water filtration device that will give you the power to sanitize and clean any water you may use to fill your reserves on the road.
Access to food
Tucking away canned soup and peaches is great and all, but you’ll want to add a bit more heaviness to it with heavy-duty protein bars and other high-calorie foods such as rations. While it may not seem appealing now, it certainly will be when you are hungry and you’ve gone through your canned supplies. Let’s not forget to mention means to open canned goods and utensils to eat with, and etc.
Access to light
The best option for your bag would be a headlamp or flashlight of sorts. You can also follow that up with solar-powered lights and plenty of batteries for whatever your chosen lighting uses. Access to light is going to be critical in everything from using the bathroom to staying safe!
Don’t forget clothing!
Dressing for multiple kinds of weather is hard, but it’s important for health and safety. When packing clothing, go for versatility as much as possible. Try to focus on clothing that is easy to layer and don’t forget accessories such as hats, gloves and a good pair of boots or shoes.
Make sure everyone is prepared
When it comes to preparing, consider additional needs, per person, such as medications, personal hygiene, etc for everyone in your household, so they have what they need. This includes seniors, people with medications or diet restrictions, pets and infants. You can update your bag(s), too, as needs change.
The reality is that it is your responsibility to make sure that you are prepared for any emergency. Or rather, it is prudent to prepare for an emergency before the actual need arises. Just consider, as stressful as it may be to do it all now, it’ll be worth the saved time and panic later. If you need more advice and specifics on what to include in your bug out bag, here is a reputable list that you can use to help guide your packing preferences and needs. Take back control by being ready with a well-stocked bag that is kept in a central location for easy access.
While the above are quite essential for life, your insurance needs may not seem to be of equal importance but it will be when things start to settle and it’s time to return home and begin to rebuild, that insurance information will be vital. You may not have to have all of your documentation at your fingertips, especially if you have a relationship with your insurance agent, they can guide you. What would be ideal, store your insurance documents in a safe place and the cloud and have your insurance person’s information handy. Fortunately, most insurance companies have online dashboards for you to review what policies you have in place and what it covers, but you have to have that login information as well. So, just keep those in mind.
Should you need to review your coverage, the time is now, before you actually need it. Keep in mind that flood insurance has a waiting period so timing is essential on that type of coverage.