A few years ago, a powerful storm rolled through our neighborhood while we were out of town. Our 17-year-old friend Bryce was pet-sitting. By the time the straight-line winds had snapped a dozen trees two streets over, Bryce had already walked around the neighborhood and called us, completely casual: “Hey, there are a lot of trees on your street that look like they were chopped down.”
Bryce wasn’t calm because he was prepared. He was calm because he’s a teenage boy and apparently nothing rattles them.
The rest of us need a different strategy.
Severe weather preparedness is exactly that — taking practical steps before storm season so your family knows where to go, what to grab, and how to reach each other when the weather turns dangerous. Living in Southeast Texas, I’ve weathered hurricanes, a tornado, flooding, straight-line winds, and a deep freeze that put water on my floors and my insurance agent on speed dial. What I know for certain is this: a few hours of planning makes the difference between chaos and calm.
In this guide, I’ll walk you through seven things every family should do before storm season, from emergency kits and safe shelter locations to communication plans and power outage prep.
Turns out some extreme, straight-line winds had come through, just a street or two from our house.
This same level of calm can happen when you’ve taken a little time to prepare ahead of storm season. Instead of scrambling around in the dark, you know exactly where the flashlights are. You already know the safest place in the house. The emergency supplies are ready and easy to grab.
Severe weather is part of life in many parts of the country. Tornadoes, hurricanes, flash floods, and powerful thunderstorms with devastating windshear can arrive with little warning. The good news is that preparing for these events doesn’t require expensive gear or extreme measures.
In fact, a handful of practical steps can make a tremendous difference.
In this guide, I’ll walk you through seven things every family should do before storm season begins so that when severe weather appears on the radar, your household is calm, confident, and ready.
In This Article
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Why Severe Weather Preparedness Matters
In all the years we lived in Phoenix, we rarely lost power and severe weather was uncommon. With only four inches of rainfall expected each year, we didn’t worry much about flooding, but still, there was that one August in 1996, when my husband called me to the front window and said, “You’ve wondered what a typhoon is like? Well, there ya go.”
And I saw dozens of tiles flying off the roofs of neighbors, fences going down, and birds flying backwards! This was a rare occurrence but it serves to make a point — severe weather can happen absolutely anywhere and very often with no warning.
Storms can knock out power for hours, days, or weeks. Flooding and rockslides can shut down roads, and emergency services may be overwhelmed in spite of their planning and training.
Where you happen to live, sooner or later, you’ll experience severe weather, too.
What Is Severe Weather, Exactly?
Severe weather refers to storms strong enough to cause damage or put people and property at risk. This can include tornadoes, severe thunderstorms, flash floods, hurricanes, large hail, and powerful windstorms. Meteorologists will typically classify a storm as “severe” when it produces damaging winds, large hail, or a tornado and spring/summer is prime time for this type of weather.
Most severe weather will begin with thunderstorms. When they develop and grow under the right atmospheric conditions, that’s when you can expect something more extreme than moderate winds and rainfall. This is the type of weather you can plan and prepare for, but you should know what “severe” really means and what the impact could be for you and your family.
Hurricanes are a combination of several extreme weather events, all rolled up in one — flooding, tornadoes, thunderstorms, massive rainfall, and forceful winds. Preparing for a hurricane can be challenging but has the advantage of having plenty of advance warning, unlike a tornado.
Tornadoes may be the scariest of all severe weather events because you may have only a few minutes to get somewhere safe. For many years we considered “Tornado Alley”, centered in the Great Plains, to be the prime area for U.S. tornadoes, but we now know that “Dixie Alley” can be just as deadly in states like Mississippi, Alabama, and Tennessee.
A flood can not only be deadly but it can take many, many years for a community to fully recover. When Hurricane Harvey flooded my town, leaving thousands of homes and businesses nearly submerged, it was a full four or five years later that most of those were restored.
Severe weather happens across the world and in the United States, from coast to coast.
The 7 Things Every Family Should Do Before Storm Season
Storm season has a way of sneaking up on us, just like it did with Bryce! One day the weather is calm, and the next day the forecast includes watches, warnings, and radar maps full of red and yellow. The good news is that preparing your home and family ahead of time doesn’t have to be complicated. A few simple steps taken now can make a big difference when severe weather moves into your area.
Each of these seven steps can be completed in a few minutes, and certainly no more than an hour or two.
1. Sign Up for Local Emergency Alerts
This step is quick and easy, and you likely have most of these apps and alerts already. Smartphones can be a lifeline in an emergency, so begin with two weather apps of your choice. I use WeatherBug and Space City Weather, a local weather resource.
One or two local TV or news radio apps will have the most localized information, while the NOAA Weather App broadcasts official National Weather Service alerts. Download the FEMA app for alerts but also notifications of local shelters.
Weather apps like AccuWeather, WeatherBug, and Weather Underground are comprehensive, and I rely on those for my day-to-day weather checks but also for current conditions and forecasts. For kids, The Frog weather app and Goally are fun, helpful, and user-friendly.
Finally, I highly recommend neighborhood alert apps Nextdoor.com. With Nextdoor.com, especially, you’ll begin getting hyper-localized alerts, such as Bryce’s report that, “”Hey, there are a lot of trees on your street that look like they were chopped down.”
Family Emergency Alert App Tracker
| App Name | Mom | Dad | Kid 1 | Kid 2 | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Local TV Weather App | |||||
| NOAA Weather App | |||||
| FEMA App | |||||
| Weather App (Weather Channel / AccuWeather) | |||||
| Neighborhood Alert App (Nextdoor, Ring) | |||||
| Other App | – |
Quick Family Setup Tip
Select the apps that will be on everyone’s phones, and make sure they’re easy to find from the phone’s homescreen. If a local zipcode needs to be added, be sure to do that. Once you’ve chosen your apps, take ten minutes as a family to make sure everyone has them installed and notifications turned on. Check that location services are enabled and that emergency alerts aren’t muted or silenced.
It’s a small step, but with unpredictable severe weather, multiple phones receiving the same alerts can make a big difference since not everyone in the family will always be together in the same location. Have a family communications plan to stay in touch locally but also with loved ones around the country.
You now have three layers of alerts: wireless emergency alerts, local weather apps, NOAA weather radio, and local TV/radio stations, plus tips for staying in touch as a family.
2. Identify Your Safe Shelter Location
Having advance notice of oncoming severe weather is a great first step. Now the question is, where will we go to be the safest. In almost every case, the safest location will be your home, but the safest place inside your home will be a decision you’ll have to make depending on the severe weather.
Two general guidelines are to stay away from windows and get into the most interior location of the house. Often, that will be a hallway. I like hallways as a top choice because it will have at least one or two walls between it and the outside of your home, be spacious enough for sleeping bags, enough room for several people, and probably has access to a bathroom for a water source and toilet. If the hallway also has a closet, that’s where you could store some of your emergency supplies.
Where to Shelter During Severe Weather
| Weather Threat | Safer Location in the Home |
|---|---|
| Tornado | Basement or interior room/hall on the lowest floor |
| Severe thunderstorm with high winds | Interior room or hallway away from windows |
| Hurricane | Interior room/hall – lowest level, away from glass |
| Large hail | Move away from windows and skylights |
| Flash flooding | Move to higher ground or an upper floor |
Your choice of a safe shelter should be shared with everyone in the family. A quick practice drill with the kids, prior to tornado or hurricane season can be turned into a game, “How fast can you get into the hallway with your survival backpack?”
What If Your Home Isn’t The Safest Location?
When you think about the list of severe weather events, some pose a severe enough threat to consider evacuating to somewhere safer. Sometimes that’s as simple as going to the home of a friend or family member since they have a generator, are further away from a flooding river, or they’re not in the general area of a hurricane.
A few other locations to keep in mind are Red Cross shelters, emergency shelters set up by the county, churches, schools, or locations announced by your county’s emergency management office. These shelters are typically opened when severe weather is expected to impact large areas or when people need a safe place to go because their homes aren’t suitable for sheltering.
If you live in a mobile home, an older house without a safe interior room, or an area prone to flooding, knowing ahead of time where the nearest public shelter is located can be especially important. Planning this in advance helps you avoid scrambling for information when severe weather is already approaching.
3. Assemble a Severe Weather Emergency Kit
When a tornado watch is announced or you’re watching a hurricane approach the Gulf, if your emergency kit is ready to go and you know your safe refuge locations, you have a lot less to worry about.
Fortunately, a severe weather emergency kit is cheap and easy to assemble. You’ll need just a few supplies for a basic kit.
- A few light sources: flashlights, solar lanterns, a headlamp, a few lightsticks for kids
- Extra batteries for flashlights, the emergency radio
- Portable power bank and/or power station (Read this to see what size you’ll need.)
- First aid kit in case of injuries from flying debris
- Bottled water
- Shelf-stable food – no need to amass a lot. Just a few snacks.
- Emergency radio as a backup for information
- Blankets or sleeping bags for comfort
- Medications
As you think about what your own kit will contain, plan for at least 72 hours without outside help. And if you live in a tornado-prone area, be sure to read this in-depth tornado survival guide.
4. Prepare for Power Outages
A power outage can be an inconvenience, an adventure, or a chaotic disaster depending on how you’ve prepared. The fundamentals are to have light sources, a way to charge electronics, a way to cook, and an option or two for staying cool in the summer and warm in the winter.
Once you have these basics of survival covered, the outage can move into the range of “adventure” until it hits that long-term stage! A very long-term power outage is something to prepare for.
First, my family guide to power outages is a free download for you and contains checklists and my best advice for both summertime and winter outages. You can get the download via email at this link.
For the money, a good-sized power station is worth its weight in gold. I recommend something no smaller than 1500 watts. This size gives you the ability to keep your fridge running, plug in a lamp and a fan, and have enough power to keep smartphones charged. Read this article for a deep dive to help you decide what to buy.
If you want to go up a size or two, solar generators provide plenty of power but are silent and give off no fumes, and the classic portable generator is always reliable. The most important thing is to have some sort of backup power, even if it’s just a charged power bank for your smartphone.
At some point during an outage, your family is going to get hungry and look at you with those eyes, “What’s for dinner, mom?” You know the look. With no power, your options are limited, but you can still serve up something hot and comforting when you’ve planned ahead. One or two off-grid cooking methods like a campstove, grill, or a solar oven are handy to have, but my own preference is a power station for super-quick meals. My plan for that, along with some meal ideas, can be found here.
Finally, a power outage will impact things you may not have thought of like medical equipment, well pumps, water heater, the garage door opener, and your freezer. If any of those are on your necessary-needs list, think about how you can keep them powered in an outage.
5. Protect Important Documents
I’ve long advised people to keep their insurance policies updated and handy, because when a disaster happens, the first person you’ll call, after your mom, maybe, is the insurance agent. When our house experienced a frozen pipe during Winter Storm Uri in 2021, while my husband was using the wet vac to suck up all the water off the floors, I was in touch with our Traveler’s Insurance agent.
In the middle of a crisis, when you’d swear your brain was on fire, you may need important phone numbers, policy information, and other data, and the best way to have that handy is in a Grab-and-Go Binder.
This can be a physical 3-ring binder or scanned documents saved on a thumb drive, hard drive, and/or cloud storage. The most important piece is that you know where it is and can access it from anywhere. The physical binder comes in handy during a power outage when you may not have access to the internet or computer, but it can be damaged by water, smoke, and fire. A water-resistant/fire-resistant binder can help protect that data, but you also need to take time to scan those docs and store them digitally.
I email important documents to myself, save them in a folder inside my email system, and can access them from anywhere in the world where I have an internet connection.
To get started on this project, assemble these basic documents most likely to be needed during severe weather season.
- Homeowner’s or Renter’s Insurance policy and contact information
- Car insurance policy and contact information for agent/company
- List of known and trusted sub-contractors for repair work (These will book up, fast!)
- List of pet-friendly hotels, pet boarding locations.
- Copies of pet vaccine records. Usually, vets and boarding locations will require this.
- Copies of ID for each family member
- List and photos of heirlooms and valuables in case of property loss and copies of appraisals. (Make sure they’re insured.)
- Color photos of each room of the house, showing as many of their contents as possible.
- Copies of health insurance cards
Add a Visa/MasterCard gift card of $100 or so, just in case you literally have to GRAB AND GO and have time to bring little else, so you’ll have some money for emergencies.
6. Create a Family Communication Plan
One of the more terrifying moments as a mom, was in 2020 when my son was riding out Hurricane Laura ON A SHIP moored in Lake Charles, Louisiana. I knew we might not hear from him for many hours, or even a few days, and I didn’t sleep a wink that night.
In a crisis when we can’t get in touch with our closest loved ones, panic is probably the most rational emotion. Before severe weather sets in wherever you live, there are a few things you can put into place now to help ensure communication happens when you need it most.
Severe weather doesn’t wait for everyone to be gathered together under one roof. A few scenarios to consider where you might need a meet-up point are:
- A storm hits while family members are away from home. Home is always the safest place to get to, but have a secondary meet-up spot, just in case — somewhere along the route home, like a church, business, or friend’s house is fine.
- Evacuation from the neighborhood. Rising floodwaters or approaching wildfire can force a split-second evacuation. In case the family gets separated, have a meet-up spot in mind.
- School or workplace early closures. Has the school’s bus transportation been disrupted and kids are waiting to be picked up or must walk home? Clarify this with your kids.
- A family member is traveling or running errands. If you’re out and about when severe weather strikes, you may need to take temporary shelter rather than try and get home.
- Cell service or internet goes down. If texts and calls aren’t getting through, a simple rule like “If we can’t reach each other, we meet at ___” removes uncertainty.
- The home becomes unsafe. Storm damage, a lightning strike, a fallen tree — sometimes you just have to get out fast. Knowing ahead of time where to meet keeps everyone from wandering around trying to locate one another.
In each of these scenarios, you need to establish where to meet (if possible), have an out-of-town contact for everyone to check in with and can act as a communications hub, backup communication methods, and how kids can get in touch with parents.
Think beyond phone calls. Apps like Whatsapp, Messenger, Signal and even Zoom are excellent parts of a communications plan. Zello can turn any smartphone into a walkie-talkie, perfect for quick messages. Just make sure every family member has the same apps installed, accounts set up, knows how to log in, and then knows when they should check in.
Even more creative — create a Google Doc to act as a message board. Share it with everyone in the group, and make sure they have access. Then, in real time, everyone can leave messages about their location, well-being, local conditions, and other updates.
An app like Life 360 can show where everyone is. That, alone, brings peace of mind, and posting updates on Instagram and Facebook serve to ensure news of well-being, location, and provide information about help available. One of the most effective communication hubs in my town is our local Facebook group. That’s where family members found each other when rushed evacuations were taking place during Hurricane Harvey and all communication lines were down.
Plenty of other communication options can be found in this article about how to communicate after a disaster.
7. Secure Your Home and Property
When severe weather is forecast, it’s not just the storm itself that causes damage. Strong winds can pick up loose outdoor items and turn them into dangerous flying debris. My collection of potted plants in my yard could injure a small battalion of hardened soldiers! Heavy rain can overwhelm clogged gutters, and weak tree branches can break and fall onto roofs, vehicles, or power lines.
Taking a little time before storm season begins to secure your home and yard can prevent unnecessary damage and make cleanup much easier afterward.
Start by walking around your property and looking for anything that could become a problem in strong winds. Patio furniture, grills, potted plants, and trash cans should be brought inside or secured when storms are expected. Trim dead or overhanging tree branches to reduce the risk of damage during high winds.
It’s also worth checking the condition of your roof, gutters, and fences. Loose shingles, clogged gutters, and damaged fencing can become bigger problems when heavy rain and wind arrive.
What To Do 60 Minutes Before the Storm Hits
| Area | What to Look For | Why It Matters |
|---|---|---|
| Trees and branches* | Dead limbs, branches touching roof, unstable trees | High winds can snap weak limbs and cause roof or vehicle damage |
| Outdoor furniture | Lightweight chairs, tables, umbrellas, décor | Strong winds can turn loose items into flying debris |
| Grills and propane tanks | Make sure they are stable and secured, put in garage | Heavy items like these can cause a lot of damage if windblown |
| Gutters and downspouts | Leaves, sticks, and debris blocking water flow | Allows heavy rain to drain away from your home, prevents street flooding |
| Roof shingles* | Loose, curled, or missing shingles | Prevents leaks during heavy rain |
| Fence and gates* | Loose panels, weak posts, broken latches | Strong winds can knock down weakened fencing |
| Yard items | Toys, tools, planters, garden decorations, tools, pots | Small objects can become dangerous projectiles |
Don’t forget your vehicles! Put them in a garage, car port, or other covered area and try to park them away from large trees that might fall during the storm.
*Do these tasks at the beginning of severe weather season, and perform a quick check when a major storm is on the way.
Severe Weather Emergency Kit Checklist
If you’re building your storm emergency kit, use the checklist below as a guide. You may already have a lot of these items, and there’s no reason to spend money on new supplies you don’t need. The important thing is to have them all together in one location where you can quickly find them when needed.
| Category | Items |
|---|---|
| Lighting | Flashlights, lanterns, batteries, headlamps for hands-free tasks |
| Communication | Weather radio, phone chargers |
| Food & Water | 3 days of shelf-stable food, 1+ gallon water/person/day |
| Medical | First aid kit, an extra 30 days of prescription meds, basic kit with OTC meds |
| Comfort | Blankets, extra clothes, battery-operated fans, pillows |
I keep most of my emergency supplies in bins organized by categories. Store these in a central location known to everyone in the family. A hall closet is where ours are kept.
This isn’t doomsday prepping, so keep it to the basics. You want to pull this together quickly, store it in a handy location, and then get on with the rest of your day!
If you’re the type who loves lists, you’ll love my collection of checklists for all types of emergencies. You can view and buy them at this link.
When Storm Season Arrives: Stay Weather Aware
Once storm season sets in, and especially as you see those skies darken and the weather alerts start chirping, get the habit to check forecasts and where everyone in the family will be.
It’s also important to understand the difference between two common weather alerts you’ll hear during severe weather events.
Tornado Watch vs. Tornado Warning
| Alert | What It Means | What You Should Do |
|---|---|---|
| Watch | Conditions are favorable for tornadoes to develop | Stay alert and monitor weather updates |
| Warning | A tornado has been sighted or detected on radar | Seek shelter immediately |
When a watch is issued, it’s a good time to charge your phones, and make sure flashlights and emergency supplies are easy to find. That’s also when I start checking to see where the kids will be. Is a Little League game scheduled? Will my daughter be on her way home from work?
If a warning is issued, it means the threat is immediate and it’s time to move quickly to your safe shelter location.
When severe weather season is here, being weather-aware doesn’t mean constantly worrying about storms. It’s just paying attention to forecasts and alerts so that if severe weather develops, you and your family know exactly what to do. Your preps and plans are all in place.
Frequently Asked Questions
Severe weather preparedness means taking steps before storms arrive to protect your family from tornadoes, hurricanes, flash floods, and severe thunderstorms. It includes stocking emergency supplies, identifying a safe shelter location, setting up weather alerts, and making a family communication plan so when severe weather hits, you’re ready to act instead of react.
A basic kit should include:
flashlights
extra batteries
bottled water
non-perishable food
first aid supplies
portable phone chargers with charging cords
weather radio
Ideally, several weeks before storm season begins. Preparing early allows time to gather supplies and make a plan before severe weather becomes a daily possibility.
Emergency planners recommend at least one gallon of water per person per day for at least three days. Add more water if you have pets.
The safest place is a basement or an interior room on the lowest floor, away from windows and exterior walls.
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