Whatever you call them – hurricanes or cyclones – these superstorms can cause immense destruction and chaos, leaving your family and community devastated in their wake. Whether you face a hurricane at home or head to an evacuation shelter, being prepared with the necessary supplies can mean the difference between life and death. But what supplies do you need to survive a hurricane? In this 5 minute read, we share how to build your own Hurricane Survival Kit.

Let’s dive in.

TL;DR – What supplies do you need to survive a hurricane?

1. Pack a ‘To Go Bag’ (using this PDF Essential Go Bag Checklist will save you hours of preparation. And it’s free.)

2. Prepare the supplementary items listed in our Hurricane Emergency Kit (below) and keep these at home.

That’s it!

Before we give you our simple Hurricane Survival Kit checklist, lets look at exactly what you’ll face in a hurricane. So you know exactly what you’re packing for.

What to expect in a Hurricane

Hurricane’s are much like cyclones. In fact, they’re just another name for the same type of weather system. Mega storms with extremely destructive winds, rain and often flooding.

If you want to know what to expect in a hurricane, here are some things you may experience:

• dangerous winds and wind gusts – this may even include direct exposure if you’re at home and your house is damaged
• poor vision due to darkness, wind and rain
• loud noises, crashes, bangs and large flying objects
• fear and panic for your own physical safety and the safety of your loved ones
• physical injury – from broken glass, flying debris, downed powerlines and other hazards
• damage to local infrastructure – power and light poles, fencing, buildings, trees
• almost certain loss of essential services – power, water, sanitation, road access
• destruction of belongings, cars and homes.

How to survive a hurricane

If you’re in the path of a hurricane the first decision you’ll be faced with is where to see it out. Will you face the hurricane at home, or evacuate to a shelter?

Whatever you do, the key to survival is acting early.

If you do stay home, you need to be a lot more prepared. Your Hurricane Survival Kit will help with this. It’ll meet your needs when evacuating, and have everything you need to hunker down at home.

You should also prepare your home for rain, destructive winds and possible flooding. We cover how down below.

What should you do during a hurricane?

If you’re unprepared beforehand, a hurricane is going to seem terrifying in the hours leading up to its onslaught. But there are a lot of simple things you can do to prepare for a hurricane.

Here’s a Hurricane Preparation Checklist to get your started. In it, we share step by step how to prepare your family, your emergency plan, your important documents as well as some cash to tied you over.

How to prepare your home for a hurricane in 2023 explains what steps to take to secure your biggest asset and minimise hurricane damage.

Once your preparations are in place, here’s a short list of what to do on the day of the hurricane:

1. Listen to official warnings and follow the instructions of local authorities.
2. Go home.
3. Grab your To Go Bag and Hurricane Emergency Kit
4. Go to an evacuation centre. OR
5. Take shelter at home – stay inside, away from windows. Stay in an internal room in your house. Some homes have rooms especially for hurricanes.
6. Keep your Hurricane Emergency Kit with you.
7. Prepare a covering for your body if the building around you is damaged. A heavy mattress can help protect you from falling objects or flying debris.
8. Keep the radio on and follow official broadcasts.
9. Shelter in place until authorities give the ok that the hurricane has passed.
10. Do not venture out as soon as the weather is calm. It may just be the eye of the storm.

Evacuating to a shelter? Pack a To Go Bag first

A To Go Bag is just an emergency evacuation kit. Other names for it are ‘Go Bag’ or ‘Emergency Go Bag’.

A To Go Bag has everything in it that you might need to evacuate during an emergency or natural disaster.

It’s designed for emergency scenarios where you might be headed to an emergency shelter, bunking down with family or friends, or heading outside the danger zone.

You can read more about To Go Bags in this post “The Essential Go Bag Checklist for Australia“.

These are the types of items you’ll find in a To Go Bag:

1. Water:

• 2-3 litres or 1 gallon of water per person per day, for at least three days.
• Enough water for your pets if you’re taking them with you
• Water purification tablets or a water filtration system.
• Metal water bottle to boil your drinking water to purify it.

2. Food:

• You may or may not need food, depending on the emergency shelter you evacuate to. Some shelters provide food and other don’t. Find out about the shelter nearest you beforehand by calling your local government.
• It’s always a good idea to at least pack some non-perishable snacks such as energy bars, protein bars, jerky and dried fruits.
• If you do need more than snacks, we cover food and cooking in more detail down below.

3. Mini First Aid Kit:

• Adhesive bandages, gauze, and medical tape.
• Alcohol wipes and antiseptic ointment.
• Pain relievers, fever reducers, and allergy medication.
• Gut medication.
• Prescription medications.
• Medical gloves.

4. Clothing and Personal Care Items:

• Comfortable and protective clothing, including rain gear.
• Sturdy, waterproof shoes or boots.
• Personal hygiene items such as soap, toothpaste, and deodorant.
• Feminine hygiene products.
• Sunscreen and insect repellent.
• Hat and sunglasses.

5. Power:

• Flashlights and extra batteries.
• A portable radio or hand-crank radio.
• Portable phone charger or a solar-powered charger.

6. Communication and Navigation Devices:

• A fully charged cell phone with a backup battery or charger.
• A hand crank or battery powered radio
• Your iphone and a map of the local area.

7. Essential Documents:

• Copies of important hardcopy documents such as passports, marriage certificates, birth certificates, and insurance policies.
• A USB with copies of important documents.
• Cash and credit cards and spare keys.

9. Tools:

• Whistle to signal for help.
• A multi-tool like a swiss army knife. You never know when you’ll need it.

Don’t forget you’ll need a backpack to put it all into. Preferably a waterproof one. If not, you can get a bivy sack to use as a backpack cover.

Here’s a complete PDF downloadable checklist of Essential To Go Bag items, to help you pack your own kit.

When Seconds Count: The importance of an Emergency Plan

Hurricanes can come with mandatory evacuation orders. How will you know where to go if that time comes? Hopefully you’ll already have an evacuation plan. And hopefully, you’ve put it in your To Go Bag.

Specifically, make sure your Emergency Plan includes:

• Emergency Contacts: List of important phone numbers including family, friends, and emergency services.
• Evacuation Plan: Detailed plan on where to go if you evacuate. Include a list of nearby shelters, hotels, and the home of a friend or relative where you might stay.
• Communication rules: Decide how you will communicate with each other if you get separated. Make sure every family member has a cell phone or a prepaid phone card.
• Family roles: who will collect the kids? Who will fill up the gas tank? Who will grab and check the emergency kit?
• Meeting Places: Decide on two places to meet if you get separated – one outside your home and one outside your neighborhood.
• Special Needs: Plan for the special needs of any family members such as the elderly, disabled, or infants.
• Home Safety: A reminder of what utilities to turn off like gas, water, and electricity.
• Pet Plan: Plan for your pets. Most emergency shelters do not allow pets, so you will need to plan for where they will stay.

Hunkering down at home? Pack your Hurricane Emergency Kit

So you’ve decided to see the hurricane out at home (only do this if your home is storm rated or if you have no choice).

The good news is, If you’ve already packed a To Go Bag, it’s just a matter of adding the items on the list below to make up your Hurricane Survival Kit.

Everything below is a SUPPLEMENT to your To Go Bag.

Your Hurricane Emergency Kit will help when essential services like power and water are cut off. Or if you are stranded at home (roads are blocked with debris or by flooding) without access to food, fresh water and medical supplies. It will also help you recover more quickly after the event.

Just add the items you will use in your specific circumstances (your family make up, housing situation, location and the dangers you face).

So, what’s in a Hurricane Survival Kit? Lets take a look at the 8 main categories.

1. Non-perishable food and cooking
2. Medication and toiletries
3. Warmth and sleep
4. Backup power.
5. Space lighting
6. Tools and storage
7. Personal protection
8. Special items
9. Household essentials

Non-perishable food and cooking

First up, food. Specifically non-perishable food. Make sure you have enough in your Hurricane Emergency Kit to sustain you and your family for at least three days.

Non-perishable just means it will last a long time with proper storage. And doesn’t require refrigerations. Canned foods, dry goods, and protein bars are all great options to consider. Don’t forget to pack a can opener and disposable utensils as well.

To help with your hurricane grocery list, check out this post on “What foods can you store for long term survival – 32 healthy, high protein options)“.

But how will you cook or heat your food during a power outage? Portable stoves, camping grills, and propane grills are all viable options. Here’s what to pack in your Hurricane Survival kit for food and cooking:

1. Camp stove
2. Dehydrated/freeze dried food and meals
3. Canned food and can opener
4. Seasonings, salt and pepper
5. Water for cooking
6. Camp cook pot
7. Cooking and eating utensils
8. MREs (Meals ready to eat).

Medication and toiletries

Hurricanes can often lead to home and communities being cut off from supplies. Roads can be damaged or flooded. So the medication and toiletries supplies in your Hurricane Survival Kit need to be more extensive than in your To Go Bag. Think about these extra things:

1. Full first aid kit and manual – the risk of physical injury in a hurricane is real due to the destructive winds. Often its impact injuries, cuts and abrasions. Make sure your first aid kit has plenty of gauze, bandages and antiseptic.
2. Wet wipes. These come in handy for personal hygiene if water supplies are cut off.
3. Spare garbage bags. These can be used in a temporary toilet set up in case sanitation systems are damaged.
4. Spare toilet rolls.

Warmth and sleep

1. Lightweight water proof tarps
2. Telescoping tarp poles
3. Cordage
4. Sleeping bags
5. The means to start a fire for warmth.

Tarps, cordage and poles are more for after the hurricane than during it. If your roof is blown off, or a tree comes crashing through it, these items will help you stay dry at home afterwards.

You can also use the tarps to protect yourself from flying glass and other missiles during the storm.

If you’re heading to a shelter, you won’t need a tent, cords or tarps. But a sleeping bag is still a good idea, depending on space restrictions. And at least you’ll now what you’re sleeping in is clean.

Hurricanes can occur in May and have even happened as early as March! If you’re in cold climates, make sure you always have spare wood for your stove in case of a power outage. We do, no matter what season we’re in.

Backup power

Most hurricanes cause power outages. Power lines are blown down or substations are flooded. Sometimes, power outages can last for days. Now going without power for days is not something you’re going to enjoy. Especially if you have childrens.

That’s why we recommend preparing a backup power source.

The best option for backup power these days is a portable power station.

Also know as a ‘solar generator‘ these solar batteries have distinct advantages of traditional fuel based generators. They’re quiet, don’t need a store of fuel, they’re easy to operate, and you can run them in doors.

Space lighting

Your To Go Bag will already have a torch, headlamp and batteries in it. Consider these 2 items for your Hurricane Emergency Kit, to provide back-up lighting or space lighting at home:

1. Candles
2. Solar lamp or battery powered lamp

Make sure to pack extra batteries and charging devices to keep your devices charged and ready to use.

Tools and storage

Things can get wet in hurricanes. Even when they’re inside (if windows are broken or roofs damaged). So pack waterproof storage

1. Zip ties
2. Waterproof bags / Zip lock bags – to store electronics, documents, jewellery
3. Waterproof containers – to keep clothes, food and linen dry if needed
4. Basic home tools – a saw, wrench, pliers, a hammer, utility knife and screw driver or drill can all come in handy in the recovery stages of a hurricane.
5. Whistle to attract attention if you’re stuck under debris in a worse case scenario.

Personal Protection

1. Protective leather work gloves – for the clean up afterwards
2. Safety glasses
3. Duct tape – to repair holes and tears temporarily

Special items

Survival kits are personal. They should always be customised to your individual needs, and those of your family. Think about your family make-up when you pack.

You may need to include some special items like:

• provisions for pets – dogs especially become frightened in hurricanes and often run off. Prepare somewhere safe for your furry friends to stay as well as food, bowls, crates, leads and a comfort toy.
• medical aids for the elderly
• food supply dietary needs – allergies, celiacs, vegans
• playing cards, toys, games or other comfort supplies for children. Headphones are great to distract kids from the frightening noises hurricanes make.

Essential household items

Here are 9 critical household items to prepare for a hurricane at home:

1. Buckets and mops – to clean up water leaks, store water and flush the toilet if the water is cut off.
2. Dustpan and brush – to sweep up broken glass.
3. Old towels – to seal windows and protect from broken glass
4. A generator – if an extended power outages are likely in your area.
5. Water tank with pump – for water supply if town water is interrupted.
6. An esky, in case you can get to ice and save some of the food in your freezer in the aftermath.
7. Hurricane shutters or plywood and nails, to cover windows.
8. Sandbags to prevent flooding.
9. The means to secure outdoor objects such as lawn furniture, grills, and bicycles.

In addition to packing the right supplies, it’s also essential to prepare your home for a hurricane. You should secure your home before the storm hits to prevent damage and injury.

Sandbags, hurricane shutters, and plywood are all useful materials to have on hand.

Conclusion

Being prepared with a To Go Bag and a well-stocked Hurricane Survival Kit can mean the difference between life and death during a hurricane. Don’t wait until it’s too late to pack the necessary supplies. Check and restock your supplies annually and make sure to have a solid evacuation plan in place. Stay informed, act early, be prepared, and stay safe during a hurricane. By building your own Hurricane Emergency Kit, you can increase your chances of survival and protect yourself and your loved ones from the devastating effects of a hurricane.