Hurricane season runs June through November across the Atlantic and Gulf coasts, with the highest activity typically from August through October — which means this checklist is most useful well before a specific storm has a name, not scrambled together the night before landfall.

Weeks before (do this at the start of the season)

  • Test and fully charge any power station, and check a generator's fuel stabilizer and starting condition
  • Confirm your generator's transfer switch or interlock is in working order — don't discover a problem mid-storm
  • Stock non-perishable food and at least 1 gallon of water per person per day for 3-7 days
  • Review your insurance policy's flood and wind coverage — standard homeowners insurance typically excludes flood damage
  • Identify your evacuation zone and route in advance if you're in a coastal or flood-prone area

72 hours before landfall

  • Fully charge every power station, phone, laptop and any backup battery in the house
  • Fuel up vehicles and any gas generator; buy fuel stabilizer if the generator will sit unused between storms
  • Freeze water bottles to extend fridge/freezer cold time — see our food safety timing guide
  • Secure or bring in outdoor furniture and anything that could become wind-borne debris
  • Fill bathtubs and containers with water for sanitation use if you're not evacuating

During and immediately after

Follow local evacuation orders without exception — wind and storm surge risk assessments are based on data you don't have visibility into from inside your home. Once it's safe, work through our general power outage checklist for keeping food safe, running a generator safely away from windows and doors, and prioritizing what to power first.

The backup power gap most checklists skip

A hurricane-season backup plan is only as good as its power source being sized correctly beforehand — see our hurricane backup power kit guide and run your household's essentials through our free wattage calculator now, while there's time to actually buy the right size rather than whatever's left on the shelf during a storm rush.