Held on: June 12, 2025 • 19:00 (local)
Subhead: Practical, scenario-driven guidance on preparing, evacuating, protecting your home, and recovering after a hurricane.

What to expect

A focused, practical webinar covering the real risks hurricanes pose and the steps that meaningfully reduce harm. We’ll walk through how hurricanes produce storm surge and inland flooding, how to prepare your household and crew in advance, how to decide when and how to evacuate, what to do if you must shelter in place, and the immediate priorities after the storm passes. The session is scenario-based and aimed at usable actions.

Key takeaways

• The main hazards: storm surge, extreme rainfall/flooding, and hurricane-spawned tornadoes — why surge is often the deadliest threat.

• Preparation basics: a seven-day mindset (water, food, meds), paper backup of critical documents, and a tested family/crew evacuation plan.

• Evacuation planning: identify primary and backup destinations, keep a ready “go-bag,” account for pets and people with special needs, and follow official lane reversals and routes.

• Home hardening: shutters or pre-cut plywood, bracing garage doors, anchoring outdoor items, clearing drains, and safe generator placement.

• If sheltering: choose an interior windowless room, maintain radio communications, and never run generators inside or near openings.

• Post-storm priorities: treat downed power lines as live, avoid floodwater, document damage before cleanup, and watch for mold and other health hazards.

• Community and psychological resilience: check on neighbors, share resources, and recognise that stress and trauma after a disaster are normal and treatable.

Operational challenges to expect

• Rapidly changing conditions that make routes or sheltering plans obsolete.

• Traffic and logistics during large-scale evacuations (timing matters — leaving too late can be deadly).

• Managing medical and special-needs passengers during evacuation.

• Generator-related carbon monoxide risk and unsafe cleanup practices.

• Communication outages — plan for radio/backup comms and paper contact lists.

Real-world scenario 

Imagine a coastal community under an evacuation order with limited egress routes. A household has elderly relatives and a pet; fuel is scarce and a major route is later closed due to flooding. Decisions about when to leave, which route to take, and where to shelter become critical — and small preparations (extra meds, a filled tank, clear contact list) decide whether the evacuation is orderly or chaotic.