Be Hurricane Prepared, Houston!

Updated June 2026

If you’ve lived in Houston for any amount of time, you’ve quickly learned that you can never be too prepared for natural disasters, especially hurricanes. The Atlantic Hurricane season runs from June 1 to November 30, so now is the time to get prepared, if you haven’t already.

Funny story, my husband and I actually fell in love during Hurricane Harvey. I was visiting family in Houston and we had plans to go out to dinner, but that one dinner date turned into being stranded at my parent’s house for a week straight. Talk about figuring out if you’re right for one another, fast.

Here at Houston Moms we want to help you be as prepared as possible for the next weather event. We’ve compiled a list below on ways you can be prepared before and during storm season.

Know Your Risk

As we quickly learned during Hurricane Harvey, no area of Houston is safe from damage, weather due to rain, rising waters, or strong winds, but, you can also use resources to know and understand your risk. The FEMA flood map is a helpful tool to help you understand your flood risk.

Even if you’re not in a flood-zone, it’s not a bad idea to purchase flood insurance. Just know, you need to plan ahead as most insurance policy’s don’t go into effect until 30 days after purchase. Find more information about flood insurance as the FEMA site.

Get Prepared

1. Inventory: This is just a good idea in general, not just for hurricanes. It may seem excessive, but you will be so thankful in the event of a worst-case scenario. Write down EVERYTHING of value in your house. Include furniture, antiques, appliances, electronics, jewelry, glassware, etc. Take pictures of each room in your house and store them in a safe place {NOT in your house}. I recommend using a remote-based company you can upload and store your pictures to.

2. Documentation: Keep one plastic bin with all of THE important documents – insurance policies for your home and cars including agent’s name and number, Social Security cards, birth certificates, and passports. We also keep an emergency credit card in there for the “just in case.” It will save you precious time to be able to grab your bin and head out the door. {Make a copy of all these documents as well and either keep it in a safe deposit box or mail to a trusted family member to hold onto.}

3. Family Emergency Plan: Create a family emergency plan. Know where each family member will go in the event of a natural disaster and have a rendezvous point where you can meet up. This is a great start to planning.

4. Emergency Supplies Kit: Use the FREE printable below of what to include. Plan for up to 3 days for each family member.

5. Keep Alert: During hurricane season, I am hyper vigilant about keeping my gas tank at least half full. If a storm heads our way, I want to make sure that I’m not running around on empty because I know the gas lines will be long. Follow your local news channel or the National Hurricane Center to track the path of the storm.

Helpful Weather Tracking Sites

1. Space City Weather – Houston’s premier weather monitoring site, with the “inside scoop” of what’s happening
2. The folks at Space City Weather also have The Eyewall – a site specifically launched to covering tropical activity in Houston, and the Gulf of Mexico, the Carribean, and the Atlantic Ocean.
3. The Free Accu Weather App (with in-app purchases) for tracking weather from your phone and on the go.

Plan for Evacuation

After Hurricane Harvey, I think many of us in Houston realized how big of a threat flood waters are, and the danger that can come from not evacuating in time, even threats from rising water, long after the storm has passed. You never want to do it, but it’s best to plan for the worst. You don’t want to realize too late that you should have evacuated, especially when you have kids to care for.

If You Evacuate

1. Know the Evacuation Guidelines: Find great resource on this website.

2. Follow the local authority’s instructions: If they call for a mandatory evacuation, by all means, EVACUATE. Things can be replaced, people cannot.

3. Know the roads: Have maps ready and familiarize yourself with back roads to minimize congestion. Make sure you follow all of your city’s planned evacuation routes.

4. Know where you are going: Have 3 places already in mind in various directions depending on the track of the storm. Let family members know exactly where you are going and what route you are taking.

5. Keep the kids in mind: They may be scared by all of the chaos. Keep yourself as calm as possible. Think of ways you can explain things to your child, at a level that they understand. That way, they can feel informed, and less fearful about what is happening.

6. Don’t come back until the “all-clear.”: Follow all the guidelines from your local officials. Trying to come back early increases congestion, therefore preventing the first responders to do their jobs.

Remember that free printable I mentioned? Get it here…

Click here for PDF Download

Stay safe, Houston. Readying your family NOW will save you precious moments later. How do YOU get ready for Hurricane season? Let us know in the comments!