When I grew up in So Cal, we had fires regularly. My mom had it down to a science. When the fires got close, she'd spend all day packing the back of the station wagon. Pictures, important papers, clothes, whatever. When hurricanes come thru here I pack a hurricane box of things I want to save. However, mine is more my laptop and back up (all my pictures are there), papers, some artwork. My machines are put in large plastic bags along with some of my wearable art stuff I've made and some fabrics. We aren't that close to the coast so I rarely have to do that, thank God.

If you do need to leave and have time to get ready, you might take your prescription bottles with your meds instead of only a week’s worth of medicine. We live on the Gulf Coast of Texas and have had too many occasions to evacuate for hurricanes, My husband is a pharmacist and having a labeled vial demonstrates that the patient has actually taken a medicine and precisely which one with the dose. After one of the hurricanes hit our area the state agency allowed temporary rules for refilling medicines based on the prescription labels. Doctors offices, your pharmacy, and many resources are often damaged and closed for a period of time.