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Having an evacuation plan is a key piece of your family’s emergency preparedness. There are a lot of things to consider as you prepare to leave your home in the event of a disaster.
In today’s post, you’ll learn 9 essentials to consider as you create your evacuation plan. Consider this your hub for all things relating to an emergency evacuation.
When you need to leave your home in a hurry, you’ll definitely want to grab a 72-hour kit for each member of your family. These kits should include everything you would need to survive for 3 days.
If you haven’t yet started on your 72-hour kits, or maybe you’ve stalled out and need a kick in the pants to finish, I highly recommend checking out the Personalized Preparedness Membership. This allows you monthly access to the full 72-Hour Kits for Families course where I walk you through the process step-by-step.
I have also written an entire blog series on things to include in your emergency kits. There are tons of lists to review and you can use them as a jumping off point. The 72-Hour Emergency Kits for Beginners series starts with this post.
Your grab list is something that should be readily available in case of an emergency. I know a lot of families keep this hanging on a bulletin board or on the side of their refrigerator. It’s a great reminder of all the things you’ve decided you need to take with you in the event you need to leave your home suddenly.
This post from the 72-hour kits blog series is a great resource to help you create your list.
If you want a done-for-you list, then be sure to take a look at my 72-Hour Kits for Families course. It includes a video series and printable pdf workbook, along with all supporting printables.
I really need to talk about the Information Hub more than I do. This is the ultimate emergency binder. It’s the best way to organize your entire life in one simple place. It’s 10 sections of fillable and printable PDFs where you can access all of your important information in ONE place!
Everyone needs the Info Hub. Check out this post to learn all about what’s included and why you’ll definitely want to get started filling yours out.
If you already know you want to dive in with the Info Hub, click here.
I know, I know – we live in a digital world. But trust me, you cannot forget about your important paper documents! Have you ever tried to replace a birth certificate or social security card? It’s not fun, friends.
While not 100% fail-proof, this is going to be your best line of defense for storing things you definitely don’t want to (or cannot) replace. They can be pretty heavy, so keep it on the first floor and in a location that would be easy to get to as you’re evacuating.
You definitely don’t want to be without a water source in the event you need to evacuate your home. But you also can’t afford to be weighed down by heavy water bricks or jugs. Having a way to filter your water is an essential part of your emergency plan.
I love my Berkey and while not an ideal traveling companion, you definitely could take it with you in certain cases. Check out this post to learn about why I use Berkey in my home.
If you want a comprehensive look at all the different water filtration/purification options available, plus the pros and cons of each, consider checking out my Water Storage Workshop.
This is such an important part of your evacuation plan! Think about it – if there’s a power outage, there is a good chance you will not be able to access an ATM, credit card machines won’t be working, banks won’t be able to handle transactions, etc. You NEED to have an emergency stash of cash.
If you have pets, don’t forget about what they’ll need!
I wrote a post a while back all about how to prepare your pet for disasters. It’s full of important information, products and lists to consider.
There is also a section of the Info Hub specifically for your pets’ important information. Be sure to fill out that section long before an evacuation is imminent.
Ideally, you’ll store all of this with your 72-hour kits. But I wanted to mention it separately for your evacuation plan because, in some cases, medication can be a life or death situation.
One of the best ways you can ensure you have an emergency supply of medicine is to utilize Jase Medical. You can read all about it in this post.
It’s the best way to get an emergency supply of medication for things like an evacuation plan!
Store bought kits are okay. They are not all-inclusive but if it’s the best you can do, for now it will suffice.
(We also cover this in great detail in the 72-Hour Kit Course for Families!)
I cannot emphasize the importance of creating and reviewing a family emergency plan enough. This is something every house should have; and once you have one, you need to be reviewing it a couple times a year. I have a great printable (with instructions) to walk you through it all.
This is a great place to start planning for an evacuation!
There will always be things we don’t think about before we encounter an emergency. But, I’m here to help you think about some of the non-food storage items you might want to keep on hand for the next rainy day.
Why you should schedule an emergency preparedness weekend every 6 months, and what you should be doing, reviewing, rotating, and maintaining. Free printable checklist!
Berkey water filters are THE BEST water filters, not only for emergencies, but for everyday use. They are so good, they are classified as a water purifier, which is a step up from a filter!
