Hurricane Last Minute Prep Guide Reddit, My Quick List of Last Minute Prep Items for a Hurricane
Ah the life of a Floridian, as someone who lived in the State for literally 28 years straight, I will say that Hurricanes are a dime a dozen. They seem to be popping up left right and center, especially in the peak Hurricane months of June, July, August and September in the state of Florida, and if you haven’t ridden one out before because you are from out of state, or maybe you are a sunshine state lifer and just couldn’t do your hurricane shopping until last minute, in this blog post I’ll strive to give you my own personal last minute Hurricane guide of items to prep, as well as a review of what Redditors tell you to get if you’re doing your shopping last minute, say the night before. And so with this being said, in this article let’s look at my Hurricane Last Minute prep guide Reddit opinion chain. I like using Reddit for stuff like this because it is a fast, and free way to get information directly from Reddit and directly from the little people!
First things First, Grab the Essentials, Our Mandatory List for Your Hurricane Last Minute Prep Guide
Here’s your primary essentials, grab these before all else:
Bottled Water or Jugged Water. If you can’t find water last minute, get Gatorade bottles, propel bottles, soda cans, milk jugs, anything you can get your hands on. Fill them from the tap as much as you can right up until the last second when the water stops working. You can literally never have too much water in a Hurricane. I remember during Hurricane Irma myself and my roommate 
at the time needed additional water. We had a few cases left but it was Armageddon out there, Walmart was completely out, Target was completely out, and most of the credit card machines and power were still out at the main store chains at the primary grocery stores. We literally went to his office and grabbed the store of water bottles they had in there, like 100+, and just said we’d replenish it once civilization turned back on. No one noticed, and we did just that. Have to fight your way out of it in a Hurricane, and luck and resourcefulness can go a long way, especially in the storm. Water is priority number one.
Canned Goods and Non Perishable Food Items
Most stores and restaurants may be shut down during the days and hours leading up to and for possibly the week after the storm if it is a bad one. Good idea to have a good amount of food on hand, I’d say at least 7-10 days for each person in your household. It doesn’t have to be a gourmet meal, but some ramen noodles or some soup can go a long way.
Other needed items:
CASH – card machines are out for awhile after the storm.
Any medical supplies you’ll need, several weeks at least
Stock up on Insulin and ice packs, you’ll need a way to keep it cold should the storm hits (this is for diabetics obviously). It may be worth it to use the freezer and some of the residual cool air in there to assist with this. Chilled bottle water as well can act as ice packs. Your doctor may be able to give you additional advice on this.
Toilet paper and bar soap
Additional things you may need, such as sponges and bodywash to shower with.
Here’s an additional image of thoughts from one Reddit Users Group:
Hurricane Prep Advice Thread
I’ve been through a couple hurricanes since moving to FL and, as a New Englander, I learned a lot. I thought this sub could use a thread like this. Here’s a couple tips that I’d suggest (by no means exhaustive though):
Here’s the Redditors Quote on this, I apologize the image above was almost impossible to see unless you’ve got like a Magnifying Glass but this was a super good prep guide!
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Take pictures of your residence, car, and valuable belongings. This will likely help with moving along any insurance or FEMA claims, if necessary.
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Look around your neighborhood; is there anything out on the street on the front yards? Trimmings, bulk trash, etc. If so, ask them to move it inside, or give your local muni a call to see if they can pick it up.
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Have copies of your important personal documents backed up, and have a little (read: not a lot) of cash on hand to pay for anything if utilities are down.
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If it’s important and not waterproof, get it out of your car. Even if you’re not in a flood zone, weatherstripping can and does fail when water is being driven into the side of the car for days on end. Speaking of cars, fill up all of your tanks, do it now, and try to keep as much gas in there as possible before the storm hits.
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FOOD: Don’t plan on eating nonperishables through the storm. That’s your backup food if things are so bad you can’t buy food a week or two after the storm passes. During the storm, eat well; spoil yourself. Example: while everyone was buying canned food, we bought the nicest meats and cheeses from the deli and ate great during the storm. Then, if you’ve got a gas or wood grill, resort to BBQing. If you work your way through all that, then move on to your nonperishables. When the power goes out, you generally have two days before your fridge food starts spoiling. Then, move what you need over to the freezer.
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WATER: Fill up your bathtub, and if you’ve got some garbage cans, line them with trash bags and fill those up with water. If you have a water filter, you can drink from these. But more importantly, if water service shuts off, you can flush your toilets and wash with this. Fill up as many water jugs up as you can and stick them in your freezer. You can keep your food from spoiling for nearly a week if you can keep your freezer cool enough.
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BOREDOM: Have things to keep yourself occupied. If you have a hobby, get some stuff for that. Also, if you don’t have any, make a run on board games, card games, etc. Books are great, too.
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COMMUNICATION: This is a big one. When the storm hits, the power is going to go out, taking the cell service with it. You may be able to make calls or send texts, but don’t rely on it. And almost definitely your cell internet is going to be down, either from the towers going down, or the network being overloaded. Get a battery powered radio; this may be the only way you can receive information on what’s going on during the storm.
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LAST MINUTE PLANNING: Do not. (DO NOT). Do not rely on Amazon Prime to make deliveries on time between now and when the storm hits. Even if they GUARANTEE to make those deliveries. They guaranteed it for Irma, and LOTS of people were SOL when their hurricane orders fell through. Instead, buy whatever you can locally.
End quote! Source for the exact URL here. This was from alansb1982 on Reddit.
Final Thoughts on My Hurricane Last Minute Prep Guide Reddit Quotes, Why Reddit Can Give a Unique Perspective On This
It is also a good idea to charge all cell phones and laptops to full capacity before the storm. Turning phones off until they are needed or putting them on airplane mode can really help to save power during the storm.
Other quick tips:
If your laptop has power but your phone is running low, use the laptop to power up your phone. You’re more likely to get cell reception back before internet.
Subscribe to our blog Tornadoxtreme.com, we are setting up a text messaging hotline for email subscribers where anyone with WhatsApp capabilities can reach out to us and we use all the resources we can to give them storm updates in the case that their power goes out. We can even try to assist with any additional resources that are possible as well.
Having a portable radio on hand so you can listen to news on the storm is also helpful.
Anything I missed, comment down below and let us know!
Sources:
https://money.cnn.com/data/markets/
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