According to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), this hurricane season is expected to be active. That means more severe storms are likely to occur through November. Taking steps now to prepare for severe weather could help your family stay safe and mitigate potential challenges after a tropical storm or hurricane.

These tips can help keep you, your family and your home safe.

Start Planning Now

If you haven’t already, make a storm plan. This plan should include how you’ll keep up with essential information during a storm, like important documents and files. Refer to ready.gov/plan for guidance on creating a plan. Share this plan with your family so everyone knows how to respond should a storm occur.

Create an Emergency Storm Kit

Create an easily accessible emergency kit full of items you might need in a storm. Include items like water, food and medications. Visit jacksonemc.com/storm for a complete list of items to include in your emergency storm kit.

Protect Your Home

Trim trees around your house and move loose items inside, like outdoor furniture. Strong winds can cause these items to damage your home. You should also secure all doors, including garage doors, and plan for a safe location to move your car. 

Know Your Risk 

Hurricanes often affect areas at different levels of intensity. Depending on your location and storm conditions, these storms can also produce floods and tornadoes. Visit weather.gov for more resources on the potential storm threats for your area, as well as information on hurricane categories and what they mean. 

Stay Updated

NOAA weather radios, weather apps, local TV stations and websites like weather.gov are great resources for receiving weather alerts. Be sure to follow local weather stations and Jackson EMC on social media for timely updates. Try to fully charge your devices before the storm, and make sure you have extra batteries or portable chargers to keep these devices on in case of power outages.

Use the MyJacksonEMC mobile app to report outages easily. Outages can also be reported online at outage.jacksonemc.com and via phone by calling 1-800-245-4044.

For more information on how to prepare for severe weather, visit jacksonemc.com/storm.