Hurricane Milton is on course to make landfall in Florida on Wednesday evening. While common emergency responses include stockpiling water and nonperishable goods and paying attention to evacuation orders, preparing your personal finances is also important ahead of a natural disaster.
In case you need to evacuate quickly, here's what you'll need to keep your money safe.
Make sure you have access to cash
Keep some cash stashed away somewhere safe in your home. A severe weather event like Milton has the potential to knock out the power and render ATMs and credit card processors useless.
You might need to pay for gas, food, water, a hotel room or other incidental expenses during an evacuation. Keep enough cash on hand to at least get you out into safety. Once you are out of the affected area, you can use your debit card or emergency credit card to pay for basic necessities.
Keep all your receipts for living expenses while you're unable to return to your home. Though you may have to front some costs, the Federal Emergency Management Agency offers various forms of financial relief for climate disaster evacuees, like temporary housing, among other things. Other organizations may be able to help with costs not covered by FEMA.
While you have Wi-Fi, do yourself a favor and update all of your money apps
If your banking app or other financial app isn't up to date, they may not work. This can be inconvenient at the best of times, but if a storm like Milton is sweeping through your area, you might lose power or reception and be unable to update.
Make sure you have important numbers in your contacts
In addition to writing down important phone numbers, add any insurance, power companies or other important numbers to your contacts app. Include your policy number and account in the info section.
List the last name as the category. For example, for Progressive Car Insurance, you'd enter "car insurance" in the last name field. When you're stressed or panicking, it's hard to remember the name of the company that insures you. But if you can find the information with a quick search, it could alleviate some stress.
What documents should you bring with you in an evacuation?
While you can back up important documents to a cloud-based service, it's quite possible that you may be limited by cell service and internet outages. As such, it's a good idea to keep physical copies of key documents and other important information you may need to access.
In the event of an evacuation order, there will be very little time to do any packing, so it's crucial to have your paperwork collected before you're impacted by a severe weather event. Some documents to gather include:
- Driver's licenses and applicable change-of-address addendums
- Passports
- Social security cards
- Birth certificates
- Credit and debit cards
- Mortgage account information or lease
- Utility/recurring bill account information
- Medical information and proof of vaccinations
- Tax information
- Insurance policy information
- Deed to car(s) and house
- List of phone numbers (family, work, lenders, service providers)
- Wills and other legal documents
Make sure you collect these documents for the whole family, including for your partner, parents, siblings and children. And don't forget the paperwork for your pets. During an evacuation, it's common to use boarding facilities for your pet, and they often require proof of vaccinations.
It may be possible to take small valuables with you in an evacuation if you're prepared. Have a go bag with your paperwork and a list of valuables so you can collect them quickly. Consider including a solar-powered phone charger and anything you would need to live for a few days or weeks, such as medications. Being prepared will help ensure you don't miss anything important.
To complement your insurance protection, maintain an inventory of the items in each room of your home. This will help keep track of items for insurance purposes in case they're damaged or stolen. Check out our guide to documenting your possessions for emergency preparation for more details.
How to financially protect your home
Review your homeowners insurance policy to make sure there is no lapse in coverage. In the event of a natural disaster, you want to make sure your insurance is active.
Typical homeowners policies will cover certain damages from hurricanes, tornadoes, hail, wind, lightning and volcanoes. Note that flood, earthquake and mudslide damage is typically not covered in a traditional policy.
If your home is in a FEMA-designated Special Flood Hazard Area, or SFHA, then you're required to maintain flood insurance. But you might consider it if you're in an area that's faced storms recently.
Consider your local risk factors and keep an eye on drainage problems and any issues that start to crop up during heavy rains around your home and neighborhood. Stay alert to pivot to flood coverage if you suspect your home may be getting vulnerable to severe weather events as they become more prevalent.
Don't forget to protect your car
If you have a car, you may use it to evacuate. If you have advance notice of an upcoming severe weather event, it's a good idea to fuel up or charge your car ahead of time.
Consider the routes you would take in an emergency evacuation. You want to stay safe, but you also want to prevent expensive and unnecessary damage to your vehicle. Discern areas that may be prone to flooding, mudslides or downed trees, and plan viable alternative routes in case some roads get blocked. You don't want to drive through a puddle that's deeper than it looks. It may also prove worthwhile to keep some hard copies of maps in your car.
You'll typically need a comprehensive car insurance policy to get covered for flood, storm or wildfire damage -- basic collision and liability won't cut it.
How to handle your job
Write down any phone numbers and email addresses for people you interact with on a regular basis in your job and keep it with your other important documents. If you use a work computer or have any other essential work item, take it with you when you evacuate, since you don't know how long it could be until you return home.
If you evacuate, contact your boss and let them know what's happening as soon as it's safe to do so. Together you'll figure out the best plan of action moving forward. Likewise, contact any clients or teammates who rely on you to maintain your business connections.
Watch out for post-disaster scams and relief
Another harsh reality of climate disasters is that they come with their fair share of scammers. If you familiarize yourself with the traits of some common relief scams, you can better recognize nefarious activity post-evacuation when your focus is likely compromised.
The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau advises that disaster survivors watch out for certain suspect behaviors when accepting help after a severe weather event.
One red flag includes organizations with names that are similar to official government entities. Also look out for anyone trying to sell an after-the-fact insurance policy or anyone charging upfront fees for disaster relief or loans. The bureau also recommends not accepting help from contractors offering services door to door, especially if they demand immediate payment or offer discounts.
After you've evacuated, contact your mortgage lender or landlord, utility providers and other service providers. Oftentimes they'll be able to offer some sort of assistance in the wake of a disaster. Along with FEMA, charitable organizations will likely be available to offer help. Take advantage of the resources at your disposal.