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Emergency preparedness hacks that actually work

For any household in the U.S.: quick fixes you can do tonight, power, water and medicine hacks, what to do in each kind of disaster, and the viral TikTok and Instagram tips worth keeping (plus the ones that can hurt you). Each tip is checked against the CDC, FEMA, the National Weather Service, the EPA or another official source.

Emergency happening now? Call 911. Follow evacuation orders from your local officials, even if this page says something different.

Do these tonight

Eight hacks that take about 10 minutes each

None of these needs a shopping trip, and each one fixes a gap that catches people out.

  1. Put your medical info on your lock screenFirst responders can read it without your passcode. iPhone: Health app, your picture, Medical ID, Edit, then turn on Show When Locked. Most Android phones: Settings, Safety & emergency, Medical information (menus vary by maker). Add allergies, conditions, medicines and emergency contacts, and nothing more: anyone holding your phone can see it.
  2. Program a weather radio with your county's codeA NOAA Weather Radio with SAME only sounds for the counties you program in, so it can wake you for a tornado warning without going off for every county nearby. Look up your 6-digit SAME code on the National Weather Service county coverage list or call 1-888-NWR-SAME.
  3. Walk through your home on videoFEMA's Emergency Financial First Aid Kit says to photograph or film the inside and outside of your home and your belongings for insurance. Open closets and drawers, say what things are as you film, and save a copy online.
  4. Photograph every prescription labelPlus insurance cards and the front and back of your IDs. Keep them in a password-protected vault, not loose in your camera roll, and keep a paper medicine list in your kit because phones die.
  5. Put a thermometer in the fridge and freezerThe CDC says the fridge should stay at 40°F or below and the freezer at 0°F or below. After an outage, the thermometer, not a guess, tells you what to keep.
  6. Freeze water nowFill bottles or zip-top bags about three-quarters full and freeze them. They keep the freezer, fridge or cooler cold during an outage, and if you filled them from safe tap water the meltwater is drinkable.
  7. Test your carbon monoxide alarmUse a battery-powered CO alarm or one with battery backup, so it still works when the power is out and someone starts a generator.
  8. Label your water shut-offFind the main valve, tag it and hang the wrench right next to it, so anyone in the house can shut the water off fast if a pipe bursts or a quake damages a line.

Power out

Power outage hacks

Food

Keep food cold longer

  • Keep the doors shut: food lasts about 4 hours in the fridge, 48 hours in a full freezer and 24 hours in a half-full one
  • Pack the freezer tight and group food together: a full freezer holds cold longer
  • Before a storm, move milk and meat you won't need soon into the freezer
  • Throw out fridge perishables after 4 hours without power or ice
  • Never taste food to test it: when in doubt, throw it out
Generators

Generators without the danger

  • Outside only, more than 20 feet from windows, doors and vents
  • Never in a garage, basement, shed or carport, even with the door open
  • Never plug it into a wall outlet (backfeeding): it can electrocute utility workers and neighbors on the same transformer
  • To power house circuits, ask a licensed electrician about a transfer switch
  • Keep a battery CO alarm running inside
Phones

Keep phones alive

  • Charge power banks before a storm and keep one in your kit
  • Charge in the car only with the car outdoors, never in an attached garage, even with the door open
  • Text instead of calling: it uses less battery and gets through more often
  • Dim the screen and close apps you don't need

Water

Water hacks

Treat

Make water safe

  • Boiling is best: a rolling boil for 1 minute (3 minutes above 6,500 feet), then let it cool
  • Can't boil? Add 8 drops (a little under 1/8 teaspoon) of unscented 5% to 9% household bleach per gallon, mix and wait 30 minutes
  • Use 16 drops (1/4 teaspoon) if the water is cloudy
  • Most portable filters don't remove bacteria or viruses, so boil or disinfect too
Find

Water already in your house

  • Your water heater tank: turn off the power or gas first, then drain from the valve at the bottom
  • Melted ice cubes made from safe water
  • The toilet tank (not the bowl), only if it's clear and has no cleaner in it
  • Liquid from canned fruit and vegetables
Avoid

Don't drink these

  • Radiators or home heating boilers
  • The toilet bowl
  • Any water that smells of fuel or chemicals: boiling and bleach won't fix it
  • Floodwater, or anything floodwater touched

Medicines

Medicine and medical-needs hacks

This is where household plans most often fail. Sort it out before storm season, not storm week. Someone at home with diabetes, dialysis, oxygen, asthma or another condition? See the guide by medical condition.

  1. Refill early, and know the disaster rulesIf you have Medicare drug coverage, CMS expects Part D plans to lift their “refill-too-soon” limits during a Presidential disaster or emergency declaration or an HHS public health emergency, and to allow the plan's longest supply if you ask. Many states also have emergency-refill rules for pharmacists. In Texas, for example, a pharmacist can usually give up to a 72-hour supply when your prescriber can't be reached, and up to 30 days (not Schedule II drugs) after the Governor declares a disaster and the State Board of Pharmacy notifies pharmacies. Don't count on any of it: refill before the storm.
  2. No insurance? Know about EPAPIn a Presidentially declared disaster area where the federal Emergency Prescription Assistance Program is active, people without any health insurance can get a free 30-day supply of prescriptions, some medical supplies, vaccines and some equipment, renewable every 30 days while it stays active. You need a prescription or proof of one. Call 1-855-793-7470 to check.
  3. Have a cold plan for refrigerated medicinesKeep a cooler and frozen gel packs ready. Keep insulin cool but never frozen. If a medicine got too warm, check its label or ask a pharmacist before using it, and throw out pills that got wet.
  4. If someone depends on electricity for a medical deviceTell your electric company and ask about its medical programs. In Texas, ask for the Public Utility Commission's Critical Care or Chronic Condition application (a physician certifies it). In California, utilities such as Southern California Edison offer a Medical Baseline Allowance, extra electricity at the lowest rate for people who rely on powered medical equipment. These programs don't promise your power stays on, so plan backup batteries and a place to go.
  5. Ask if your area keeps a help registrySome states and counties keep a free voluntary registry so emergency planners know who will need help evacuating. Texas's is STEAR (stear.texas.gov or dial 2-1-1); ask your county emergency management office what yours is. Registering doesn't guarantee a rescue. Separately, the federal HHS emPOWER program uses Medicare claims data to help health departments plan for people who rely on electricity-dependent equipment. You don't sign up for it, and it doesn't replace your own plan.

By disaster

What actually helps in each one

Hurricanes

  • Cover windows with shutters or plywood. Tape does nothing to stop a window breaking and can make the shards bigger
  • The Atlantic season runs June 1 to November 30: know your evacuation zone and route before a storm forms
  • Put documents in waterproof bags or a waterproof box, and fill the tub so you can flush by pouring a bucket into the bowl

Floods

  • Turn around, don't drown: 6 inches of fast water can knock an adult over, 12 inches can carry away most cars and 2 feet can carry away SUVs and trucks
  • Almost half of flash flood deaths happen in vehicles, according to FEMA
  • Throw out any food or bottled drink that floodwater touched

Tornadoes

  • Go to a basement or a windowless interior room on the lowest floor (a closet, bathroom or center hallway)
  • Protect your head and neck. A helmet helps only if it's already in your shelter spot: don't go looking for one
  • Never shelter under a highway overpass, and don't waste time opening windows

Earthquakes

  • Drop to your hands and knees, cover your head and neck, and hold on until the shaking stops
  • Strap the water heater to the wall studs with a wide metal strap around the top, and anchor tall furniture
  • Near the coast and the shaking lasted 20 seconds or more? Head to high ground right away: a tsunami may follow

Wildfire smoke

  • Cloth masks, paper masks and bandanas don't filter smoke. Use a NIOSH-approved N95 or P100 that seals to your face
  • Make a clean room: a 20-inch box fan (2012 or newer, UL or ETL marked) with a MERV 13 filter strapped to the back
  • More filters work better: in EPA tests, a four-filter cube design cleaned about 3.6 times as much air as a single filter

Extreme heat

  • Heat stroke is an emergency, call 911: 103°F or higher, hot red dry or damp skin, a fast strong pulse, confusion or passing out. Cool them down and don't give them anything to drink
  • A fan alone won't prevent heat illness once it's in the high 90s. A cool shower or a few hours in air conditioning (a library or mall) works better
  • Heat exhaustion (heavy sweating, cold pale clammy skin, a fast weak pulse, nausea or dizziness): move somewhere cooler, loosen clothes and sip water, and get medical help if they vomit, get worse or aren't better within an hour

Winter storms and extreme cold

  • Let faucets drip a little and open the cabinet doors under sinks on outside walls so warm air reaches the pipes
  • Keep your gas tank at least half full
  • Never heat the house with a gas range, oven, grill or camp stove, and don't use flameless chemical heaters indoors

TikTok, Instagram and Facebook

Viral preparedness hacks: keep or skip

These are the tips that keep circulating every storm season. Here's what the evidence says.

Keep: these work
  • Frozen water bottles and bags in the freezerThey hold the cold during an outage and the meltwater is drinkable if the water was safe to start with.
  • Washing machine as a party coolerFine for drinks: the drain carries the meltwater away. Food still has to stay at 40°F or below.
  • Filling the bathtub before a stormGreat for flushing and cleaning. Don't drink it unless you boil or disinfect it first.
  • Medical ID on your lock screenResponders can see your allergies, conditions and contacts without your passcode.
  • Box fan plus a MERV 13 filter (the “Corsi-Rosenthal box”)EPA testing found DIY air cleaners cut smoke indoors. Use a newer certified fan and change dirty filters.
  • Coin on a frozen cup of waterKeep it, with a catch: a sunken coin tells you the freezer thawed, but a coin still on top doesn't prove the food is safe. Use a thermometer to decide.
Skip: these can hurt you
  • Terra cotta pot and candle “heater”It adds no heat beyond the candle itself, roughly 80 watts, and it's a fire risk. One in Derby, England, started a flat fire in November 2022 that led to about 50 people being evacuated.
  • Taping an X on your windowsIt doesn't stop windows breaking and can make bigger, more dangerous shards. Use shutters or plywood.
  • Hiding under a highway overpassOverpasses can funnel wind and debris. People sheltering under them have been killed or badly hurt.
  • Opening windows before a tornadoWind, not pressure, destroys homes. Use those seconds to get to shelter.
  • Heating with the oven or gas stoveIt can fill the house with carbon monoxide. Never do it.
  • Running a generator or car in the garage “with the door open”Carbon monoxide still builds up. Generators go outside, 20 feet or more from the house.
  • A bandana or cloth mask for smokeIt doesn't filter wildfire smoke. Use an N95 or P100.
  • Plugging the generator into a wall outletThis is backfeeding: it can electrocute line workers and neighbors and bypasses your home's circuit protection.
  • The dishwasher as a waterproof safeDishwashers aren't waterproof. Use waterproof bags or a waterproof document box.

Contact plan

A family plan that works when calls don't

Pick one out-of-town contact

Everyone checks in with the same person outside the area. They can be easier to reach than someone across town when local networks are jammed.

Text first, keep calls short

Texts use less bandwidth and battery, so they often go through when calls won't. Save calls for emergencies. Texting 911 isn't available everywhere, so call 911 if you can.

Agree on meeting places

One near home, one elsewhere in town and one outside the area, so everyone knows where to go if you can't get home.

Write it down

A copy in every wallet and backpack, one on the fridge and one in the kit. Practice it once a year.

Print a free one-page medical card for each person in the house

Want hands-on skills? Take free CERT training.

Community Emergency Response Team courses teach everyday people fire safety, light search and rescue, team organization and disaster first aid. The basic course is usually about 20 to 30 hours, free, through your city or county.

See CERT and other trainings

The kit

The kit, without the fluff

Ready.gov's baseline is enough food, water and supplies for several days. Pack it in one or two containers you can carry.

Basics

Water & food

  • One gallon of water per person per day for several days, some of it frozen
  • Food that won't spoil, plus a manual can opener
  • Food and water for pets
Health

Health

  • Several days of every medicine, and the paper list
  • Glasses and contact lens supplies
  • A first aid kit
  • A cooler and gel packs for medicines that need the fridge
Essentials

Power, light & papers

  • Flashlights, batteries and a NOAA Weather Radio
  • Charged power banks and car chargers
  • Copies of IDs and insurance cards in a waterproof bag
  • Some cash

General education, not medical, legal or compliance advice. MedRise is not an emergency service and cannot respond to emergencies. For decisions about a specific person, program or hospital, talk to a clinician, your institution or your own advisers.

Sources

Where this comes from

Sources last checked November 14, 2026. Rules and links change: open the official page before you rely on a figure.