Kit guides
The main preparedness library. Every kit includes the full guide plus its printable checklist.
Be ready before the storm.
If you live on the Gulf or Atlantic coast, hurricane season is part of your calendar. This site covers the preparation piece: what to pack, what to understand, and where to start.
Coastal guides
Start with your coast.
Local risk changes the standard kit. Choose a regional guide for the agencies, hazards, and additions that matter where you live.
2026 season update
Hurricane Isaias is nearing the northern Gulf Coast.
This is not a live tracker.
This report is updated by hand and can be hours out of date. Do not use it for evacuation, shelter, or timing decisions. Get current information from:
- National Hurricane Center — official storm tracks and advisories
- National Weather Service — local watches, warnings, and forecasts
- Your local emergency management office — evacuation orders and shelters
- NOAA Weather Radio, local TV and radio, and wireless emergency alerts on your phone
Updated October 9 at 1 p.m. CDT: Hurricane Isaias is a Category 3 storm with 120 mph winds, about 145 miles south of Pensacola, Florida, and is expected to make landfall on the northern Gulf Coast this evening. The National Hurricane Center has a Hurricane Warning from Ocean Springs, Mississippi, to the Bay/Gulf County line in Florida, and a Storm Surge Warning from the Mississippi River mouth to the Suwannee River. Storm surge of 6-9 feet is possible from the Alabama/Florida border to Grayton Beach, with 4-8 inches of rain (locally up to 15) across southern Alabama and the Florida Panhandle. If you are in a warned area, follow local officials' instructions and finish protective actions now.
Isaias is the ninth named storm of the Atlantic season and its first hurricane. NOAA's August 6 update called for a below-normal season (75% chance) with 7-13 named storms, 2-6 hurricanes, and 0-2 major hurricanes. A quieter seasonal count does not reduce the risk to the coast a storm is heading for, and hurricane season runs through November 30.
Preparedness isn't about fear.
It's about care. You prepare because you have people, pets, medications, documents, and routines worth protecting. A hurricane kit is not panic shopping. It's a set of decisions made early enough that landfall doesn't get to make them for you.
Most hurricane content is either frightening or useless. Federal checklists with all the warmth of a legal disclaimer. Affiliate roundups where every recommendation earns a commission. This site is neither: plain-language guidance for Gulf and Atlantic coast households, written by someone who actually thought it through.
No ads. No affiliate links. Just specific guidance, printable checklists, and state pages you can send to someone before a storm is on the map.
Start where you are
Two ways in: start with the coastal guide for your state if you want to understand your local risk first, or go straight to the kit library if you just need a list.
Coastal guides
Use the geography first: local risk, regional supply additions, and the official sources to bookmark before the season.
Storm atlas
Compare selected historical Atlantic hurricane tracks from NOAA/NHC best-track data.
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Editorial note
How this guidance is reviewed
This page was reviewed on October 9, 2026. Hurricane Coast is an independent preparedness project with no ads or affiliate links.
This guidance is checked against Ready.gov, the National Hurricane Center, the National Weather Service, FEMA, and the state or local emergency management sources linked on the page.
Use this page to prepare early. When local officials issue evacuation orders, shelter instructions, weather alerts, or medical guidance, follow those primary sources first.