Prepare a go bag for unexpected evacuations during a natural disaster or emergency. Table of Contents: When disaster strikes, there is often very little time to gather your belongings and flee. Seeing the recent devastating fires in California and the recent hurricanes in the south, and hearing countless stories of people forced to evacuate without their belongings has been a sobering reminder. Many regret not grabbing certain items before fleeing, only to realize those items are now gone forever, making me realize just how important it is to have a go bag, especially since I still haven’t put one together myself. So today I’m packing go bags for my family, including my dog, and am sharing a list of everything that’s going into my go bags so you can make yours, too.  What Is a Go Bag? A go bag is a pre-packed emergency bag that contains essential items you might need if you have to leave your home quickly due to a natural disaster or other emergency. It ensures you have necessities like important documents, basic supplies, and personal essentials ready to grab at a moment’s notice. You can also include sentimental or irreplaceable items, giving you peace of mind that the things that matter most won’t be left behind. Having a go bag ready is crucial for safety and preparedness because emergencies often leave little to no time for gathering belongings. When every second counts, having your essentials packed and accessible can make a huge difference in reducing stress and ensuring you have what you need to get through a difficult situation. A durable, lightweight backpack or duffel bag with multiple compartments makes a great go bag, allowing you to carry essentials comfortably and keep them organized. Why You Need a Go Bag Reasons Why Someone Might Need to Evacuate Their Home Unexpectedly Natural disasters like hurricanes, wildfires, earthquakes, and floods can strike with little warning, forcing people to evacuate on short notice. Even with advanced warnings, conditions can change rapidly, making it essential to be prepared ahead of time. When moving into a beach house in a flood zone, I had to consider the reality that at some point we would probably have to evacuate. The most likely reason would be for storm surge caused by a hurricane, but it doesn’t take just a hurricane to cause a flood. Other causes of a possible flood evacuation could be a tropical storm, a heavy rainstorm that hits during high tide, or a nor’easter, to name a few.  There could even be a fire that causes evacuation; maybe a neighbors house has caught on fire and you need to evacuate because it’s at risk of spreading to your home. This scenario could happen any day, any time. Wildfires, although not super common on the east coast, can happen, and we do sometimes get fire warnings on dry, windy days. This is why it’s a good idea to have a go bag ready for each member of your family, including pets. Use this guide to pack a disaster go bag for everyone in your household so you’ll be prepared if you need to evacuate your home for any reason, no matter where you live. Related: How to Help Someone Whose House Flooded Go Bag Essentials List: What to pack in a go bag for an emergency evacuation You should have these items packed in your go bag, or a list of them in your go bag and where they’re located in your home so you can grab them quickly. This is helpful because it might be hard to remember everything when you’re feeling panicked and short on time. What you pack may depend on whether you’re evacuating by car or on foot. What to pack in a go bag Additional items for babies & kids What to pack in a go bag for pets Related: America’s Coastal States: Populations, Shorelines, and Rising Seas Infographic Storing and Maintaining Your Go Bag Emergencies are unpredictable, but being prepared gives you control over how you handle them. Go bags are a simple yet essential step in ensuring safety and peace of mind for you and your family, allowing you to respond quickly during a disaster. There’s no better time to start than now. Take a few minutes to gather your essentials and begin assembling your go bag today. Protecting yourself and your loved ones starts with being ready for unexpected floods, fires, and intensifying hurricanes. Preparedness isn’t just about survival, it’s about having the confidence to act quickly and wisely in an emergency. Being ready means you can focus on staying safe, protecting your loved ones, and handling any situation with resilience. Save This Go Bag Essentials List for Later Pin this graphic on Pinterest, or bookmark this page, so you can continue to refer back to this go bag essentials list for people and pets. And don’t forget to follow Stars & Anchor on Instagram and on Pinterest for more coastal lifestyle and beach inspiration. Why a go bag is essential for hurricane & flood evacuations, and what to pack. Are you planning to make a go bag? Can you think of anything you’re going to add that isn’t on this list? Share your thoughts in the comments.

If you have family, friends, or a neighbor whose house was damaged in a flood, here are ways you can support them during this time.  Table of Contents: Thank you for being such a supportive friend or relative by checking out this page. Your willingness to help someone recovering from a flood will make a huge difference in their life! Having your house flood can be one of the most challenging and overwhelming situations a homeowner can face. If you can assist someone in any way, whether big or small, it will surely be very appreciated. I put together this list of ideas for ways to help, from donating time or funds to providing hands-on help, offering a meal, or simply showing moral support. Besides home flooding, businesses, especially small ones near the coast, are often vulnerable to rising waters and storm surges. For these business owners, a flood can be not only financially devastating but also emotionally overwhelming as they work to restore their livelihood. If someone you know has experienced flooding in their business, this list of ways to lend a hand can also be applied to help business owners get on the path to rebuild and recover. This post is geared toward situations where a severe flood has made a home temporarily unlivable, but the tips here can also be helpful for smaller-scale flooding. No matter if inches or feet of water entered the structure, the cleanup is a major undertaking. There are many ways you can help, by directly assisting with the cleanup process, offering help with the everyday tasks that can be overwhelming while dealing with cleaning out a flooded house, or providing necessities. Below I’ll discuss numerous ways you can make a positive impact for someone whose house has been flooded. Here are practical ways to help someone after a flood, including ideas on what to say to offer comfort, and common flooding causes. 10 Ways to Help Someone After a Flood Help with the clean up Once water enters a home or business, all of the contents will need to be emptied out, the items sorted to be tossed or cleaned, tear out the drywall (even if only a couple of inches got in), clean all of the mud and residue off of the floors, wash any items that can be saved, and the drying out process on the walls and floors must begin. Items that can’t be saved need to be stacked in a pile outside for the insurance assessor to review before it’s put out for garbage collection. You can offer your time and effort to assist with this clean up process. Make sure to show up in appropriate clothing and footwear for this messy work. Bring cleaning supplies Cleaning up a flooded house requires supplies like strong garbage bags, gloves, mops, buckets, brooms, masks (everyone always mentions how awful it smells), and paper towels.  Offer to let them use your washer and dryer If their clothing, bedding, towels, curtains, or washable rugs have come in contact with water, there will be a small window in which to wash everything before it starts mildewing and gets ruined. By offering the use of your washer and dryer, or offering to wash the items for them, they’ll have a way to save these items from needing to be replaced. This will not only save them money, but will also give the benefit of being able to have clean items to take with them to wherever they’ll be staying. Losing a home and everything in it is devastating, so by offering a way to wash their clothes, you’re helping them preserve a few belongings that might otherwise be lost forever. Offer a place to stay One of the biggest problems when someone’s house floods is that they have nowhere else to go. Not everyone has family nearby who they can stay with. Not everyone is fortunate enough to be able to afford an Airbnb, hotel, or rental house for an extended amount of time, and even finding one can prove challenging. Flood insurance can provide coverage for some of these costs, but it can take time to get insurance sorted out. If you’re able to offer a place for them to stay, even for a few days or a week so they can be looking for a longer term solution, that can be a huge weight off of their shoulders. Related Post: America’s Coastal States: Populations, Shorelines, and Rising Seas Infographic Drop off food and water Cleaning up a flooded house is exhausting. Make sure everyone is staying well fed and hydrated by dropping off breakfast sandwiches and coffee in the morning, or sandwiches or pizza in the afternoon, plus some bottled water. Offer to watch their kids For families with younger children, it can be difficult to make significant progress in a flood cleanup when you’re also chasing after and caring for your young children. Offer to have the kids over to your house for a day so their parents can focus on the cleanup. Offer to watch their pets Without a stable home environment, it can be challenging to take care of pets. It can also be hard to find temporary housing that accepts pets. If you’re able, offer shelter for their pets either during the day while the family is working on cleaning up their house, or for a few weeks or as long as you’re able to. Help to navigate the insurance process and to document the damage If the person you’re helping isn’t particularly tech savvy, or is feeling overwhelmed and needs help navigating the process, you can direct them to the correct websites to sign up for any potential FEMA assistance, the phone number to call for their insurance company to get an assessor out to the property, or anything else they need help navigating. You can even offer to sit with them as they fill out the forms. They’ll also need to document everything that was damaged […]

An infographic sharing statistics about the coastline of the United States. Understanding the importance of coastal areas in the U.S. is crucial, from the large populations living along the shorelines to the potential impact of rising sea levels. As more people move to coastal regions and the effects of climate change become more pronounced, it’s clear that these areas will continue to face both opportunities and challenges in the coming decades. By staying informed about these changes, we can better prepare for the future and work to protect our coastlines. Whether you’re a coastal resident or have an interest in this topic, being aware of this information about America’s coast helps us all make smarter decisions for the environment and our communities. In this infographic, you’ll discover how many coastal states are in the U.S., the largest coastal populations, the total miles of shoreline, and the percentage of Americans living on the coast. Plus, you’ll learn about the projected sea level rise over the next 30 years, and keep reading below to see how that compares with the sea level rise from the last 100 years. Take a look at the infographic below for a closer look at these coastal insights. U.S. Coast — By the Numbers Infographic Interesting facts, statistics, and projections about the coastline of the United States. There are 30 coastal states in the U.S.: Alabama, Alaska, California, Connecticut, Delaware, Florida, Georgia, Hawaii, Indiana, Illinois, Louisiana, Maine, Maryland, Massachusetts, Michigan, Minnesota, Mississippi, New Hampshire, New Jersey, New York, North Carolina, Ohio, Oregon, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island, South Carolina, Texas, Virginia, Washington, Wisconsin. These states border either the Pacific Ocean, Atlantic Ocean, Gulf of Mexico, or the Great Lakes. The top 3 coastal populations in the U.S. are in these states: California, Florida, and New York. As of the 2020 U.S. Census:California has 26.8 million people living in coastal counties.Florida has 16.2 million people living in coastal counties.New York has 15.9 million people living in coastal counties. There are 95,439 total miles of shoreline in the U.S. Alaska is the state with the most shoreline mileage, with 33,904 statute miles; followed by Florida, with 8,436 statute miles. 40% of people in the U.S. live on the coast. However, the coast accounts for less than 10% of the nation’s land mass (excluding Alaska). The U.S. coastline is projected to rise 10–12 inches higher in the next 30 years. This rise is equivalent to the amount of sea level increase that previously took a full century to occur, from 1920 to 2020. What once took 100 years is now expected to happen in just 30, highlighting the accelerated pace of change. The exact sea level rise will vary along the U.S. coast due to changes in land and ocean height. Sources: coast.noaa.gov, coast.noaa.gov/states/fast-facts/economics-and-demographics.html, coast.noaa.gov/data/docs/states/shorelines.pdf You can use this coastal infographic in many ways, including: Related: These Are the Perfect Beach Color Palettes, and Here’s How You Can Use Them Save This Coastal Infographic Pin the infographic on Pinterest, or bookmark this page, so you can continue to refer back to it. And don’t forget to follow Stars & Anchor on Pinterest and Instagram for more coastal lifestyle and beach inspiration. Infographic — The U.S. Coast: By the Numbers Recognizing the significance of U.S. coastal regions is vital, especially as more people settle along the shores and the reality of rising sea levels comes into focus. With coastal populations growing and environmental changes on the horizon, it’s important to consider both the benefits and the risks that these areas will face in the future. Staying updated on these developments allows us to take proactive steps to safeguard our coastlines. Whether you’re directly impacted or simply interested in coastal trends, understanding these shifts helps ensure a more sustainable future for these vital regions. Do you live in a coastal community? Are you concerned about changes you’re seeing along the coast? Share your thoughts in the comments.