Why a Go Bag is Essential for Hurricane and Flood Evacuations, and What to Pack
Prepare a go bag for unexpected evacuations during a natural disaster or emergency.
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Table of Contents:
- Introduction to Go Bags
- What Is a Go Bag?
- Why You Need a Go Bag
- Reasons Why Someone Might Need to Evacuate Their Home Unexpectedly
- Go Bag Essentials List: What to pack in a go bag for an emergency evacuation
- What to pack in a go bag
- Additional items for babies & kids
- What to pack in a go bag for pets
- Storing and Maintaining Your Go Bag
- Save This Go Bag Essentials List for Later
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
- Immediate evacuation: In an emergency, you may only have seconds or minutes to leave your home, and a go bag ensures you can grab everything you need without hesitation.
- Reduces stress and panic: Having a go bag packed and ready eliminates the frantic scramble to gather essentials, helping you stay calm and focused during an emergency.
- Preparedness can save your life: Being prepared can make all the difference in a crisis, ensuring you have the supplies necessary to stay safe, evacuate quickly, and have what you need.
Reasons Why Someone Might Need to Evacuate Their Home Unexpectedly
- Hurricanes, which could intensify rapidly and unexpectedly or shift their track, leaving you feeling unprepared to evacuate
- Severe storms with rising floodwaters, such as a heavy rainstorm, tropical storm, or nor’easter
- A neighbor’s house has caught fire and risks spreading to yours
- Fast-moving wildfires threatening neighborhoods
- Gas leaks
- Power outages in extreme temperatures
- Civil emergencies or evacuation orders from local authorities
- Hazardous material spills
- Earthquake causing structural damage
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.
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
- Pictures, photo albums
- Laptop
- Portable hard drives or storage devices
- Cameras and other electronics you want to protect
- Irreplaceable or sentimental items (e.g. special jewelry, family heirlooms)
- Important documents (e.g. passport, birth certificate, insurance paperwork, etc.) in a waterproof bag
- Phone charger
- Phone battery pack
- A full change of clothing, including long sleeve shirt and pants
- Comfortable walking shoes
- Flashlight and batteries
- Names and phone numbers of emergency contacts written down, in case your cell phone battery dies or you get injured and someone needs to contact them for you
- Emergency credit card or cash
- Prescriptions
- Necessary medical items (e.g. cane, CPAP machine)
- Glasses or contact lenses
- First aid kit
- Face masks (for if there’s smoke or a chemical in the air)
- Hygiene products such as a toothbrush, toothpaste, feminine supplies, hand wipes, hand sanitizer, soap
- Bottled water for 3 days
- Non-perishable food for 3 days, and anything you need to eat it (i.e. can opener, plastic utensils)
- Multi-tool
- Whistle
- Battery powered radio
- Anything else you’ll need for the location you’re evacuating to (e.g. keys to your other home, air mattress)
- A list of any items you need to grab last-minute and where they’re located, (e.g. family photo on living room bookshelf, medication in refrigerator, jewelry box on dresser, journal in top desk drawer)
Additional items for babies & kids
- Baby supplies (e.g. diapers, formula)
- Kids toys, books, or coloring pages and crayons
- Comfort item (e.g. stuffed animal, blankie)
- A list of any items you need to grab last-minute and where they’re located, (e.g. formula in refrigerator, favorite toy)
What to pack in a go bag for pets
- Medications
- Water for 3 days
- Food for 3 days
- Food and water bowls
- Leash
- Collar with identification tag
- Carrier for pets who can’t walk
- Foot protection for pets who can walk (if you’re leaving on foot instead of driving)
- A toy
- A list of any items you need to grab last-minute and where they’re located, (e.g. bag of dog food, medications)
Related: America’s Coastal States: Populations, Shorelines, and Rising Seas Infographic
Storing and Maintaining Your Go Bag
- Where to store your go bag: Keep your go bag in an easily accessible location, such as in a storage cabinet by the front door or in a hall closet, so you can grab it quickly if you need to leave in a hurry.
- Keep your go bag updated: Regularly check your go bag to ensure all items are current, including updating important documents as needed and swapping out clothing for the current season.
- Check expiration dates: Make a habit of checking your go bag to replace expired food and make sure batteries are working properly.
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.
