Water
Where will it go? Can you lift it? What happens when storage runs out or local water becomes unsafe?
Keep water available
Keep Life Going
Start with what can't safely stop.
Water from the tap. A working toilet. Medication kept at the right temperature. A way to breathe, move, communicate, and care for the people and animals who depend on you.
Ordinary functions
A list of equipment is not a plan.
Each subject begins with the function, the life it serves, and the constraints a household actually has.
A toilet is part of a system.
Plan for hygiene, waste, and handwashing when water or wastewater service is interrupted.
Use the current workbook sectionKeep people safely warm or cool.
Start with the room, clothing, shade, safe heat, sleep, power needs, and the place you could go.
Read the current cold and outage guidanceMake one room easier to breathe in.
Smoke, ash, heat, cold, generators, and building systems can all change indoor air.
Read the current smoke guidanceKnow what needs cold, power, timing, or replacement.
Write down medication names, doses, and prescribers. “The small white one” is a poor description.
Map household needsPlan for separation, not constant contact.
Choose contacts, meeting places, and a low-bandwidth way to say where you are.
Make an arrangement with someoneMake the next office easier.
Keep identity, insurance, account, property, and medical information findable without carrying everything.
Prepare for recovery paperworkFit the route to the person.
Time, mobility, transit, fuel, children, animals, weather, and a locked building can all change the same departure.
See immediate route questionsPrepare for both until one is clearly right.
Current orders and conditions decide the moment. Earlier arrangements make either choice less difficult.
Work through departure needsFit matters
Use the life you already have.
A renter cannot change every building system. A household without a vehicle cannot use a vehicle-based plan. Someone who depends on powered medical equipment needs more than a reminder to charge a phone. Storage, money, health, work, language, caregiving, transport, and trust belong in the main guidance.
Begin with one useful move. A few bottles will not cover a long outage, but they are more useful than an ideal supply you have nowhere to keep.
Reviewed July 25, 2026