Flood Preparedness Checklist: Best Practices of Being Emergency-Ready
Flooding is the most common natural disaster in the United States, and it’s also one of the most overlooked. You don’t need to live near a river, lake, or coastline to be at risk — flooding can happen anywhere it rains hard enough, fast enough, or long enough. It’s often a byproduct of other disasters too, showing up alongside hurricanes, tropical storms, and even wildfires, where burned hillsides lose their ability to absorb rain for years afterward.
Here’s how to anticipate, prepare for, and recover from flooding, using the same Terra Frma method that guides all of our preparedness work.
Know the Difference: Flood vs. Flash Flood
A flood is a longer-term event — an overflow of water onto normally dry land that can last days or weeks. A flash flood is different: it develops in six hours or less, sometimes in minutes, and can happen even if it hasn’t rained where you are, if a dam fails or an ice jam suddenly releases water upstream.
Knowing which one you’re dealing with matters. A flood watch means conditions are favorable for flooding — it’s time to get ready. A flash flood warning means water is already rising, and you need to move to higher ground immediately, not wait to see it with your own eyes.
Prepare Your Home
Check your flood zone. Your county’s website often has floodplain maps you can search by address. Check more than one source, since floodplain mapping can be complicated and inconsistent.
Get flood insurance if you need it. This is the detail people miss most: flood damage is usually a separate policy from standard homeowners insurance, and it’s often not included in hurricane or fire coverage either. If your area floods, ask your agent directly whether you’re covered.
Know how to shut off your electricity, water, and gas. Keep a wrench nearby for this exact purpose.
Install check valves in your plumbing to stop floodwater from backing up into your drains, and keep gutters and drains clear of debris.
If you’re in a flood-prone area, consider elevating your water heater and furnace, or installing outdoor berms.
If a Flood Watch Is Issued
Move anything you want to protect to the highest floor in your home, including rolled-up rugs.
Fill your bathtub and sinks with water — useful for flushing toilets and washing dishes if you lose water pressure. (Water only counts as drinkable if it’s stored in dedicated food-grade containers or a bathtub emergency storage bag made for that purpose.)
Place sandbags at doorways, including garage doors.
Bring outdoor furniture and anything that could float away inside; anchor anything too large to move, like propane tanks.
Disconnect your automatic garage door opener so it can be opened by hand if the power goes out.
If You Need to Evacuate
Don’t wait for an official order if you feel unsafe. Leave immediately. This is one of the clearest, most repeated pieces of guidance across every flood resource: hesitation costs you your safest window to leave.
If you have even a few minutes, grab: - Keys, phone, wallet and ID, medicine and eyeglasses - Your Grab + Go Box and Ready-to-Load Evacuation Kit - Wristbands on wrists and pet collars
If you don’t have time for any of that, just go. Your On-Foot Kit by the door and the shoes on your feet are enough.
Never drive through floodwater. As little as six inches of moving water can knock a person down, and a foot of water can float most cars. If your vehicle stalls in rising water, get out and move to higher ground immediately rather than staying with the car.
During: Indoor and Outdoor Safety
If you’re trapped inside: move to the highest level of the building, but never into a closed attic — it can trap you if water keeps rising. Only go onto the roof as a last resort, and signal for help once you’re there.
If you’re outside: get to high ground before your evacuation route is cut off. Avoid canyons, washes, and waterways entirely. If you truly can’t reach safety, climb onto the sturdiest object available and call 911.
After a Flood
Update your out-of-area contact on your location and wellbeing as soon as you’re able.
Expect help to be slow. Communities can be isolated for days or weeks after a major flood — this is exactly why the preparation steps matter.
Don’t touch anything electrical that’s wet or may have been wet, and don’t turn tap water back on for drinking until your utility confirms it’s safe.
If you use well water, don’t turn the pump back on yourself — flooding creates a real risk of electrical shock, and a professional needs to inspect it first.
Watch for wildlife that may have been swept into your home along with the floodwater — rodents, reptiles, and insects included.
Document everything with photos and video before you start cleanup, for insurance purposes.
A Note on Wellness
Flooding recovery is often slower and more drawn-out than people expect, and that alone can wear on you emotionally. A few things worth remembering as you move through it: take one task at a time rather than trying to solve everything at once, ask for help without treating it as a weakness, and make space for rest even if you’re rotating responsibilities with others in your household. Recovery is not just physical — it’s emotional too, and both matter.
Ready to build your own flood plan? The Grab + Go Box includes the full Guidebook and Action Plans referenced throughout this post, so you’re not trying to remember all of this from a blog post when it actually matters.
You’ve got this.