Hurricane season · Preparedness
Hurricane Preparation on the Mississippi Gulf Coast: Your Before-the-Storm Checklist
A tropical system is forecast to reach the central Gulf Coast late this week, and forecasters expect it to strengthen before landfall. If you're on the Coast, the time to prepare is now. Here's your checklist, straight from the official sources. Forecasts change, so keep following the National Hurricane Center and your county's emergency alerts.
This post is a plain-language version of the before-the-storm guidance published by the National Hurricane Center, the Mississippi Emergency Management Agency, Harrison County EMA, MDOT, and Ready.gov. Every item below links back to the official source so you can verify it yourself, and nothing here replaces the alerts from your own county.
- Published
- October 6, 2026
- For
- Coastal residents · Harrison, Jackson & Hancock counties
- Reading time
- About 5 minutes
01 · The plan comes first
Know your zone and your plan
Harrison County divides the coast into evacuation zones. Zone A covers the areas along and south of US-90 through Pass Christian, Long Beach, Gulfport and Biloxi, plus low-lying areas and the shorelines of the Wolf, Biloxi and Tchoutacabouffa rivers and the bays and bayous. Know your zone, where you'd go, and your route before you need it.
MEMA's guidance is to establish a primary evacuation route, decide where your family will stay, and include pets in the plan. MDOT publishes an annual Hurricane Evacuation Guide with routes and contraflow info, and it is worth having the current edition before the alerts start.
Where to confirm your zone
Your county EMA is the authority for your zone and your evacuation order, not a website. Harrison County publishes its evacuation information through the Harrison County EMA, and the MDOT Hurricane Evacuation Guide shows the routes and contraflow plans. Sign up for your county's alerts and follow the National Hurricane Center as the forecast moves.
02 · The 72-hour checklist
The 72-hour checklist: documents, insurance, supplies
Do this now, while the stores are stocked and the forecast is still days out. The official guidance breaks down into four buckets.
Documents
Insurance policies, ID, deeds, and medical records go in a waterproof bag or get scanned to the cloud. If you have to leave in a hurry, these are the papers you cannot replace quickly, and your insurer and your lender will both want them after the storm.
Insurance
Know the difference between wind and flood coverage: most standard homeowners policies do not cover flooding. Flood insurance is separate. Review what you have now, not after the storm, and keep your agent's number where you can reach it.
Supplies
Three to seven days of non-perishable food, one gallon of water per person per day, flashlights, batteries, a first aid kit, medications, cash, and charged power banks. Ready.gov's hurricane page is the checklist to measure against.
Vehicles and prescriptions
Gas up the vehicles and fill prescriptions. Both belong on the list you do before the storm, not during it.
Pet items are part of the same list: food, meds, and carriers. There is a full pet section below.
03 · Around the house
Secure the property
Bring in or tie down loose outdoor items: furniture, grills, trash cans. Anything loose becomes a projectile in hurricane winds, so the rule is simple: if it is not bolted down, it comes in or it gets tied down.
Harrison County offers self-serve sandbag locations, including the Road Department at 10076 Lorraine Rd in Gulfport. Check the county EMA page for the full list and hours, because locations and times change with each storm.
Moor small craft or move them to shelter. Charge everything and fill the tubs with water before landfall. The tubs are your reserve water for flushing and cleaning once the power is out.
04 · The four-legged members
Don't forget your pets
Pet-friendly emergency shelters on the Mississippi Gulf Coast are not a single standing list. Each county emergency management agency decides and announces which shelters accept pets for each individual storm, so the reliable move is to call or check the county EMA for the current storm: Harrison County EMA, Jackson County EMA, Hancock County EMA, or MEMA at 1-866-519-MEMA.
Prepare a pet go-bag: food and water for at least three to seven days, medications, a carrier or crate, leash, collar with ID, a recent photo, vaccination records, and comfort items. If you evacuate, take your pets with you. Never leave them behind.
The one call that answers the shelter question
Because pet sheltering is announced storm by storm, the county EMA phone line is the fastest way to get the current answer. Harrison, Jackson, and Hancock counties each publish their emergency management contact information, and MEMA's line is 1-866-519-MEMA. Make the call before you need the answer.
05 · The alerts
Know the watch versus the warning
The National Hurricane Center's terms have precise meanings, and they are worth knowing before the alerts start arriving:
Watch
A watch means conditions are possible within 48 hours. This is the moment to finish the checklist: supplies, documents, property, pets, gas, prescriptions.
Warning
A warning means conditions are expected within 36 hours. When a warning is issued, be ready to act: this is when your zone's evacuation order, if one comes, applies to you directly.
Plan for the power to go out
Plan for power outages that could last hours or days. That assumption drives the whole supply list: water you can store, food that does not need refrigeration, cash for when card readers are down, and charged power banks for the phones you will need to reach updates.
06 · Where to verify
The official sources
Everything in this checklist comes from the official sources below. Forecasts and shelter decisions change by the hour during an active storm, so follow the agencies, not a blog post, once the alerts start.
- National Hurricane Center
- Mississippi Emergency Management Agency (MEMA)
- Harrison County EMA / Homeland Security
- Jackson County Office of Emergency Services
- Hancock County Emergency Management / Fire Department
- MDOT Hurricane Resources and the annual Hurricane Evacuation Guide
- Ready.gov: hurricanes
MEMA's emergency line is 1-866-519-MEMA. For the current storm, your county EMA is the authority on evacuation orders, shelters, and sandbag locations.
The person behind this post
Judy Atherton
Broker Associate with eXp Realty, Mississippi License B-14728, with more than 20 years of Gulf Coast real estate experience and a professional background in banking and finance. Her credentials are published here so you can weigh the source of the information, not to sell you anything.
Sources and verification notes
This post follows the same discipline as the rest of the site: verified claims with their caveats intact, and no invented figures. The checklist is drawn from the National Hurricane Center, the Mississippi Emergency Management Agency, Harrison County EMA, MDOT's Hurricane Evacuation Guide, and Ready.gov, and every source is linked above. Evacuation zones, sandbag locations, shelter decisions, and watches and warnings change with each storm, so the county EMA is the authority for the current event. Nothing here replaces official alerts or emergency instructions.
If a detail matters to your household, click through and verify it yourself. Verification is the point of this site.