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Living near the Gulf Coast all of my life has been interesting when preparing for hurricanes.
Start out by preparing your home before you evacuate. Board up the windows so if the glass breaks it at least keeps the rain out of your house. Use plywood if possible. There are also storm shutters that can be purchased for this.
After Hurricane Rita I learned a valuable lesson. Empty the refrigerator. After 3 weeks without electricity things did not smell well in my home. Quite a few people I knew bought new refrigerators instead of cleaning the old ones.
Take picture for insurance purposes and keep them in a waterproof lock box.
Put your pets in a kennel if they cannot go with you. Most hotels/motels made exceptions for pets after Hurricane Rita.
Now you are ready to evacuate. Make sure that you have gas. People will fill up anything that can be filled with gas when there is a hurricane on its way. Make sure you have food and water. A trip that normally would take you 2 hours can take a lot longer when people are in a panic. Take your medications with you to your evacuation site. I would recommend at least 2 weeks. During Hurricane Rita they told us to prepare to be gone for 3 days and we were gone for 3 weeks. Bring a blanket and a flashlight with you also. Bring enough clothes for 5 days. I do not recommend less than that.
After Hurricane Rita I do not advise anyone to stay for a hurricane. The devestation was unbelievable. Be safe. Life is too important.

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