Former billion-dollar defense contractor pleads guilty to tax crimes with global connections
Financial Literacy and Education Commission May 29 meeting to be webcast

Hurricane season 2025 starts June 1. Get ready now.

Hurricane-Milton-8October2024_GOES-16-image-100824-NOAA
Hurricane Milton as seen by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) GOES-16 satellite on Oct. 8, 2024. (Image credit: NOAA)

Wild, and wildly destructively weather can happen any time, any place. But there’s one natural catastrophe that gets its own season, and it's almost here.

The annual Atlantic/Gulf of Mexico hurricane season officially runs from June 1 through Nov. 30. That starting date is less that week away, and if you’re not already prepared for potential storms, now is the time to do so.

The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) is once again predicting above-normal hurricane activity.

For the fast approaching 2025 tropical storm season, NOAA is forecasting a range of 13 to 19 total named storms. The systems get monikers when their winds hit 39 mph or higher.

Of those, NOAA says six to 10 are likely to become hurricanes, meaning wind speed reaches 74 mph or higher. That count includes three to five hurricanes that will have winds of 111 mph or higher, designating them as major hurricanes.

Storm names: When this year’s storms are named, they’ll be dubbed based on when they meet the wind criteria using the alphabetical list of 21 names below, chosen and updated by the World Meteorological Organization.

Andrea

Humberto

Olga

Barry

Imelda

Pablo

Chantal

Jerry

Rebekah

Dexter

Karen

Sebastien

Erin

Lorenzo

Tanya

Fernand

Melissa

Van

Gabrielle

Nestor

Wendy

If some of the names sound familiar, it’s because the scientific group uses a group of six lists that are rotated and re-cycled every six years. For example, the 2025 list will be used again in 2031.

The only time that there is a change in the list is if a storm is so deadly or costly that the future use of its name for a different storm would be inappropriate for reasons of sensitivity. When that happens, the WMO naming committee strikes the name from the list and adds a replacement.

Pay attention to warnings: Regardless of when a storm forms or what it is named, if you’re in its path, you need to be ready.

First and foremost, that means evacuating when weather and government officials say to do so. You also need to prepared for less severe storms where you choose to stay at your home.

Your storm readiness includes not only physical preparations, but also financial, including tax, moves to make well before a tropical system or full-fledged hurricane of any size arrives.

You need to be ready even if you don’t live on the United States’ East or Gulf coasts. Storms move inland, dropping prodigious amounts of rain that too often turns into deadly floods.

My special Storm Warnings page on preparing for natural disasters has suggestions on how to get ready for hurricanes and other types of Mother Nature madness, but here are some highlights.

And so that you’ll know what’s happening as a hurricane nears, make sure you have access to the public safety alert system. An easy option is the variety of weather warning apps for your phone or other mobile device.

Contact your city and county officials about their warning systems. Local television stations also have weather apps. My post last year in advance of hurricane season has more on the variety of official weather and disaster alert systems that can ensure you’re not caught by surprise a storm is on the way.

Physical prep and precautions: Even when a tropical system is not that severe, it can take out utility infrastructures.

All of us have at some point endured life without the usual modern conveniences of electricity, water, and accessibility to provisions. It is no fun in the short term. Hurricanes, however, often mean you can be without these services for weeks.

So stock up your pantry and overall disaster kit now.

Each family or individual obviously will customize these suggestions to meet specific needs, but there are some basics that will help get you through a disastrous time:

  • Water, one gallon of water per person per day, for drinking and sanitation;

    TIP: You don't necessarily have to buy all the water you might need. The hubby and I keep a couple of flats of bottled drinking water in our laundry room. But we also have a stash of empty plastic gallon milk jugs in our garage that, when storm season approaches (it's spring thunderstorms here in Central Texas), we fill with tap water to take care of non-potable water needs.

  • Food, at least a three-day supply of non-perishable food (canned meat, protein bars, dry cereal, dry milk you can mix with water, energy drinks);
  • Reusable ice packets or freeze as much ice as you can in advance to use in food storage containers;
  • Matches and candles;
  • Hand-powered can opener, paper plates, plastic utensils and cups, paper towels and garbage bags;
  • Bleach and disinfectants;
  • Battery-powered radio and a NOAA Weather Radio with tone alert and extra batteries for both;
  • Flashlight and extra batteries;
  • Cell phone charger, especially one that be used in an auto if house power is out;
  • First Aid kit;
  • Whistle to signal for help;
  • Moist towelettes, garbage bags and plastic ties for personal sanitation;
  • Blankets and pillows for protection during the storm and, if possible, to rest afterwards;
  • Dust masks, such as face masks left from the COVID-19 pandemic, or makeshift coverage such as cotton bandanas or t-shirts to help filter the air;
  • Plastic sheeting and duct tape to shelter-in-place; and
  • Wrench or pliers to turn off utilities, and turn them on again when officials give you the all clear.

In addition to your general first aid kit, make sure you have enough prescription medications to get you through at least a couple of weeks. If there are widespread and prolonged power outages, your pharmacy may not be able to refill your medicine as quickly as you need it.

If your family includes older loved ones or people with special needs, you need to take added steps to ensure you and they make it through the disaster safely. My earlier post "Hurricane preparation tips for those who are older, have special needs" has details.

And don't forget about your furry family members. These 7 tips to ensure your pets' safety during a disaster cover the items you need to have on hand and/or the alternative plans you need to make to ensure you and your animals make it through the event with the least possible adverse consequences.

Dog-hurricane-ready_freakingnews-dot-com_cropped

Other storm prep steps: Your main goal is to make sure you, your family, and if possible, your property, come through the storm in the best shape possible. Going beyond necessities is one way to accomplish that.

Start by packing some clean clothes. When you can't use your washer and you're sweating through days without air-conditioning, you'll be glad you have a change of apparel.

Also make sure you have on hand, or more precisely on your feet, solid sneakers or other closed-toe footwear. Flip flops are great for the beach and lazy summer days around the house, but not for wading through debris-filled ponds and puddles left by tropical systems' flooding rain. You don’t want to step on a piece of glass, metal, or shattered wood and add an injury to your already uncomfortable situation.

Finally, fill up your car's tank well before any storm warnings are issued. When the hubby and I lived in South Florida, we went through several tropical systems, including two hurricanes that made landfall in our area within three weeks of each other in 2004 (now you know why we came back to a noncoastal part of Texas!), and we saw plenty of long lines as gas stations as storms neared.

Financial kit components: You also need to make financial preparations, too. This includes gathering in a stormproof container the following:

  • A pre-storm inventory of your property, just in case you need the information to file an insurance claim;
  • Medical records of everyone in the family;
  • Other important financial documents, such as bank and other financial account numbers;
  • Latest filed tax return and material needed to file your current taxes;
  • A credit card with enough available credit to cover any post-storm needs;
  • Cash in case power outages make using a credit card or accessing an ATM impossible.

Preemptively collecting your personal and financial documents is much easier than trying to reconstruct them after a disaster.

Most of us have shifted to digital storage, so you probably already have most if not all of this financial data on a mobile device, portable drive, or stored in the cloud.

Remember, though, that a lack of power could limit your access, especially immediately after the storm. So have a paper copy of, for example, your insurance policy and contact information handy so you can reach out for that help as soon as it's safe to do so.

And if you own a business, you need to make sure it is secured, physically and financially, for any approaching storm, too. You'll find some advice in this regard in my separate post noting 6 hurricane prep tips for businesses.

Post-storm recovery and tax help: Once a dangerous natural disaster has cleared your area, it's clean up time. Uncle Sam can help, providing federal government resources to help you deal with a natural disaster.

Even the Internal Revenue Service wants to lend a hand. When damage is caused by what is ultimately deemed a major disaster by the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) and signed off on by the president, you could qualify for tax relief.

As we learned from our Florida storm experiences, when you're dealing with the emotional and physical effects of a natural disaster, taxes are not top of mind. But when you get a handle on your situation, you do need to look into how the tax code might be able to help.

In most instances, this relief is obtained by claiming personal or businesses disaster losses on your tax return. Since we're talking taxes, there are lots of issues. You can get an idea of what to expect as an individual taxpayer in my post discussing considerations in making a major disaster tax claim.

I hope that you don't need the storm advice and possible associated tax help this or any year. But odds are someday you will in connection with whatever wrath Mother Nature might direct at your locale.

Whenever and whatever that is, accept all the help, tax and otherwise, that you can get.

And before that unwanted circumstance arrives, get ready.

 

Advertisements

🌟 Search Amazon Tax Products 🌟
The text link above is an affiliate ad. If you click through and then buy a product, I receive a commission.

 

Comments

Feed You can follow this conversation by subscribing to the comment feed for this post.

Verify your Comment

Previewing your Comment

This is only a preview. Your comment has not yet been posted.

Working...
Your comment could not be posted. Error type:
Your comment has been saved. Comments are moderated and will not appear until approved by the author. Post another comment

The letters and numbers you entered did not match the image. Please try again.

As a final step before posting your comment, enter the letters and numbers you see in the image below. This prevents automated programs from posting comments.

Having trouble reading this image? View an alternate.

Working...

Post a comment

Comments are moderated, and will not appear until the author has approved them.

Your Information

(Name and email address are required. Email address will not be displayed with the comment.)