Moving water is stronger than it looks. Know your high ground, and know your insurance policy, before the rain.
Standard homeowners policies often do not cover flood, and a new flood policy can take up to 30 days to start, so ask your agent early.
Know before it rains
- Find out whether your home is in a flood-prone area through your county or city emergency management office.
- Choose high ground to go to, and two ways to reach it.
Turn around, do not drown
- Six inches of moving water can knock you down. A foot or two can sweep a vehicle away.
- Do not drive or walk across flooded roads, creeks or bridges over fast water.
- If your car is caught in rapidly moving water, Ready.gov advises staying inside. If water rises inside, move to the roof and call for help.
Leaving and after
- If water is in your home, turn off gas, power and water before you go, if you can do it safely.
- Wear rubber boots and plastic gloves in floodwater, and throw away what cannot be disinfected.
- CDC says to disinfect hard surfaces with 1 cup of bleach in 1 gallon of water. Never mix bleach with other cleaners.
- Wait for local officials to say whether tap water is safe to drink.
Free pages to print
Floods guide
A short guide to flood watches, warnings and leaving early.
Our shutoffs
A blank single page you can print and fill in by hand.
Sources: Ready.gov, Floods; CDC, Flood Safety and Carbon Monoxide; National Hurricane Center. Checked October 2026. Depths are rough warnings, not safe limits.
General information for families, not legal, medical or financial advice. In an emergency, follow local officials and call 911.
Related questions
All planning answersPrinting page by page?
Get all 120 pages bound, tabbed and lying flat in the official book for $39 with free US shipping.
- Lies flat while you write
- The Smith family's example faces every fill-in page
- Arrives in time for Christmas
- 14-day money-back guarantee