Please share lessons learned Hurricane evacuating in an RV

[jentwistle]

I am long term Florida resident who rode out all storms. Now a newbie RV'er who doesn't plan to ride out any more. I know about the traffic jams when you run but for those who evac'd in RVs before. . . what did you learn for next time? Please share.

[ChrisRR]

If you have an RV and don’t have to stay in Florida the first time they say one might hit the mainland just leave then. Enjoy the RV and then you don’t have to worry about anything

[Reverse_snowbird]

Didn't have an rv to evacuate in last time, but went in our truck from Houston. Did good until all traffic came to a screeching stop on the interstate. Luckily the hurricane didn't hit us.

Lesson learned.... evacuate before anyone else. Same advice as above. If you see one headed your way and you don't want to get stuck.... leave.

Of course, how soon you have to leave depends on what part of Florida you live in.

[kenandterry]

The timeline for you to leave may also be dependent on whether you’re retired, working, or considered essential service.

Having your rig somewhat in a readily packed condition will help with your evacuation timing too. Waste tanks empty, on-board water maybe? and fuel tank full. When times are calm, make a DETAILED checklist of what’s important to make your evacuation successful. INCLUDE ANY IMPORTANT DOCUMENTS, I.D., prescription lists.

Prepare for a lengthy time away, and if and when you can return, can you live aboard while assessing damages at the home front.

[HangDiver]

I agree with the posts above. Leave early! We evacuated early last year when Dorian was originally forecast to hit us straight on. Ended up in northern FL, enjoyed ourselves, then returned home afterward to find minimal damage.

The one thing to prepare for.... If you leave and the area of your home is hit by a cat 4 or 5, you may not be able to return for weeks or more than a month, as happened to a friend in TX (can't remember which storm).

[CurtPutnam]

In addition to having the RV in a GO condition during the season, have a GO bag(s) packed at all times in the house. In particular, scrapbooks and irreplaceable mementos and things of that ilk should be able to be packed in minutes, ready for loading.

My computer is backed up to USB drives that simply need to be unhooked from power and USB (pulling two plugs). The drives contain all the family photos, music, legal, financial and tax documents and anything else deemed important. Its all ready to go in about 30 seconds.

The advice to leave early and be ready to go applies to anyone who lives in area that can be affected by natural disasters (who does not?)

[jentwistle]

Originally Posted by CurtPutnam

In addition to having the RV in a GO condition during the season, have a GO bag(s) packed at all times in the house.

Yes a retired GI always has a go bag lol! BTW I'm in Okeechobee so part of the equation is which way to run. Hadn't thought about stay turning long term but poster is that right. What about campgrounds filling up?

[HangDiver]

Originally Posted by jentwistle

BTW I'm in Okeechobee so part of the equation is which way to run. Hadn't thought about stay turning long term but poster is that right. What about campgrounds filling up?

When you head out and you see a long caravan of power utility trucks coming at you from the opposite direction, you'll know you're heading in the right direction.
Fortunately Hurricane season occurs when many FL campgrounds are empty. Key to everything is leave early, enjoy where you end up, don't be in a rush to return home.

[5picker]

When we lived in West Palm Beach, FL we were forced to leave our county for a hurricane.

We went to our cousin's place in northern FL (several hundred miles and to a non-evac zone) with our R/V to ride out the storm.

Hurricane missed southern FL (where it was predicted to hit) and hit northern FL about 50 miles from where we had run to.

I vowed never again.
Riding out a hurricane in our R/V that was 50 miles away from us was NO fun!

I'd either go to another state farther up (Northern GA, NC, etc.) or I'd stay right where I'm at and let the insurance handle what's left.

[DougW]

I have heard Atlanta Motor Speedway will open for RV’s from other areas when there is an evacuation. Never been down in FL for one so I don’t have firsthand knowledge.

[waybeck2018]

Originally Posted by DougW

I have heard Atlanta Motor Speedway will open for RV’s from other areas when there is an evacuation. Never been down in FL for one so I don’t have firsthand knowledge.

There are several campgrounds in the Birmingham area that go beyond the norm to assist hurricane evacuees. On I-65 in Clanton up to Cullman, still on I-65. Also a couple just off I-20 near Pell City.
Also several nice campgrounds in the Montgomery area and also off I-65.

[TitanMike]

Originally Posted by DougW

I have heard Atlanta Motor Speedway will open for RV’s from other areas when there is an evacuation. Never been down in FL for one so I don’t have firsthand knowledge.

Atlanta Motor Speedway 2004



The result of a Tornado most likely spawned by a Hurricane.


I'll stay where we just get no warning earthquakes. I can "evacuate" to my back yard to the TT.


BTW, if I did live in Hurricane Land I'd be doing just like others have advised. First forecast----------GONE.

[srosey]

We evacuated for Irma in 2017. Had the RV ready to go, fuel in the truck, parked in front of the house waiting to see where the hurricane would go. Interstates heading out of Florida were jammed with traffic. Once it was obvious that the storm would hit within 36 hrs we took off for gulf port, MS where we had reservations. Cruised out of florida at the speed limit and didn't hit any major traffic until Mobile. If you can take the time leave early, otherwise prep early so you can leave at a moments notice.

[smgelsie]

We have evacuated twice, from coastal Carolina. One time SC had the interstate going West, on both sides of the highway! Very nice! We keep our unit as packed as possible, but with all the advance notice, we can get the last-minute things packed quickly. One thing we ran into with a Passport America campground: we told them that we were hurricane evacuees, and they doubled their PA rate!!! Most campgrounds were surprisingly empty, so reservations were not hard to make. We prefer State and National Parks, and they were all very flexible and accommodating. We did struggle being able to get back after Dorian. The roads into NC were flooded/closed for some time. Also...we "hold" our Mail, via the USPS.com website...it's very easy to change your "end" date if your plans change. (If you have never done a hold-mail before, go to the website ahead of time, because you have to establish your identity with them. They had to mail a code to me)

[McCormickJim]

x2 on everything everyone has said in this thread. I can't add much so I'll just tell my story.

21 years in Alvin, TX (half way between Houston and Galveston), or 12 miles from the Gulf of Mexico as the crow flies.

When a storm track included us, we boarded up the house. Usually not needed, but this included Katrina, Rita, Harvey, and Ike.

We evacuated three times.

In the Houston metro area there are phased evacuations, starting with Galveston Island and moving gradually inland, which means no matter what you do, if you leave when TOLD to leave, there is no gas/diesel and no room on the highway. My brother in law left when told. It took him 27 hours to drive the 4 hours to San Antonio.

We always left the DAY BEFORE Galveston was scheduled to evacuate. That's at least 24 hours before Galveston was to START their evacuation.

No Traffic. Lots of gas/diesel.

Once we cleared the Houston metro area, we stuck to back roads. No traffic. Lots of gas/diesel at the Mom & Pop stations.

When there is a huricane, lots of places open to let you stay. Most of them free, like county fair grounds. Just ask people when you stop.

Walmart is always accomodating.

Then there is the going home part of the evacuation.

Buy a week's supply of groceries (or more) before heading home. When we got to within 100 miles of Houston, the stores were either closed or empty of basics.

Be sure to contact your friends and family to let them know to shop before heading home.

We had cash (we always carry cash but seldom use it). When returning to Houston, we found stores that couldn't take credit cards. One reason was their cash registers wouldn't work. The other reason was the credit card center was damaged by the huricane. NO ONE could use credit cards in the entire metro area.

We would leave town expecting to boondock and being prepared to do so. We were always thrilled when we didn't have to.

[Trawlerphil]

Truck fuel tank full, water tank full, Grey and black water tanks empty, generator fuel tank full, propane tanks full, and refrigerator/freezer full. Think of it like prepping for a few weeks boondocking which it may, in fact, be. We've been through 6 hurricanes at our Bond Creek home just off the Pamlico Sound, and bugged out once to Raleigh (Matthew).

[Tom-n-Dale]

We live in Orlando and have left for every major hurricane. Try to take alternate roads instead of the freeways. The freeways will probably be packed. Expect to spend only one night if the storm is tracking in your direction and move on in the morning. We ended up in Andalusia Alabama during Irma.
Expect a very difficult time finding fuel on the way back. No power at a gas station means no fuel. The highways may be flooded and down to one lane days after the storm.
There is a good chance that the power will have been off at your house even if it is back on when you return. Every thing in the refrigerator and chest freezer thawed and refroze. Toss it out.

[BandJCarm]

Originally Posted by Tom-n-Dale

We live in Orlando and have left for every major hurricane. Try to take alternate roads instead of the freeways. The freeways will probably be packed. Expect to spend only one night if the storm is tracking in your direction and move on in the morning. We ended up in Andalusia Alabama during Irma.
Expect a very difficult time finding fuel on the way back. No power at a gas station means no fuel. The highways may be flooded and down to one lane days after the storm.
There is a good chance that the power will have been off at your house even if it is back on when you return. Every thing in the refrigerator and chest freezer thawed and refroze. Toss it out.

A trick I learned. Not just for hurricanes, but any time power might be out.......


Take a water bottle, plain old drinking water bottle. Fill it about half with water. Add food coloring to give it a strong color. Any color.


Set it up right in freezer. Let it freeze solid.


Then, lay it down on its side in the freezer. That's all there is to it.


If you come back and the liquid is still frozen in BOTTOM of bottle, it never thawed. If it is, instead, re-frozen on its side, then your stuff is probably ruined because that thawed, then refroze.

Also, and I learned THIS the hard way, never plug a freezer into a power strip that has a resettable circuit breaker switch. It will go off in a power outage, and it can't come back on until you manually click it back on. If you're gone, a short power outage could ruin an entire freezer.

[mlwilliams808]

We leave when it's 4 days out and head North and then adjust direction East or West depending on landfall.

Take all of your insurance documents, birth certificates, passports etc.
Itemized list of house contents
Transfer pictures to the cloud, I transfer my pics to an external hard drive
Empty refrigerator
Turn off water, gas etc.
Know in advance where your immediate family members are going
Designate a family member living out of the area as an information / check in focal point
Check in with neighbors before returning to see what provisions and living conditions exist and what they need you to bring.(after Katrina you could get gas but couldn't find any gas cans to put it in )

[KingJames]

One thing to think about is gas mileage towing vs not towing. We live in Tampa and during Irma evac. the east coast left first, then when the storm changed direction, we decided to get out of Dodge. Left in a hurry so just threw important papers, etc. into SUV and hit I75 north. As a lot of south Floridians left before us and only utility trucks and emergency vehicles heading south, there was not a lot of available gas on I75. Without towing made it between Ocala and I4, found a station with gas and was able to fill up and get well into GA. Towing would have been an adventure finding gas as needed. That was on a Saturday.

On Tuesday we decided to venture back home from Atlanta which is normally a 7 hr trip. 18 hours later we made it home. On I75 had to watch for the gas station signs that were lit which meant they had gas. If the sign was turned off, no gas. Cops had all roads blocked past the interchange gas stations. I'm not sure if we could have made it home towing our rig due to gas shortage.

Moral of the story - If leaving in a hurry, travel light!