East Coasters: make sure you have an evacuation plan as well. Not just for hurricanes, but for nor'easters, powerful summer storms, and the flooding that comes with them, too.
For everybody: if a tropical storm/nor'easter is coming your way and there is any type of call to evacuate, GET OUT. Local emergency coordinators I've spoken to have emphasized that the multi-day utility outages are what really get non-evacuees into trouble. Even if your house survives relatively unscathed, a week without power, water, and gas will put you in a rough place. You also won't be able to restock on food or get what you need for repairs since grocery and hardware stores will likely be closed. On top of that, first responders will likely be overtaxed, so help may not come as quickly as you need it if you run into real trouble. So seriously: if a big storm is coming your way, GET. OUT.
One of my summer projects this year is to make "evacuation quarters" for my snakes. In other words, get the things I need for some appropriately-sized tub setups that I could easily transport and run at my evacuation point. Hopefully I'll never need to use them, but it pays to be prepared.
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