The tarp that Cynthia Robertson hung to create an indoor cool zone
When Cynthia Robertson saw the forecast for Hurricane Laura in August 2020, she knew her Sulphur, Louisiana, home would be at risk. But she didn’t think any shelters could take her in with her two dogs, three cats, and a rooster. So she ended up riding out the hurricane, a prolonged power outage, and a second storm over the course of roughly two months — all in the thick of the pandemic closures.
The storm came through at night, so I spent the night in my recliner in the middle of my house with a battery-powered circular saw and a ladder, so that if we had a huge tidal surge, I could cut through the roof and get assistance.
A huge limb from one of my oak trees fell and hit my roof, so I had some damage there. There was this big pecan tree in my front yard that took out the power pole. It was quite some time before they could get a crew in with a saw big enough to take that pecan tree out of the road, so it took a while before they could get power back to me — a good five weeks.
About six weeks later, [Hurricane] Delta came through. I had just gotten power back and lost it again.
You always have tarps if you’re in [this area]. I think I had two or three on my roof, because that whole side where the oak tree hit was kind of a mess. What was life-saving was using a tarp inside my house to limit the space that needed to be cooled. This was not something I had thought of before [Hurricane] Laura.
My house is small, but it has an L-shaped open floor plan, and I was able to stay cool at night by blocking off the large part [of the house].
You can only run a certain amount of stuff off of a generator, so I put the refrigerator and mattress in the room where the air conditioner was and closed off that area — the short leg of the house — with the tarp.
After a hurricane, there is no wind, and it is unbearably hot and humid, so there was no way that I could deal with not having an air conditioner [running], and I needed to have my refrigerator going so I wouldn’t lose all my food.
There are so many weird things that you do during and in preparation for a hurricane. You do your best to get prepared. So you have a generator, drinking water, and a barbecue grill for just in case you can’t get your power going, so that you can cook all the meat in your freezer and have a party.
The security cameras connecting Iva Bozovic to her evacuated home
In January 2025, Iva Bozovic and her family fled their Altadena, California, home as the Eaton Fire approached. Although their house survived, they’ve been displaced for months, and they’ve found themselves relying on an unlikely source to stay connected to their property.
There were about three mornings of high wind and continuous fires when we were displaced where, every morning, we would wake up, and the first thing anyone would ask my husband is, ‘Is our house still standing?’ And he would log into the Ring system, and if the cameras were working, that meant the walls were up and the house was standing.
You could see it on the kids’ faces — they would visibly relax if he had a visual on the Ring app.
Our house is equipped with solar panels, and we have a battery backup. During the fire, our battery kept running, and miraculously, we never lost the connection; the cameras kept rolling.
This was during the mandated evacuation, so the National Guard was blocking access to our area and no one could go in or out. So, we were sort of a mini neighborhood watch — every neighbor’s house that we could see [on the Ring camera], we would text them and let them know their house was fine.
In those first few days, we saw a bunch of firefighters in our yard, and we asked them [through the camera] what they were doing, and they said, “We’re checking for any fires.” We were able to send them to the neighbor’s yard where my husband had detected an old stump in the dirt that had caught on fire. We were also able to talk to various utility people through our cameras. We talked to the water person; we talked with the gas person, all through the Ring camera.
Now we check it all the time just to see what’s going on. There’s so much movement in the neighborhood from the Army Corps and the Environmental Protection Agency [which is doing debris removal]. In fact, a couple of days ago, the neighbor from across the street called and said, “Hey, there were strange people in my yard. What do you see on your Ring cameras?” It’s kind of neat how the neighbors are texting us.
A cooler for Sherley Desrouleaux’s essential medicine
In September 2021, Hurricane Ida unexpectedly flooded Sherley Desrouleaux’s West Orange, New Jersey, home, destroying the contents of her basement in less than 15 minutes. When her fridge cut out, Desrouleaux found herself trying to keep her mother’s insulin cold and her family fed.
My mom is a diabetic and a stroke patient. She has two types of insulin — one that she takes daily, and then there’s one that she takes every Saturday.
If the insulin is not in ice and it doesn’t stay cool, you can’t really use it. So I had to figure out how to keep her insulin intact so that I could continue to inject her until we had power, whenever that was going to happen.
ShopRite [a local supermarket] was open, so I went and got some ice and plastic containers to put her insulin in. I have a cooler, so I put my mom’s insulin in there.
Before Hurricane Ida, we primarily used the large cooler for family gatherings and events like birthday parties and reunions. It was really handy for keeping drinks and food cold for a large group, but it proved incredibly valuable during the hurricane.
I had to utilize the cooler as much as possible. I was able to put my mom’s insulin in there with those containers, I was able to put strawberries in there — I always say to people, make sure you have bread in your house and peanut butter, cold cuts, making sure you have what they like because that will save you so many headaches when it comes to children.
I always say, material things can be purchased but a life can’t. You just have to calm down and see what you can salvage.
A cooling vest to help regulate Jason Hallmark’s body temperature
A heatwave in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, in the summer of 2020 left Jason Hallmark largely stuck inside, waiting for the temperature to drop. He lives with relapsing-remitting multiple sclerosis, and heat exacerbates his symptoms, making it difficult for him to venture beyond his air-conditioned bedroom on hot days.
It was over 90 degrees [Fahrenheit] for a couple of days, and I only had air conditioning in one room. I was having a clinical relapse at the time. With MS, many people can experience issues with temperature change. If there’s extreme heat, and I can’t escape it, my body starts to go numb.
One of the things that has been super helpful to keep my core temperature down is a cooling vest. I got it shortly after I was diagnosed. It’s pretty basic — it Velcros together, and it has six slots for the ice packs that came with it. It feels a bit stiff, but it’s not that heavy — just a few pounds.
It lasts for about four hours, so [when I go out], I have to time it accordingly or bring extra ice packs with me. If I’m going to be out for long periods of time, I have a small, lightweight cooler that I keep the ice packs in. I’ll keep the vest in there, too, and I take it out with me, in case I get overheated.
If there’s extreme heat, and I can’t escape it, I start feeling it pretty much instantly — even a tenth of a degree and I can start flaring up. So the big thing is the cooling vest, but other products that have been super helpful have been clothing with UV protection. I have a lot of lightweight hiking outfits, and I make sure it all has UV protection.
The grain scoops Lilias Jarding uses on dune-sized snowdrifts
While living in rural areas across the Great Plains, Lilias Jarding has experienced a variety of extreme weather, from freezes to tornadoes and other types of storms. But an October 2013 blizzard in Rapid City, South Dakota, stands out to her as an emergency that put her preparedness — and go-to snow tools — to the test.
We had some friends at our house, and this wet, heavy snow started coming down. They said, “Boy this is getting bad,” and they headed out to go to one of their houses. They couldn’t get through because the roads were closed, so they came back. So in our little house we had five visitors and my husband and I for two and a half days — very definitely snowed in.
We couldn’t use a snow blower because the snow was too heavy and too deep. Snow blowers aren’t good for three-plus feet of snow. But we have grain scoops we use for snow every year. We always have two in case one breaks. [They’re] much sturdier, and a person can lift more snow with one than with most other snow-moving shovels.
My husband is a master shoveler, since he grew up on a dairy farm, which means he was shoveling from a very young age, and then he did construction for a long time. There was a guy, Stan, who was with us who was a major bodybuilder. So they made it a competition sport — we gave both of them a grain scoop, and they went out and raced to see who could get to the driveway first.
[My husband and I] both have lived out in the country quite a bit. A lot of it is being prepared and having a couple days’ worth of everything you need at your house.
During another blizzard we experienced when we lived in Eastern South Dakota, the water tower ran empty, and there was no electricity to pump water back into it. But we had filled the bathtub and had some 5-gallon buckets of water ready, and we do that whenever it looks like there might be a chance the water could go out.
People who move around from one climate to another would do well to ask somebody who’s lived there for quite a while what being prepared means in that location.
The portable power stations Carolyn Addison Rivera hooks the neighborhood up with
After Carolyn Addison Rivera’s pipes froze during the 2021 winter freeze that plunged much of Houston into darkness, she got connected with a local nonprofit, West Street Recovery. After the group helped fix her issue, she began attending meetings and volunteered her home to be a “hub house.” That means the organization has set her up with essentials that she and her neighbors can utilize in case of all types of disasters, such as the damaging derecho (a long, extreme thunder storm) that spawned tornadoes and flash floods in May 2024.
Note: The Generark model that Rivera uses is no longer in production. Wirecutter’s portable-power-station coverage includes a comparable-seeming item among the top picks:
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I’ve been in Houston all my life, and I’ll be 82 years old on August 3. But in all my life, I never experienced a derecho until last year.
The wind came right out my side of the street, so it tore up things. People on both sides of me were blocked into their homes when trees fell down. I was truly blessed and nothing fell on my house, so I could stay mobile and I could help people.
People who needed things came to my hub house. A hub house is a place in the community where locals can get help before or after a disaster. The main goal is to sustain us until help comes in [from organizations or officials outside of the community]. We have more than one hub house in the area, maybe four or five in about a five-mile radius. West Street Recovery suggested creating one at my address because of the severe flooding in our area.
Of course, after the derecho, there were no lights, so we had flashlights and we had lanterns [to give out]. In this area we suffer from power outages quite a bit, so one of the items we have that is very useful is a solar-powered Generark battery. Each hub house probably has over 20, and usually all of them are checked out. The battery will charge up their phones, or they can plug in hot plates and so forth to cook with. They can run their heaters from it; they can run fans to be cool.
The battery is very simple, and I can carry it. It’s not heavy — it’s about the size of a car battery. It can be used indoors, and the solar panels are light, so it’s nothing difficult. We make sure the batteries are fully powered up before we lend them out to people. As people get their lights on, they bring the batteries back in case we need them for someone else.
Now, [because of the derecho], we make sure we keep hammers and tarps in the hub houses, because we had to put so many tarps on houses that the roof was taken away or damaged to keep water from going in the houses.
The rechargeable batteries Kevin Shockey uses in hurricane blackouts
After living without power for months following Hurricane Maria, Kevin Shockey doubled down on stocking his off-grid gear. He invested in a kit of rechargeable batteries that can power tools, fans, lights, and even speakers. And he’s since relied on all of these items to make it through the aftermath of multiple Category 3 hurricanes.
We’d had experience with what it was like [to be] without power for maybe a couple of weeks, but after Maria, we were without power for three months.
At the time, I already had a DeWalt reciprocating saw with 20-volt rechargeable batteries. So I began to explore [the brand’s] packages that came with drills and their line of lights, speakers, and fans that all use the same interchangeable batteries.
Most people tend to have a generator [around here], so while you’re running the generator, you can charge up the battery packs. Since the tools all use the same batteries, we would use them during the day, recharge the batteries on the generators, and use the fans and lights at night. Just to have a rechargeable fan was such a blessing — when these hurricanes happen in Puerto Rico, they’re usually in August or September, so that’s about the worst of the heat.
The basic battery is two amp hours. So I could run a fan for about seven hours, easily. But [DeWalt] also makes three-, four-, and six-amp batteries. A six-amp battery fully charged could run the fan for probably a couple of days.
I have continued to invest, and I have about 10 or 12 of these batteries. After Maria, I bought a farm up in the mountains, and I stayed there for [Hurricane] Fiona [in 2022]. I used a solar panel with an inverter to charge the batteries [during that outage].
The great thing about DeWalt’s tools is that they’re all basically for construction, but they have a real solid value for recovery. Indispensable construction tools for recovery are the reciprocating saw and the chainsaw for clearing falling trees. For morale and comfort, it’s the fans, work lights, and speakers. It’s also a really great green solution, because before this, I was using camping fans, which run on [single-use] batteries, and I was going through lots of batteries. I think that’s a double win.
The vacuum bags Laura Silva has ready for another evacuation
When Laura Silva fled the Hermit’s Peak/Calf Canyon fire in 2022, she never expected to be displaced for six weeks. She quickly ran out of clothing and found herself relying on local nonprofits for help. She’s since returned to her Rociada, New Mexico, property, but it was heavily damaged by the fires, making it more vulnerable to floods and high winds. So now she keeps bags of essentials ready at all times, in case she needs to evacuate again.
The [Hermit’s Peak/Calf Canyon] fire hit us on the 22nd of April 2022. When they told us that we had to evacuate that morning, I had to pull out the suitcases from the closet and start packing. I just packed enough for about five days, because I figured that’s all we were going to need. Boy, was I wrong — six weeks we stayed out of the home.
The laundromats were closed; FEMA wasn’t providing anything like that. [A local nonprofit] Neighbors Helping Neighbors did help us a lot with extra clothes and laundry soap. They were giving those sheets that you throw into your washer and it dissolves. Those are really helpful, even if you have to go like they used to and wash your clothes in the river, at least you have soap.
We always have [go bags] in our vehicle for emergency purposes now. Because we live [in a rural area], you have to really think about what you’ll need when you evacuate. They have vacuum bags at the Dollar Tree, so I put all our evacuation clothes in the vacuum bags. I have bags for each member of the household.
We have underwear, clothes, a light jacket, and a heavy jacket in there, and the vacuum bags work great because they flatten out to almost nothing. [My granddaughter’s bag] has clothes, blankets, and her favorite stuffed doll, Dora the Explorer.
You have to be careful that you don’t puncture the bags, so I put them in flat plastic containers. You can put all your bags in there and your shoes and extra toothbrushes, toothpaste, and hygiene stuff, and just keep those in your trunk or under the seat of your truck. I actually purchased some of those laundry sheets that dissolve in your washer and put them in the bags. Those are really helpful to have, plus it smells good so the clothing doesn’t smell stale.
I try to check [the bags] every other month and make sure that the clothes are still okay and the non-perishables are up to date. I’ve reused the bags over and over, and each time, it’s really simple.
The hoses Andy Huang borrowed to stop his home from burning down
The night of January 7, 2025, Andy Huang was washing dishes when he looked out of his kitchen window and saw the Eaton Fire’s flames. His family evacuated, but once their kids were safe, he and his wife returned to their Pasadena, California, home to see what they could salvage. By the time they arrived, the fire had reached their property.
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I pulled up and saw the house was fine, but the detached garage was on fire. We also had a detached studio office at the back of the house — that was on fire, too.
I realized I didn’t have a hose, because the hose was right next to the garage that burned down. There was another hose bib closer to the house, but I needed a wrench to open that, and the wrench was in the garage that was gone.
My wife, who arrived five minutes after me, saw me bailing water from our kitchen sink with a Homer bucket, trying to put out the fire that way. She ended up commandeering hoses from [one of] our neighbors. She was like, they’re not going to care, and the fences between our homes had burned down. Throughout the night, she was trying to wet the roof continuously.
Our next door neighbor showed up, and he was, like, “Use our hose!” Having the extra hoses and high-pressure nozzles — the garden nozzles that are concentrated or controlled — really helped. [Later on] another neighbor came, and we pretty much stayed up all night to fight the fire. I’m pretty confident to say that the four of us saved our homes from going up in flames.
These interviews have been condensed and edited for clarity.
This article was edited by Jen Gushue and Harry Sawyers.
