Find out if your home is subject to flooding. It is important to know if your property is located in a flood zone and what steps you can take to prepare your property and reduce the risk of flood damages occurring.

Please contact the Dare County Planning Department to determine your home's flood zone and visit OBXFloodMaps.com to find more information about flood risks in your area.

Whether you rent or own your home, it's important to make sure that both your home and all of your personal belongings are properly insured in case flooding or wind/hail damage occurs.

If you rent, be sure to have a renter’s insurance policy in place. A landlord’s insurance policy covers the structure but not your personal belongings or the cost of staying elsewhere should your residence become uninhabitable.

Remember also that it typically takes 30 days for wind/hail and flood damage policies to take effect, so be sure you have a policy in place well in advance of any potential storm or weather system that occurs.

For more information about flood insurance, visit FloodSmart.gov.

Take photos or make a video of the contents of your home, and create an itemized inventory of your belongings that you can email to yourself and other family members. Having your home inventory readily available to send to your insurance company with digital time stamps will help expedite your claim and ensure you are compensated for items that are damaged or destroyed. 

Determine which evacuation route you will take to leave Dare County if an evacuation order is issued, as well as what vehicles you will use to evacuate and where you will stay until it’s safe to return.

Designate a family member or friend outside the area as the contact person for everyone to check in with for updates on other family members.

Don’t forget to also include your pets in your evacuation plan to ensure they will be somewhere safe if a storm strikes your area.

One of the most important things you can do to prepare for hurricane season is create an emergency supply kit. It’s best to build your kit well before any storms are forecast to affect the area so you can ensure you have access to all of the supplies you’ll need.

Your emergency supply kit should contain water (1 gallon per person, per day for at least three days), nonperishable food (a three-day supply per person), a flashlight, a portable radio, extra batteries, a fully charged power bank for cell phones, a first aid kit, medications, infant/pet supplies (if needed), blankets, contact information for friends and relatives, and important documents.

For more information about evacuation plans, emergency supply kits and preparations you can make to your home, visit ReadyNC.org.

In order to reenter Dare County during a staged reentry process, individuals must possess and display a current and valid reentry permit as reentry permits from previous years will not be accepted.

While permanent Dare County residents will be allowed to reenter the county with a valid North Carolina driver’s license or government-issued identification card with a Dare County address, displaying a valid reentry permit can help expedite movement through traffic control points. Dare County Emergency Management encourages residents, non-resident property owners and business owners/managers to apply for a 2024 reentry permit by visiting DareNC.gov/Reentry. 

All Dare County residents, visitors and property owners should sign up to receive emergency alerts—including severe weather watches and warnings, public safety and emergency-related warnings, countywide evacuation orders and other time-critical notifications—by visiting www.OBXAlerts.com.

If you have pets, keeping them safe and sound during a storm, flood or other type of weather events is very important, so pre-storm planning for your pets should be taken seriously. The Dare County Emergency Management webpage has a a lot of valuable information on how to prepare your pets. 

Be sure to clean out your rain gutters on a regular basis, keep trees and shrubs trimmed, and remove all dead branches.

Even if you have taken steps to protect your property from flooding, flood insurance is still needed to protect your investment. Remember that homeowner’s policies do not cover flood damages, so a separate flood insurance policy is needed. Please note that there is typically a 30-day waiting period before new flood insurance policies become effective, so you'll need to have one in place well ahead of a storm or flood that affects your area.