A hurricane plan that actually includes your animals

On this coast it is a when, not an if. The parts people forget are the paperwork and the carrier.

29 August 2026

Every year in eastern North Carolina somebody leaves in a hurry and realises in the car that they have the dog but not the dog's medication, or the cat but no carrier, or both animals and no idea which shelter will take them.

Not every emergency shelter accepts animals. That is the single fact worth knowing before a storm rather than during one. Find out now which shelters in Craven County are pet-friendly, and write it on the fridge.

The bag, packed before the season

One bag, in one place, that you can carry with one hand:

• A week of food in a sealed container, and a manual can opener if any of it is tinned
• Every medication, in the original labelled bottle, plus a photograph of the label on your phone
• A copy of the rabies certificate. Shelters and boarding kennels ask for it and will turn you away without it
• A carrier for each animal. Not one shared carrier. A frightened cat and a frightened dog in one box is its own emergency
• A current photo of you with each animal — that is what proves they are yours if you get separated

The thing that matters more than the collar

Microchip them, and keep the registration current. A collar comes off in flood water. A chip does not. A chip registered to a phone number you gave up three years ago is the same as no chip at all — it takes five minutes online to update, and people put it off for years.

During

Bring them inside before the weather turns, not once it has. Animals hide when they are frightened, and the moment you need to leave is the worst moment to be reaching under a bed. Keep them in one room with you, leashes and carriers already there.

After

Familiar smells are gone after a flood and animals get lost in their own neighbourhood. Keep them leashed even in the yard for the first few days. Watch for standing water — it carries chemicals and bacteria, and dogs drink it.