WATCH: Hurricane conditions are possible in the specified area of the WATCH, usually within 36 hours. WARNING: Hurricane conditions are expected in the specified area of the WARNING, usually within 24 hours.

• Identify ahead of time where you could go if you are told to evacuate. Choose several placesa friend’s home in another town, a motel, or a shelter.
• Keep handy the telephone numbers of these places as well as a road map of your locality. You may need to take alternative or unfamiliar routes if major roads are closed or clogged.
• Listen to NOAA Weather Radio or local radio or TV stations for evacuation instructions. If advised to evacuate, do so immediately.
• Take these items with you when evacuating:
• Prescription medications and medical supplies;
• Bedding and clothing, including sleeping bags and pillows
• Bottled water, battery-operated radio and extra batteries, first aid kit, flashlight
• Car keys and maps
• Documents, including driver’s license, Social Security card, proof of residence, insurance policies, wills, deeds, birth and marriage certificates, tax records, etc.

Australia experiences a range of ‘natural disasters’ including bushfires, floods, severe storms, earthquakes and landslides. These events cause great financial hardship for individuals and communities, and can result in loss of life, which has become part of Australian folklore.

However, these events are also considered both part of the natural cycle of weather patterns in Australia as well as being affected by human factors such as overstocking, vegetation loss, dams, groundwater and irrigation schemes. These patterns are recognised by terms such as a 100-year drought - a drought of severity that is only seen once in a hundred years. Fire can often follow drought, and drought can be followed by flood. Severe fires followed by drought can also contribute to soil erosion.

The experience of natural disaster has come to be seen as part of the Australian national character as described in the poem ‘My Country’ by Dorothea McKellar (1904).