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ZDNET's key takeaways

• Weather and climate disasters are costing lives and money.
• Millions are displaced from their homes by natural disasters each year.
• More than one in 10 never return home.

In 2024, the US experienced 27 confirmed weather and climate disasters that caused at least $1 billion in damage each. Data for 2025 is harder to pin down because NOAA's National Centers for Environmental Information stopped updating its Billion Dollar Weather and Climate Disasters database, but it's reasonable to assume the year brought a similar level of destruction.

While it's easy to just focus on the cost of these disasters, there's a sterility to that that allows us to shy away from the loss of life (more than 550 people died in 2024), heartache, and disruption to life that they represent.

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Add the effects of extreme temperatures and the increasing possibility of power outages, and there's a lot out there to keep an eye on. I live in the UK, and as I write this, the country is getting ready for a heatwave where temperatures could climb to a record-breaking 100 degrees Fahrenheit/38 degrees Celsius. 

This could result in wildfires, but the biggest issue -- apart from dealing with the heat in a country where air conditioning is a rarity -- will be the effect that it has on people's health (especially older people and those with pre-existing conditions) and power outages. Even the UK, which is not known for its warm weather, is seeing an increase in heat deaths.

While as individuals it's easy to feel powerless, there are things that we can do to help minimize the effects of being hit by a natural disaster. So why am I writing about this?

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As well as writing about tech for several decades, I'm also a big believer in preparedness, and I've been an avid hiker, bushcrafter, and all-around outdoors person all my life. I've taken a myriad of courses related to outdoor survival, from first aid and land navigation to urban emergency preparedness and the UK equivalent of SERE (Survival, Evasion, Resistance, and Escape), which on this side of the Atlantic is called Survive, Evade, Resist, Extract.

1. Information is power

The first thing you should do is find out what risks you are facing.

If you've lived at your current location for a few years, then you'll likely know what the yearly patterns are and what the weather brings. If not (or you've not been paying attention), a web search will pull up a lot of information for you to ponder, from the sorts of disasters that might come your way to when they're most likely to hit.

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If you want the broad strokes, weather threats break down roughly as follows:

• Midwest and Plains: Tornadoes, thunderstorms, and flooding.
• Southeast and Gulf Coast: Hurricanes, tropical storms, and flooding.
• West: Wildfires, droughts, and occasional winter storms.
• Northeast: Winter storms, blizzards, and occasional hurricanes.
• Coastal Areas: Hurricanes, storm surges, and rising sea levels.

Some states are getting such a bad reputation that a big chunk of homeowners are thinking of moving to safer areas or leaving those states entirely.

2. The essential kit

I'm not going to dwell too much on essential kit here because it's easy for things to become a shopping exercise and nothing else. In any disaster, what you'll need will fall into five broad categories:

• Power: Power banks for small gadgets, and power stations to keep the bigger stuff going. Some people still find gas generators useful.
• Comms: Phone, walkie-talkie, and an old-school radio. Having a few Ziploc bags to put electronics in is also a great idea.
• Food and water: This can range from having some extras in the pantry to proper MRE (Meals Ready to Eat) rations and having a way to purify water.
• First aid, medications, and safety: A good first aid kit (along with the know-how to use it properly) is a must. On top of that, you need all the pills and potions you need to keep yourself and your family healthy and going. Additionally, make sure you have any safety equipment you need on hand -- for example, if you are prone to fires, having some N95 masks and safety goggles is a very good idea.
• Cash: When power and communications go down, electronic money becomes next to useless.
• Bugout bag: This is a bag containing the essentials that you'll need for at least 72 hours -- food, water, clothes, first aid and health supplies, comms, power, money, copies of important documents, and backups of important data on a flash drive. More on this bit of kit later.

Know how to use this kit. Some stuff -- like cash -- will be familiar, but gas generators, MREs, and even old-school radios can be a bit mysterious if you've not familiarized yourself with these items in advance.

3. Back up your life

I know people who have lost everything, and while insurance pays to bring the tangible things back into their lives, it can't replace things like important photos and videos, and it doesn't take the pain out of the bureaucracy of getting copies of things like birth certificates and passports. Even remembering what bank accounts you have can be near impossible.

The best advice that I can offer is that you sit down somewhere quiet and imagine that a fire, flood, or some other disaster has wiped everything that you own off the face of the Earth. Everything.

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Initially, you might feel relief as you think that the contents of that junk drawer are gone, along with that pile of stuff in the garage that you've been meaning to get around to putting away. 

But then you remember all the stuff that's on your computer and phone. All the memories and important documents, along with financial, business, and tax records that either cannot be replaced or that will be a massive pain to recover. It's all gone.

Well, it's not gone. Yet.

Whatever you'd miss, now is the time to back it up. Make backups of photos and documents in the cloud (make sure to remember the password), and put important documents into a safe deposit box at a bank or specialist vault.

Not sure what documents to have copies of? Here's a list to get you started:

• IDs and passports.
• Insurance policies.
• Medical information.
• Property records.
• Emergency contacts.
• Passwords.

Definitely don't forget about your passwords. They're the keys to your digital kingdom, and losing them can be incredibly painful. While you can eventually gain access to things like your bank accounts and shopping apps, some things -- think Apple iCloud or Google Cloud -- will likely be gone forever.

If you use some sort of password storage app, don't overlook how important the passcode that secures your data is. It either needs to be something irrevocably etched into your mind that the trauma of having to leave your home and possessions doesn't erase, or you need to make a hard copy of it somewhere safe.

Depending on your password manager, there may be the option to set a trusted contact or print out a recovery key.

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Why not get a safe?

You could, and it's good for a wide range of applications, and there are safes that can survive a house fire or flooding from a burst pipe and such. But natural disasters are a whole different scale, and even a high-quality safe can't be trusted to survive. I've known safes rated as fireproof and weatherproof destroyed by the elements, and there was one 2,000-pound cash safe that was washed away in a landslide following a flood, never to be seen again.

If you don't want to pay for a safe deposit box, an alternative that I've seen suggested is to send a package containing copies of important things to family or friends in a different location (ideally a state or two away). For security, it's a good idea to put your data on an encrypted flash drive.

You can buy external drives that are fireproof and waterproof, which are awesome for a house fire or burst pipe, but you'd be unlikely to find it following a wildfire or flood, let alone find it working.

Want tough storage that can survive being soaked, dropped, and abused? You could go for a ruggedized storage drive or flash drive, but when it comes to robustness and portability, it's hard to beat a microSD card. They're small, so you can fit them into a wallet or purse. They're waterproof and aren't bothered by being dropped or bashed around. And for a few bucks, you can buy a lot of storage.

4. The bugout bag

A large number of Americans, around 2.5 to 3.5 million, are displaced from their homes by natural disasters each year. That's close to 1 out of every 70 adults. Around half of those displacements are caused by hurricanes, and a quarter because of flooding.

Of those displaced, a third are displaced for more than a month, and more than one in 10 never returns home.

And perhaps most shockingly, a third of those displaced reported "a significant food shortage" in the first month following a disaster.

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A bugout bag, sometimes called a go bag, is a pre-packed emergency kit designed to help a person who has to leave home quickly remain self-sufficient for a limited period, usually 72 hours, though some people prepare for longer. 

When evacuation orders are issued because of a wildfire, flood, hurricane, or when some other threat to life happens, people will have hours or perhaps only minutes to leave their homes. Having a bugout bag means that all the essential items are already gathered in one place and ready to go.

I tend to think of a bugout bag as separate from the essential kit, because the last thing you want is to have your stuff scattered around when you need it. What do you need in a bugout bag? Here's my suggestion:

• The bag itself (traditionally a rucksack, but it can be a duffle bag or even a suitcase
• Water (along with a way to treat water)
• Food (shelf-stable foods that require little or no cooking)
• First aid supplies
• Medications
• Clothing
• Hygiene supplies
• Flashlight and spare batteries
• Important documents
• Cash
• Communication tools
• Chargers and a power bank

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This is not a kit to let you live in the wilderness, Grizzly Adams style, and it isn't about having everything, including the kitchen sink. Too many people think they're going to be trapping or hunting or building a log cabin, when nothing could be further from the truth. 

The purpose of this pack is to help you move away from danger and seek shelter with friends or relatives, a hotel, or at a community shelter. And remember to keep this kit as portable as possible. It's a bag that you should be able to grab and take in a car with you. If you can't move it and carry it for at least a quarter of a mile, it's likely to get left behind.

5. Don't forget kids (and pets)

I've lost count of the number of times someone has taken me through their emergency plans, only for those plans to crumble when I ask about their kids and pets.

Both children and pets need more planning than adults because they depend on others for everything -- transportation, food, medical care, and emotional support -- during a disaster.

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Depending on the age of the children, you might need infant formula, diapers, and wipes. Also, disasters, evacuations, and shelter stays can be incredibly stressful for children, and having a stuffed animal, toy, or book can make a huge difference.

Pets will also need their own food and water for at least 72 hours, bowls, sanitation equipment, medications, and things like carriers and leashes.

On top of this, you need to account for them in your bugout bag. This can add significant size and weight to the kit you'll be grabbing as you possibly leave your home for the last time, and all the more reason to keep it focused and to the basics.

Think of all this as an insurance policy

A lot of people (most, perhaps) find planning for things like large-scale disasters quite a downer, and that's understandable. Then there are those who find it fun, not because we want to be surrounded by suffering and destruction, but because it's a chance to hone skills and feel prepared for something that might happen.

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My advice for those on both sides is to look at this like finding a good insurance policy or writing a will. You're covering your bases.

And whether you think that climate change is real and we're already feeling the effects of it, or everything is business as usual, it doesn't change the facts, and a bit of preparation seems like a prudent move.

Now excuse me as I have to sign off, because the power dipped, causing my power station to kick in.