Hurricane Season Isn't Half Over: Why August Is the Most Important Month to Prepare
Hurricane Season Isn't Half Over: Why August Is the Most Important Month to Prepare
If hurricane season has felt relatively quiet where you live, don't let that create a false sense of security.
August is when Atlantic hurricane season can change quickly.
The Atlantic hurricane season officially runs from June 1 through November 30, but historically, tropical activity increases significantly during August and continues into September. The climatological peak of Atlantic hurricane season occurs around September 10.
That means some of the most important weeks for hurricane preparedness are still ahead.
Now is the time to review your family's hurricane supplies—and one of the first things on that list should be something we often take for granted:
Clean drinking water.
Why Does Hurricane Activity Increase in August?
Hurricanes depend on several ingredients, including warm ocean water, atmospheric moisture, and favorable wind conditions.
By August, large areas of the Atlantic Ocean, Caribbean Sea, and Gulf have had months to warm. Conditions can become increasingly favorable for tropical storms and hurricanes to develop and strengthen.
That's why waiting until a hurricane appears in the forecast isn't a good preparedness strategy.
A tropical disturbance can develop and intensify quickly, leaving communities scrambling for the same limited emergency supplies.
Don't Wait for a Named Hurricane to Prepare
We've all seen what happens when a hurricane threatens a populated area.
People rush to stores.
Bottled water disappears.
Gas stations become crowded.
Generators, batteries, flashlights, plywood, and other hurricane supplies become difficult to find.
Online inventory can disappear just as quickly, and shipping delays may mean the emergency supplies you order won't arrive before the storm.
The best time to prepare for a hurricane is before there's a hurricane heading toward you.
August is the perfect reminder to check your emergency supplies and fill any gaps while products are still readily available.
Emergency Water Should Be a Hurricane Preparedness Priority
Food, flashlights, batteries, generators, weather radios, and portable chargers all deserve a place on your hurricane preparedness checklist.
But emergency water storage should be near the top.
A hurricane can damage water treatment infrastructure, interrupt electricity to pumping stations, cause water main breaks, or contribute to contamination of municipal water systems.
Even if your home isn't directly damaged by the storm, your community could experience a boil-water advisory or temporary interruption in water service.
Once that happens, the water coming from your faucet may no longer be available—or safe to drink.
How Much Water Should You Store for a Hurricane?
A common emergency preparedness recommendation is to store at least one gallon of water per person per day for several days.
For a family of four, a three-day emergency supply starts at approximately 12 gallons.
But that's only a starting point.
Think about everything your household may need water for during an extended outage:
- Drinking
- Cooking and food preparation
- Washing hands
- Brushing teeth
- Basic personal hygiene
- Cleaning
- Caring for pets
A few cases of bottled water can disappear surprisingly quickly.
That's why having a larger emergency water storage system at home can be an important part of hurricane preparedness.
Can You Store Emergency Water in Your Bathtub?
Your bathtub may be one of the largest potential emergency water storage spaces already available inside your home.
However, simply filling your bathtub with drinking water isn't ideal.
Even a clean-looking bathtub can contain soap residue, cleaning chemicals, body oils, bacteria, and contaminants around the drain and overflow.
A bathtub water storage bladder creates a barrier between your emergency drinking water and the surface of the bathtub.
That's exactly what AquaPodKit® was designed to do.
What Is an AquaPodKit Bathtub Water Bladder?
AquaPodKit® is a Made-in-USA bathtub emergency water storage system designed to allow households to store a large supply of water inside their bathtub before an emergency.
Place the AquaPodKit liner inside your bathtub, connect it to your faucet, and fill it while your municipal water supply is still operating normally.
An AquaPodKit can store up to approximately 65 gallons of emergency water, providing a substantial reserve for drinking, cooking, hygiene, and other essential household needs.
Instead of purchasing, transporting, and finding space for dozens of individual gallon containers, you can use the water already coming into your home and the unused storage capacity of your bathtub.
Why Food-Grade Materials Matter for Emergency Water Storage
Not every type of plastic is appropriate for storing drinking water.
That's particularly important when water may remain in contact with the material for an extended period.
AquaPodKit is made in the USA using food-grade materials selected for potable water storage.
We don't recommend using painter's plastic, construction sheeting, trash bags, or other makeshift plastic liners that weren't manufactured for drinking-water contact.
When you're storing water your family may depend on during an emergency, capacity isn't the only consideration—the material touching your water matters too.
Hurricane Preparedness Checklist: What Should You Have Before a Storm?
Before hurricane activity threatens your area, review your household emergency supplies.
Your hurricane preparedness checklist should include:
- Emergency drinking water
- Emergency water storage system
- Nonperishable food
- Prescription medications
- First-aid supplies
- Flashlights and extra batteries
- Battery-powered or hand-crank weather radio
- Portable phone chargers
- Important documents in waterproof storage
- Cash
- Hygiene supplies
- Pet food and water
- Basic tools and cleanup supplies
Most importantly, don't wait until you're inside the hurricane forecast cone to start shopping.
Preparedness should happen before everyone else starts preparing.
AquaPodKit Was Inspired by Real Hurricane Experience
AquaPodKit wasn't created simply because emergency water storage sounded like a good product idea.
The concept grew out of seeing firsthand how difficult storing enough clean water could become when a hurricane was approaching.
An early prototype was later used by my parents during Hurricane Katrina. When I returned with them approximately 45 days later, they still had access to clean stored water.
That experience reinforced something I've believed ever since:
Water isn't just another item on an emergency preparedness checklist. It's one of the most important resources you can have.
August Is Your Hurricane Preparedness Warning—Not Your Deadline
Hurricane season isn't over.
In many ways, the most important part is just beginning.
You can't control where the next tropical storm develops, how quickly it strengthens, or where a hurricane eventually makes landfall.
You can control whether your family is prepared before it happens.
Don't wait until bottled water disappears from store shelves.
Don't wait until your community is placed under a hurricane warning.
And don't wait until the water stops flowing.
Prepare early. Store water while it's still available.
Water is life, and preparedness is power.
— David Dodgen
Founder & Inventor, AquaPodKit®