As Hurricane Earl prepares to approach North Carolina, the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) is continuing to aggressively prepare for the storm, plan for all possible scenarios and support state and local officials along the East Coast as they work to protect their communities.  FEMA strongly encourages all East Coast residents to take steps now to prepare for severe weather in the coming days.

There are watches and warnings for multiple areas of the East Coast as Hurricane Earl makes it way North. The Coast Guard is urging mariners to heed warnings as Hurricane Earl is expected to affect the mid-Atlantic region between North Carolina and New Jersey Thursday and Friday.

The Maryland Insurance Administration (“MIA”) recommends homeowners make an inventory of their home and be sure to have current information about your homeowner’s insurance policy. To help consumers prepare an inventory of their home, the MIA has a personal property list available on its Web site that consumers may download. In addition, it’s a good idea to support this list with photos or video that can be retrieved after a disaster.

Some of the things you can do to prepare for the unexpected, such as making an emergency supply kit and developing a family communications plan, are the same for both a natural or man-made emergency. For more information on being prepared for a disaster, visit Ready.gov.