With some hurricanes running around the Caribbean/Gulf/Atlantic, I'm reminded about emergencies not only during natural disasters, but on a smaller scale that might affect just one's own home.

Do you know where the utility shutoffs are for your home? Your main electric panel, subpanels, and the main electrical circuit breaker? The main gas shutoff valve and any secondary shutoff valves at the water heater, furnace, gas fireplace, and gas cooktop/oven/range? How about the main water shutoff valve (usually at the street curb) and the secondary shutoff valves for the sinks, toilets, water heater, as possibly one located in the garage or at an exterior hose bib?

Do you have a working fire extinguisher readily accessible?

Do you have a list of numbers to call in the event of an emergency (doctor, poison control center, utility company, plumber, electrician, etc.)?

Do you have working smoke alarms and carbon monoxide alarms in your home?

Lastly, and perhaps most important, do you have an evacuation plan, including from your home, from your neighborhood, and, in some cases, from your city and state? If your family is separated, does everyone have phone numbers for everyone else? Do you have a meeting place set up? If phones are not working, do you have a way to contact other relatives to let them know where you are and that you are safe?

Planning now, before an emergency hits, can help prevent a lot of street and heartache if it does.