Understand the different kinds of flooding
How river, flash, urban, and coastal flooding differ, why they overlap, and which evidence can explain the risk around your home.
Water and flooding · 6 minute readRead the guideA field guide to life in a hotter world.
Practical, source-backed answers for your health, home, money, and the people who depend on you.
Find what you need.
Search a practical question or browse by the problem in front of you.
58 guides
Protect essentials before floodwater arrives
Prioritize people, medicine, important records, and selected belongings before flooding. Know when to stop property protection and leave.
Water and flooding · 6 minute readRead the guide
Food and water after flood exposure
Know which flood-exposed food packages to discard, why a closed lid is not enough, and how to follow the correct drinking-water notice.
Water and flooding · 6 minute readRead the guide
When can you return to a flooded building?
Separate permission to return to an area from permission to enter a building, and recognize hazards that need a utility or qualified professional first.
Water and flooding · 6 minute readRead the guide
What to do with a flooded private well
Stop using a flooded well, avoid electrical hazards, and arrange inspection, disinfection, and correctly timed laboratory testing before returning to normal use.
Water and flooding · 6 minute readRead the guide
Keep a current medication list
Make an up-to-date medication list, keep accessible copies, and protect the information someone may need during an emergency.
Health and support · 4 minute readRead the guide
Prepare for prescription access during a disruption
Prepare for a pharmacy closure, lost medicine, or interrupted delivery. Confirm refill and replacement options for each prescription before access changes.
Health and support · 6 minute readRead the guide
Travel with temperature-sensitive medicine
Plan packing, travel time, and destination storage around your medicine's own temperature requirements, with a route to replacement if conditions change.
Health and support · 5 minute readRead the guide
Plan continuity for mobility and medical equipment
Plan for the power, supplies, assistance, transport, and destination that mobility and medical equipment depend on, with the person who uses it.
Health and support · 7 minute readRead the guide
Make time and room for a supported departure
Build an evacuation plan around accessible alerts, confirmed helpers, equipment, suitable transport, and the time each person needs to leave.
Health and support · 7 minute readRead the guide
How do you choose evacuation destinations?
Choose a first place to go and a useful alternative. Check permission, access, household needs, transport, and current official instructions.
Evacuation and pets · 4 minute readRead the guide
What should you pack if you need to leave quickly?
Make an always-take list, assign departure tasks, and keep medicine, equipment, documents and animal supplies ready without delaying an evacuation.
Evacuation and pets · 4 minute readRead the guide
Where can you evacuate with pets?
Check whether people and animals can stay together, what a destination requires, and how pet admission differs from service-animal access.
Evacuation and pets · 6 minute readRead the guide
What should go in a pet emergency kit?
Build a travel-ready kit for each pet, including secure transport, identification, records, food, water, medicine and a caregiver backup.
Evacuation and pets · 4 minute readRead the guide
Where should you shelter during a tornado?
Choose a practical wind shelter, check access and building type, and plan an alternative when flooding makes a basement unsuitable.
Storms and shelter · 4 minute readRead the guide
Where should you shelter during a thunderstorm?
Choose a lightning shelter you can actually reach and enter: the building or vehicle, access, capacity, travel time, and indoor precautions.
Storms and shelter · 4 minute readRead the guide
When should you leave the water before a thunderstorm?
Know when to stop swimming, boating, sports, or exposed work and move to a substantial building or enclosed hard-topped vehicle.
Storms and shelter · 4 minute readRead the guide
How long should you wait after thunder before going outside?
Wait at least 30 minutes after the last thunder, restart for each new rumble, and understand why clearing skies or an expired alert are not an all-clear.
Storms and shelter · 3 minute readRead the guide
How should you protect people, pets, and cars from hail?
Get people and pets into a sturdy building first. Move a vehicle only before the storm arrives and while you can safely return indoors.
Storms and shelter · 4 minute readRead the guide
How do you inspect hail damage from the ground?
Check for electrical, gas, and structural hazards before documenting hail damage. Use a camera or binoculars and leave roof access to qualified professionals.
Storms and shelter · 5 minute readRead the guide
Flood Damage or Water Damage: Which Insurance May Apply?
Trace where water came from, preserve evidence safely, and find the policies and endorsements that may apply to flood, plumbing, rain, or drain damage.
Home, money and recovery · 7 minute readRead the guide
What Does Loss of Use or Additional Living Expense Coverage Pay For?
Understand additional living expenses, compare temporary costs with your usual spending, and keep the receipts, approvals, and policy limits together.
Home, money and recovery · 6 minute readRead the guide
Why Is Water Getting Into My Basement?
Record when and where basement water appears, distinguish possible pathways, and choose the right professional without entering an unsafe space.
Water and flooding · 7 minute readRead the guide
Do You Need a Battery Backup for a Sump Pump?
Decide what a sump-pump backup must protect against, how battery and other systems differ, and what to test before relying on the pump during an outage.
Water and flooding · 7 minute readRead the guide
What Does a Home-Insurance Nonrenewal Mean, and What Should You Do Next?
Preserve your home-insurance nonrenewal notice, verify deadlines and review options, and compare replacement coverage in parallel to avoid a gap.
Home, money and recovery · 8 minute readRead the guide
What Size Portable Power Station Do I Need for an Outage?
Size a portable power station from the devices you need, their running and starting watts, operating hours, usable battery capacity, and a tested fallback.
Power outages · 7 minute readRead the guide
Portable Power Station or Generator: Which Is Better for an Outage?
Compare portable batteries and fuel generators by load, runtime, safe operating location, recharge or fuel access, maintenance, and household needs.
Power outages · 7 minute readRead the guide
Will Rooftop Solar Work During a Power Outage?
Most grid-connected solar shuts down during an outage. Check your inverter, storage, backed-up circuits, start procedure, and system limits.
Power outages · 5 minute readRead the guide
How to Charge and Store a Portable Power Station Safely
Use the approved charger, inspect for damage, follow temperature and storage limits, and keep a portable power station clear of escape routes.
Power outages · 6 minute readRead the guide
How to Make a Portable Power Station Last Longer During an Outage
Make backup power last by prioritizing loads, checking actual draw, reducing idle use, and setting a recharge or fallback point before the reserve runs out.
Power outages · 5 minute readRead the guide
Does an N95 Help With Wildfire Smoke?
How an N95 helps with wildfire-smoke particles, why fit matters, what it cannot filter, and when cleaner air is the better response.
Smoke and air · 6 minute readRead the guide
Can I Run the Air Conditioner When It Is Smoky Outside?
How central, window, portable, and evaporative cooling handle smoky outdoor air, which settings to check, and when to find a cooled, filtered place.
Smoke and air · 7 minute readRead the guide
How to Choose a Portable Air Cleaner for Wildfire Smoke
Choose a wildfire-smoke air cleaner by room size, smoke CADR, noise, replacement filters, and ozone emissions. Start with the room you need to protect.
Smoke and air · 7 minute readRead the guide
How to Build and Use a Box-Fan Air Cleaner Safely
A source-backed guide to fan age, safety certification, MERV 13 filters, assembly, placement, and the limits of DIY smoke filtration.
Smoke and air · 8 minute readRead the guide
What to Do When Extreme Heat and Wildfire Smoke Happen Together
How to manage indoor heat and wildfire smoke together, use cooling and filtration, and prepare a reachable cooled, filtered fallback.
Smoke and air · 8 minute readRead the guide
How Hot Is Too Hot Inside a Home?
How to judge indoor heat, understand the limits of fans, choose a cooler room, and decide when your household needs another cooled place.
Heat and cooling · 6 minute readRead the guide
Why Does My House Stay Hot After Sunset?
Why rooms retain heat after sunset, how to spot the pattern, and which no-cost changes can help before you consider equipment or building work.
Heat and cooling · 6 minute readRead the guide
How to Cool One Room Without Central Air Conditioning
Start with room choice, shade, fewer indoor heat sources, and available cooling. Keep electrical, air-quality, and fan limits in view, with a backup cooled place.
Heat and cooling · 7 minute readRead the guide
Should You Open the Windows During a Heat Wave?
Compare indoor and outdoor conditions before opening windows in a heat wave. Account for smoke, humidity, safety, and the need for another cooled location.
Heat and cooling · 5 minute readRead the guide
What Can Renters Do When an Apartment Becomes Dangerously Hot?
Protect your household first, document overheating and cooling failures, send a factual written notice, and find the local tenant help that fits your situation.
Heat and cooling · 8 minute readRead the guide
How long is food safe during a power outage?
How long refrigerators and freezers stay cold without power, what to do before and during an outage, and how to decide what food to keep.
Power outages · 4 minute readRead the guide
What AQI is safe for outdoor activity?
How to use the AQI, primary pollutant, people involved, and the duration and intensity of an activity to decide what should change.
Smoke and air · 5 minute readRead the guide
How much emergency water should you store?
Calculate a three-day household starting amount, add pet and additional needs, and store it so the water remains safe and usable.
Water and flooding · 5 minute readRead the guide
How to photograph your home for an insurance claim
Create a useful record before damage, then document safely from wide context to close detail before cleanup or temporary repair.
Home, money and recovery · 6 minute readRead the guide
How far should a portable generator be from the house?
Where to run a portable generator, how to point its exhaust, and the carbon-monoxide and electrical boundaries that protect a household.
Power outages · 4 minute readRead the guide
How to keep receiving emergency alerts during an outage
Combine phone alerts, an official local enrollment, and a radio source so one failed device, network, or power source does not leave the household unaware.
Emergency communications · 5 minute readRead the guide
How to read the AQI and know what is making it high
Read the AQI number, category, time, reporting area, and primary pollutant together before deciding what the air means for you.
Smoke and air · 4 minute readRead the guide
Boil-water advisory: can you shower, wash dishes, or brush your teeth?
First distinguish boil-water, do-not-drink, and do-not-use advisories, then use the right water for teeth, dishes, bathing, food, pets, and other daily needs.
Water and flooding · 6 minute readRead the guide
How to reduce wildfire smoke indoors
A practical sequence for reducing particle exposure indoors using the room and equipment you already have, plus clear limits for heat, power, and evacuation.
Smoke and air · 6 minute readRead the guide
How to prepare a cleaner-air room for wildfire smoke
Choose and inspect one room that can limit smoke entry, stay cool, fit everyone who needs it, and keep a clear exit before smoke arrives.
Smoke and air · 6 minute readRead the guide
How to find flood risk information for your home
How to check official flood maps, local records, current conditions, history, and property evidence without mistaking one source for the whole answer.
Water and flooding · 7 minute readRead the guide
Flood watch vs. warning: what should you do?
A flood watch means prepare. A flood warning means act. Learn what to read in the exact notice and how flash, coastal, and river flooding change the response.
Water and flooding · 5 minute readRead the guide
Why you should never drive through floodwater
Floodwater can hide a washed-out road and move a vehicle at depths that are hard to judge. Stop before the water or barricade and turn around.
Water and flooding · 4 minute readRead the guide
Why should you freeze water before a power outage?
Frozen water helps a freezer stay cold longer and can become a cold source for a refrigerator or cooler when the power goes out.
Power outages · 2 minute readRead the guide
How do you keep a phone charged during a power outage?
Charge early, choose the phone that stays available for alerts, and reduce power use without cutting off the household's only warning channel.
Power outages · 4 minute readRead the guide
What records should you keep after property damage or displacement?
Keep standing household documents separate from the claim numbers, contacts, photographs, receipts, correspondence, and deadlines created by one event.
Home, money and recovery · 7 minute readRead the guide
How do you start an insurance claim after a disaster?
Contact the insurer for the policy that may apply, report the known facts, obtain a claim number, and keep the next instruction and deadline with its source.
Home, money and recovery · 7 minute readRead the guide
How should you track temporary living expenses after a disaster?
Record every displacement expense and receipt when it happens, while keeping the expense itself separate from a later coverage or reimbursement decision.
Home, money and recovery · 5 minute readRead the guideEvery guide starts with the cheapest effective response, explains what can change the answer, and states where the guidance stops.
Why Overshot exists