Texas: The Storm-Ready Checklist

Shelter & mitigation money

No dedicated state-run storm-shelter rebate or grant program is listed for Texas in the mitigation data reviewed for this page. Check with the state emergency management agency below for anything new.

NAIC lists Texas among the 19 states plus DC with a separate hurricane or named-storm deductible in homeowner policies as of June 2025 (content.naic.org/insurance-topics/hurricane-deductibles).

Who to call, before and after

The hazards Texas actually faces

• Extreme rainfall and flash flood

  Peak season: May–Aug

  Flash flooding is the deadliest hazard tied to rainfall, and most of those deaths are people driving into water they underestimated — six inches of moving water can stall a car, twelve can float one. Rainfall intensity, not just total inches, is what overwhelms storm drains and low-lying roads in a window of an hour or less.

• Extreme heat

  Peak season: May–Jul

  Extreme heat kills more people in an average US year than any other weather hazard, and most of those deaths are preventable — the risk concentrates in the first heat wave of the season, before bodies acclimate, and in households without reliable cooling. Checking on elderly or isolated neighbors during a heat advisory does more than any single piece of equipment.

• Extreme cold

  Peak season: Feb

  Extreme cold turns ordinary failures — a stalled car, a lost power connection, a wet coat — into emergencies far faster than people expect, and hypothermia risk starts well above freezing once wind and moisture are factored in. Frozen and burst pipes are the most common property-damage claim tied to cold snaps, and they are largely preventable with basic insulation and a known shutoff valve.

Rules worth knowing

• Emergency prescription refills: Up to a 30-day supply (non-Schedule-II) when a natural/man-made disaster prevents contacting the prescriber, the governor has declared a state of disaster under Govt. Code Ch. 418, and the Board has issued its own notification. Tex. Occ. Code § 562.054.
• Summer utility shutoff protection: No shutoff during an NWS Heat Advisory for the customer's county, plus 2 additional days after the advisory ends; providers must also offer a deferred payment plan for bills due during extreme weather (PUC of Texas).

Frequently asked