Hurricane kits have improved since Harvey's wide-reaching devastation

How hurricane kits have evolved

Harvey showed Houston that any one of us could be dramatically impacted by flooding. FOX 26 Meteorologist John Dawson explains the importance of being prepared.

HOUSTON - Hurricane Harvey showed Houston that any one of us could be dramatically impacted by flooding. It’s not something that affects just those living along the coast or people living near a bayou.

Because of that wide-reaching devastation five years ago, hurricane preparation kits have improved greatly.

Now, life jackets and personal flotation devices are being included in hurricane kits. People are also buying small inflatable rafts to help transport really young or older dependents that can’t walk through deep water.

Meteorologist John Dawson says he remembers in the middle of one of those scary Harvey nights, during those unyielding downpours when public officials advised against climbing into your attic to escape flooding unless you had an ax or other means to break out of it.

As a result, hatchets and small axes are now common in hurricane supplies.

Many are fairly simple and inexpensive, and some people even just buy one and leave it laying up in the attic all the time.

There are even large format multi-tools. They can feature an ax blade, and can also contribute to your supplies with other built-in tools.

But it's not just people, pets, and belongings we want to protect, we also want to save our digital assets.

"Because of flooding, sometimes you need to not only have a backup at home like a USB drive that is not connected to the network that you can actually unplug and take with you in case of flooding; but also to make sure that you have all of your digital assets backed to a cloud that you trust," says tech expert Juan Guevara Torres with NowMedia TV.

What are your digital assets?

They are your pictures, videos, and even your cryptocurrency. They can also be copies of your sensitive documents like birth certificates or passports.

"If you have an Android, you probably want to upload them to Google Drive. If you have an iOS device, you’ll probably use iCloud", says Torres. "All these personal clouds are allowing you to sync up your device, your pictures, pictures of your babies, picture of your family, pictures of deceased relatives to a cloud that is rock solid secure."

So be prepared in all the ways. If anything, Harvey has shown us that anywhere in Houston can flood and we should plan accordingly.