Stay, shelter, or leave

Local officials give the order for the hazard that is happening. This file has no national line that replaces that order.

Ready.gov’s shelter page, updated 24 September 2026, describes three different decisions. A mass-care shelter is a shared place. You can look up an open one at the time by texting SHELTER and the ZIP code to 43362. Standard message rates apply. That text does not promise a bed. Sealing a room is a short step when officials say the outside air is the danger: people and pets inside, openings and fans shut, an interior room with few windows, and plastic and tape you already stored. Staying at home is a third instruction. Essential errands can still be allowed. Those three are not the same sentence.

On sheet 2, write one block for each hazard that can affect your address. Name the local page you checked. Write the order that page gives: stay home, a mass-care shelter, seal a room, or evacuate. Leave the block blank when the hazard does not apply.

Turn on Wireless Emergency Alerts. They need no subscription and no fee. Put up to five places in the FEMA app. Add a NOAA Weather Radio if you have one. FEMA does not review, edit, or approve a local alert.