The National Weather Service (NWS) and Airbnb released joint safety recommendations for Puerto Rico residents and visitors as hurricane season nears its peak. Key advice includes checking whether a property sits in a flood-prone or storm-surge zone, knowing evacuation routes, and stockpiling essential supplies in advance. Ernesto Morales, NWS Puerto Rico's Warning Coordination Meteorologist, said in written remarks, "Don't wait to know a storm's exact category to act.
What matters is preparing for the impacts it can bring: water, wind, flooding and storm surge." NWS warned that a storm's category alone doesn't capture all its dangers, since even a tropical storm can cause flooding, storm surge and damaging winds, and impacts can occur far from the storm's center or outside the forecast cone. Recommendations include setting an evacuation plan with a safe shelter location and route in advance, and stocking water, non-perishable food, medications, batteries, chargers, flashlights, a radio, and cash. For properties, people should secure potential projectiles, inspect doors and windows, and fix structural weaknesses beforehand.
NWS urged reliance on official sources like itself, the National Hurricane Center, and local authorities—not individual weather models or social media—and warned never to drive through a flooded road.