Shopping For A Hurricane Emergency Kit With Harris County Judge Ed Emmett

As each new storm season approaches, we often hear about the importance of putting together an emergency kit for you and your family. But this year, in the wake of Harvey’s destruction, Houstonians might have even more motivation than ever.

Last year, on the cusp of hurricane season, Michael Hagerty got some help putting together his emergency kit from someone who really knows how: Harris County Judge Ed Emmett.

As the chief administrator for Harris County, Judge Emmett is often the face of emergency management and preparedness for Greater Houston. During Hurricane Ike in 2008, he made the term "hunker down" a Houston catchphrase.

Michael met up with Emmett at Southland Hardware, located on Westheimer in Montrose, to do some shopping for some of the items needed to hunker down or evacuate in the event of a storm.

Judge Emmett says Houstonians should prepare the same way, no matter what the projected forecast is for the hurricane season.

"If we have 25 hurricanes in the world and none of them hit us, then that's a good year," he said. "But if there's only one hurricane in the entire world and it happens to his us — that's a bad year. So people have got to prepare now so that they're not scrambling around at the last minute."

MORE: Emergency Kit Checklist (Harris County Office of Emergency Management)