Getting Ready for Severe Weather in Tallahassee

Leon County sends emergency warnings through Leon Alerts by text, email or phone and through its Citizens Connect app, and the National Weather Service lists NOAA Weather Radio transmitter KIH24 at 162.400 MHz for Leon County (Leon Ready; NWS Tallahassee).

Leon Alerts covers incidents such as severe weather and evacuations of buildings or neighborhoods. The Citizens Connect app pushes critical updates to a phone or tablet, including comfort stations, points of distribution, price gouging alerts, road closures, storm debris collection and evacuation route maps (Leon Ready). The County's June 2026 hurricane season notice adds weather alerts and sandbag locations to the app's list and says the Emergency Information Portal at LeonCountyFL.gov/ei shows the same information in a browser (Leon County, June 1, 2026).

For a weather radio, the NWS Tallahassee office lists Leon County under SAME code 012073, served by transmitter KIH24 in Tallahassee at 162.400 MHz and 1000 watts, which serves the Florida Big Bend and extreme southwest Georgia. The office recommends buying a radio with an alarm feature that can be activated to warn of emergencies (NWS Tallahassee NOAA Weather Radio).

The City of Tallahassee names tropical storms and hurricanes among the city's most dangerous weather threats, bringing torrential rain, heavy wind, tornadoes, flooding and major power outages (City of Tallahassee Emergency Management).

Trees are the local factor the City singles out. The City says it does not take much, about 50 mph winds, to knock out power for an extended period because of the large number of trees in Tallahassee, and that as a non-coastal community the city has less to fear from storm surge than from the other dangers of these storms. The City's Division of Emergency Management, set up in 1992, coordinates the response of City departments with County, State and Federal agencies (City of Tallahassee Emergency Management).

Fire is the dry-season hazard. Leon Ready notes that in Florida, escaped yard waste from burn piles is the leading cause of wildfires (Leon Ready), and the City's wildfire list advises keeping woodpiles away from buildings and taking care with lawnmowers and power equipment, whose sparks start wildfires on hot, dry days (City of Tallahassee Emergency Management).

Leon County's critical preparations are to build a disaster bucket, make a family communications plan and use the Leon Ready site (Leon County, June 1, 2026).

Its 2026-2027 Disaster Survival Guide is posted on that site, and the County said on June 1, 2026 that the guide will be mailed to every Leon County household (Leon County, June 1, 2026).

The County's bucket supply list is built around a durable five-gallon waterproof bucket, and more than 1,000 residents have been trained through its Neighborhood Readiness Training program for unincorporated neighborhoods (Leon County Emergency Management). FLASH and FEMA designated Leon County the first #HurricaneStrong community in the nation (Leon Ready). The County's season notice relayed a NOAA outlook for a below-normal 2026 Atlantic season, with up to 14 named storms, up to 6 hurricanes and up to 3 major hurricanes, and warned that it only takes one storm to make it an active season (Leon County, June 1, 2026).

The hurricane checklist on the City's emergency page, which the City credits to the Red Cross, includes restocking disaster supplies, reinforcing garage doors against wind entry, making a plan for pets and knowing how to reach service providers. When a hurricane threatens, the City says to bring in anything the wind can pick up, and after a lull, to wait for authorities to announce that the danger is over, because a lull often signals the eye and not the end of the storm. Before an outage, it suggests learning the manual release on an electric garage door opener and keeping a car tank at least half full, because gas stations need electricity to run their pumps (City of Tallahassee Emergency Management).

Leon County announces sandbag sites ahead of specific storms, and its Citizens Connect app lists sandbag locations among its emergency updates (Leon County, June 1, 2026).

A County sandbag notice from August 2, 2024 shows how a distribution works; it came ahead of Potential Tropical Cyclone #4. The County announced five sites, opening at 2 p.m. that day with sand, bags and ties and staff to help fill them: the Northeast Branch Library at 5513 Thomasville Road; Apalachee Regional Park at the Solid Waste Management Facility, 7550 Apalachee Parkway; Fred George Park, 3043 Capital Circle NW; Oak Ridge Road at Ranchero Road; and Fort Braden Community Park, 15000 Blountstown Highway. Residents were asked to take no more than 15 bags so others could prepare (Leon County, August 2, 2024).

The same Leon County notice told drivers to turn around rather than drive through flooded areas and advised residents not to walk through floodwaters (Leon County, August 2, 2024). That 2024 list was for one storm; the June 2026 notice names the Citizens Connect app as the place sandbag locations appear (Leon County, June 1, 2026).

In Tallahassee, downed power lines are reported to 850-891-4968, and the City says never to touch power lines and to keep pets away from them (City of Tallahassee Emergency Management).

Not every Leon County address is on the City system. The Citizens Connect app carries direct links to the outage maps of three electric providers, the City of Tallahassee, Talquin Electric Cooperative and Duke Energy (Leon Ready), so it helps to know which provider serves a household before a storm. Leon County Emergency Management answers at 850-606-3700 at the Public Safety Complex, 911 Easterwood Drive (Leon County Emergency Management).

When power returns, the City advises turning off and unplugging unnecessary equipment beforehand, because surges or spikes can damage computers and televisions, and using flashlights instead of candles, which pose a high fire risk (City of Tallahassee Emergency Management).

Yes: FEMA rates both the City of Tallahassee and unincorporated Leon County at Community Rating System class 5, a 25 percent flood insurance discount in the Special Flood Hazard Area and 10 percent outside it (FEMA NFIP Community Status Book, City; Leon County).

Sources: FEMA, City of Tallahassee and FEMA, Leon County.

Tallahassee joined the regular flood program on December 6, 1976, the same day its first Flood Insurance Rate Map took effect, and its class 5 rating has an effective date of October 1, 2022 (FEMA NFIP Community Status Book, City). Unincorporated Leon County entered the regular program on December 15, 1982 and its class 5 rating has an effective date of April 1, 2023 (FEMA NFIP Community Status Book, Leon County). Both still list a currently effective flood map dated August 18, 2009 (FEMA, City; FEMA, Leon County).

For flood risk beyond the map, the County's June 2026 notice points residents to its Flood Protection website at LeonCountyFL.gov/FloodProtection for flooding risks, preparation and what to do after a flood (Leon County, June 1, 2026).

Last verified: October 18, 2026, once LeonReady.com, County Emergency Management, the June 1, 2026 and August 2, 2024 County notices, the City emergency page, NWS Tallahassee's KIH24 listing and the two FEMA status book records had all been reread.