Hurricane fleet readiness starts months before a storm forms. The National Hurricane Center states peak hurricane season in the United States runs from mid-August to mid-October, and can last through the end of November. Organizations who map fleet risk, track their assets, and write a communication plan before the first named storm will be prepared to act when the first forecast cone gets broadcast. 

This guide is for fleet managers, safety teams, and drivers who run through the Gulf Coast, the Atlantic Seaboard, and inland flood corridors. Drawing on guidance from the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration (FMCSA) and the National Weather Service (NWS), it maps out the steps you can take before, during, and after a storm. 

How should fleets prepare before hurricane season?

1. Know your lanes.

Make sure you know exactly how many and which lanes cross the Gulf Coast, the Atlantic Seaboard, or known inland flood areas. For instance, Florida opens shoulder lanes on parts of I-4, I-10, I-75, and I-95 during evacuations, and Texas has contraflow plans for highways including I-10, I-45, and I-37. Those routes can carry heavy evacuation traffic, and their lane setups can change during an evacuation.

Note which customers, terminals, and drop lots sit along those routes. That list tells you where to focus everything else in this guide. For a wider look at weather and other physical risks, see Motive’s guide to fleet risk management strategies.

2. Plan alternate routes and know how long they will take.

The safe route around a storm is almost always longer. For each high-risk lane, work out an alternate route and note the extra miles, the hours-of-service (HOS) impact, and where drivers can fuel along the way. 

Brief your dispatchers and the drivers who run those lanes. If you have to re-route under pressure, you’ll have your backups ready. 

3. Put tracking on every trailer and asset in a high-risk zone.

An unpowered trailer in a Gulf Coast yard with no GPS device could be in a blind spot. If it’s damaged or moved during a storm, you may not know or be able to find it until someone can be on-site. 

Fix this before the season. Equipment monitoring tools like Motive asset tracking use devices like Asset Gateway to report trailer locations in real time. Set geofences around terminals, drop lots, and staging areas, too, so you get an alert when a trailer moves outside its boundary.

4. Write an emergency communication plan and test it.

Decide now who gets messaged first when dispatch reroutes the fleet. Spell out who can tell drivers to shelter in place and who updates customers.

Write it down as a standard operating procedure, test it before June, and keep it somewhere people can find it at 2 a.m. Make sure dispatch can message drivers by region, route, or customer from one system, with a timestamped record. The Motive Driver App supports two-way messaging with dispatch. Texts on someone’s personal phone are hard to recover later.

5. Learn how emergency HOS relief works.

During a declared emergency, FMCSA can waive HOS rules under 49 CFR 390.23 for carriers moving relief supplies, fuel, and other essential goods. Governors often issue similar state waivers. These waivers aren’t automatic, and they don’t cover every load.

Bookmark FMCSA’s emergency declarations page, know which of your freight could qualify, and decide how you’ll document that you relied on a waiver.

Drivers should also understand the adverse driving conditions exception. It lets property-carrying drivers extend the 11-hour driving and 14-hour duty limits by up to two hours when they hit conditions that weren’t known at dispatch. A storm that was already in the forecast may not qualify, so drivers should check with their safety team before counting on it.

What should organizations with fleets do when a hurricane is approaching?

6. Find out which drivers and assets are actually in the forecast cone. 

Once the National Hurricane Center issues a forecast, compare its cone against the live location of every truck, trailer, and driver. With a map that shows assets and weather in one view, such as Fleet View with weather and traffic overlays, this takes minutes instead of hours.

Recheck as the track shifts. Drivers who were clear in the morning can be in the cone by afternoon.

7. Move trailers and other assets out of the storm’s path if possible. 

A loaded trailer in a storm-surge zone is a total-loss risk. A trailer moved out of the path before the weather arrives is a recoverable asset.

Base staging decisions on actual GPS locations, not last-known reports from drivers or shippers.

8. Check each driver’s hours before you reroute them.

For example, a driver three hours from delivery on the planned route could be eight hours out on the safe alternate. That driver may not have eight hours left under 49 CFR Part 395.

Confirm remaining hours, or confirm with your compliance team that emergency relief applies to the load, before dispatching anyone on a longer route. To move essential freight, use a tool like proximity search to find drivers near the pickup who have enough hours to run an alternate corridor safely.

9. Inspect equipment and get DVIRs current.

A clean driver vehicle inspection report (DVIR) from the day before landfall is your baseline if you later need to prove damage came from the storm. Make sure every truck heading into the area has a current one. Electronic DVIRs are timestamped and stored in the cloud, so the record survives even if the truck doesn’t come back in one piece.

Drivers should treat the pre-trip as a rain check, too. Our rain driving guide recommends checking tire inflation, wipers, defrosters, and brakes, and watching for cargo that could shift and throw off the truck’s balance.

10. Send clear instructions to every affected driver and customer.

When the plan changes, send one broadcast message to every affected driver at once instead of calling them one by one. Keep sending updates as the forecast moves.

Drivers should read every message, confirm they got it, and report what they’re seeing on the road. Your customers need to hear early which loads are holding, rerouting, or running late. Proactive communication and informing them of your pre-tested storm plans will build confidence in you as a partner.

How should drivers and dispatch handle conditions during the storm?

11. Keep two-way communication open and document every decision.

Drivers can see conditions that dispatch can’t. Ask for road reports, answer quickly, and keep watching weather and asset locations together so you can hold or reroute drivers as things change.

When a driver stops to shelter, takes an alternate route, or turns down a load, get that decision and the instructions before it on record in your system.

12. Know when federal rules say to stop driving.

FMCSA’s hazardous conditions rule, 49 CFR 392.14, requires drivers to use extreme caution and reduce speed when conditions such as rain, fog, or mist affect visibility or traction. If conditions become dangerous enough, the driver must stop and can’t resume until the vehicle can be operated safely. The rule has one exception: if stopping would put passengers in more danger, the driver may continue to the nearest point where they’re safe.

Ensure your drivers know the right place to stop. For low visibility, state CDL manuals, including New York’s, say it’s better to pull into a rest area or truck stop and not to stop along the side of the road unless it’s absolutely necessary. If a driver does have to stop on the shoulder, 49 CFR 392.22 requires turning on the hazard flashers right away and placing warning devices as soon as possible, within 10 minutes at most.

Dispatch should back a driver’s decision to stop. Under 49 CFR 390.6, motor carriers, shippers, receivers, and transportation intermediaries may not coerce a driver to operate in violation of federal safety rules. Drivers should tell dispatch where they’ve stopped.

13. Slow down and leave more room in heavy rain.

Most weather-related crashes happen in the rain. The Federal Highway Administration reports that over 77% of weather-related crashes happen during rain or mist, based on NHTSA data from 2019 to 2023. Our aforementioned guide to driving in the rain safely also covers more tips for truck and bus drivers.

FMCSA’s driving tips on speed recommend cutting speed by about a third on wet roads. At 60 mph, that means slowing to about 40 mph. FMCSA’s hazardous weather tips also say to adjust following distance for conditions and make careful, wide turns on wet roads. 

Heavy trucks need that extra room. The CDL manual warns that wet roads can double stopping distance, and that empty trucks need even more room to stop because an empty vehicle has less traction. Turn off the retarder, too. FMCSA notes that manufacturers generally advise against using one on wet or slippery roads — drive wheels have poor traction, and the retarder can make them skid.

Skip cruise control, too. AAA warns that cruise control set too fast on a wet road can cause a vehicle to hydroplane. Take extra care right after rain starts. State CDL manuals warn that the water mixes with oil left on the road and makes it very slippery.

14. Use your lights to see and be seen.

In rain, turn on your headlights, not just your identification or clearance lights, so other drivers can see you. That’s the guidance in state commercial driver’s license (CDL) manuals, including New York’s. The manual also recommends four-way flashers when you’re driving very slowly or stopped. It notes that flasher laws differ by state, so check the rules where you’re driving.

At night, don’t look directly at oncoming headlights. Look slightly to the right, at a lane or edge marking if there is one. Keep the interior light off and turn the instrument lights down as low as you can while still reading the gauges. The manual also says to make sure the defrosters work before you head out.

15. Never drive into floodwater.

Floodwater is one of the most serious hazards a hurricane leaves on the road. The NWS Turn Around Don’t Drown program warns that 12 inches of rushing water can carry away most cars, and 2 feet can carry away SUVs and trucks. Citing the CDC, NWS says more than half of flood-related drownings happen when a vehicle is driven into hazardous floodwater.

Never drive around barriers on a flooded road. NWS warns that the road may have collapsed under the water. FMCSA’s hazardous weather tips give drivers the same advice: change your route if the road is flooded.

Heavy rain and deep standing water can also get into a truck’s brakes. That’s not a reason to cross a flooded road, and the CDL manual says to avoid deep puddles and flowing water when you can. It warns that water in the brakes can make them weak, apply unevenly, or grab, which can pull the truck to one side or jackknife a trailer. When you can’t avoid the water, the manual’s steps are:

  1. Slow down and shift into a low gear.
  2. Apply the brakes gently.
  3. Increase engine rpm and cross the water while keeping light pressure on the brakes.
  4. Once you’re out, keep light pressure on the brakes for a short distance to heat and dry them.
  5. Make a test stop when it’s safe.

Don’t apply too much brake pressure and accelerator at the same time.

16. Watch the wind, especially with an empty trailer.

The NWS guide to high wind events warns that one strong gust can be enough to flip a trailer onto its side. The CDL manual adds that strong winds make it hard to stay in your lane, that the problem is usually worse for lighter vehicles, and that it can be especially bad coming out of tunnels. Avoid driving alongside other vehicles when you can.

Some bridges restrict trucks in high winds. On bridges run by the Maryland Transportation Authority, for example, empty box trailers are banned when sustained winds reach 40 to 49 mph. When sustained winds top 50 mph, tractor-box trailer combinations under 64,000 pounds gross weight can’t cross. Before dispatching, check wind restrictions on bridges along the route, and plan another route for empty or lightly loaded trailers.

On the road, MDTA advises keeping speeds down and both hands on the wheel. If there’s no shelter, NWS says to stay away from trees, power lines, and the side of the road. Assume any power line on the ground may be live, and stay away from it.

17. Know how to handle curves, skids, and hydroplaning.

Curves are a rollover risk for any truck with a high center of gravity. The CDL manual says tests have shown these trucks can roll over at the posted speed limit for a curve. Slow to a safe speed before the curve, don’t brake in it (that makes it easier to lock the wheels and skid), and never go faster than the posted curve speed.

Standing water brings its own risk. When enough water collects on the road, tires can lose contact with the pavement and hydroplane. State CDL manuals, including New York’s and Georgia’s, say hydroplaning can happen at speeds as low as 30 mph if there’s a lot of water.

If you hydroplane, don’t use the brakes to slow down. The manual says to release the accelerator and push in the clutch to regain control. If the drive wheels start to skid, push in the clutch to let them turn freely.

What should fleets do after a hurricane passes?

18. Account for every truck and trailer.

GPS data shows which trailers are where they belong, which ones moved and to where, and which stopped reporting and need a physical check. Start there before sending anyone out.

Drivers should check in with their location and status and confirm their route is open before heading out. Keep turning around at flooded roads, and stay clear of downed power lines, which NWS warns may still be live.

19. Inspect and document damage before driving again.

Before driving, 49 CFR 396.13 requires drivers to be satisfied the vehicle is in safe operating condition and, where required, to review and sign the last DVIR. Report any new damage. Compare post-storm inspections with pre-storm DVIRs to show what happened during the storm.

Capture damage and hazardous road conditions on video when possible. Timestamped footage from an AI Dashcam that’s stored in the cloud is easier to retrieve than files saved only on a device that sat in the storm.

20. Build a complete claims file.

After a major hurricane, carriers file claims for cargo damage, vehicle and trailer damage, lost loads, detention time, and redelivery costs. Each one is only as strong as its documentation.

Pull GPS history for the storm window to show where equipment was and when. Add the pre-storm DVIRs, dashcam footage, and maintenance records that show any mechanical problem came from flooding or debris rather than deferred maintenance.

Why does inclement weather driving need extra attention?

Hurricane season runs through November 30, so it overlaps with the riskiest stretch of the driving year. In the 2026 Motive AI Road Safety Report, collision rates in October and November were nearly 40% higher than in July. 

Once the storm passes, run a short review with dispatch, safety, and a few drivers. Every storm teaches you something about your lanes and your people. Fold those lessons into the plan, and you’ll be better prepared for the next forecast cone than you were for the last one.

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Frequently asked questions.

When is Atlantic hurricane season?

The Atlantic hurricane season runs from June 1 to November 30. According to the National Hurricane Center, it peaks around September 10, with most activity between mid-August and mid-October.

Do hours-of-service rules apply during a hurricane emergency?

Not always. Under 49 CFR 390.23, an emergency declared by the President, a governor, or FMCSA provides relief from HOS limits, but only for carriers and drivers giving direct assistance to the relief effort. For regional emergencies, the relief lasts up to 30 days. Check FMCSA’s emergency declarations page and your compliance team before relying on it.

Can drivers use the adverse driving conditions exception during a hurricane?

Sometimes. The exception adds up to 2 hours to the driving limit and the duty window, but 49 CFR 395.2 limits it to conditions that weren’t known, or couldn’t reasonably have been known, before the duty day or dispatch. A storm that was already in the forecast may not qualify.

How much should a truck slow down on wet roads?

FMCSA recommends cutting speed by about a third, so a truck going 60 mph should slow to about 40 mph. State CDL manuals warn that wet roads can double stopping distance.

When does a truck driver have to stop driving in severe weather?

Under 49 CFR 392.14, a driver must stop when hazardous conditions make driving sufficiently dangerous, and can’t resume until the vehicle can be operated safely. Carriers, shippers, and receivers may not coerce a driver to keep going in violation of safety rules under 49 CFR 390.6.

How deep does floodwater have to be to be dangerous?

Not very deep. The National Weather Service says 12 inches of rushing water can carry away most cars, and 2 feet can carry away SUVs and trucks. FMCSA and NWS both say to turn around rather than drive through a flooded road.