A few things we learned from Charley in 2004:

We needed cash, especially small bills, because the stores that were able to open were without power so credit cards weren't being accepted. We were without power for 11 days.

When they tell you to fill your bathtub with water, it's not for drinking - it's for flushing toilets. Punta Gorda's pumping stations were off-line. Luckily we were able to use buckets of water from our pool for that purpose.

If you have pets, especially cats, think about how you will keep them in the house after the storm. None of the doors in our house have screens because we have a pool cage. That, of course, was destroyed. With no power we had to keep the doors open, hoping for the slightest breeze. Keeping our 2 cats safely inside the house was definitely an issue that we hadn't planned for.