How to prepare home to prevent pipe leaks during a severe winter storm?
The cheapest thing to do, and feasible to do at the very last minute without any supplies, is to shut off the water at an underground location outside the building (at the meter, for instance). Iced pipes, and even broken pipes, aren't what causes severe damage to a building -- it's the water that flows uncontrolled after a frozen and broken pipe thaws that really causes havoc.
I don't have statistics handy for the average length of piping used in a US home, but just to work with round numbers, suppose it's 100 feet of 3/4 inch pipe and 200 feet of 1/2 inch pipe. Combined all that pipe holds about 6.5 gallons of water.
That's not an insignificant amount of water, but chances are that a leak in some arbitrary place isn't going to allow all of that to leak out, either. A good portion of the pipe contents could be drained out before the freeze by opening faucets. High-elevation faucets will admit air into the system while low-elevation faucets let the water run away down the drain.
Don't forget to also drain other reservoirs of chaos: toilet tanks and water heater tank. Extra credit goes to one who treats the P-traps too. Those under sinks could be removed and the water simply dumped out. Those under bathtubs, built into toilets, or hidden in the wall for a clothes washer could be vaccumed out with a wet-dry vac or even a turkey baster, or treated with salt or RV antifreeze to prevent the remaining water from freezing.
Water-using appliances are likely to be damaged but freeze-proofing them is challenging. Think about the in-door water dispenser or ice maker in a fridge, the dish washer, the clothes washer, the steam feature in a clothes dryer, a steam oven, and so on..
After the storm is over and temperatures return above freezing careful re-commissioning of the water system is key. Verify the drainage plumbing is undamaged (traps below sinks, bathtubs, clothes washers, etc). Test the supply plumbing for leaks with vacuum or compressed air if possible. Turn the water on slowly and carefully listen and watch for signs of leaks. Monitor the flow indicator and dials on the water meter to confirm water flows only when it's expected to (when a valve somewhere is opened).