Tropical Storm Erica Update as of 8:00 PM EDT Wednesday, August 26, 2015. Image from NOAA's National Hurricane Center. For the most current information, visit www.nhc.noaa.gov.
It’s that time of year again in Florida, we’re “in the cone” for our first hurricane of the year. While the weather always unpredictable, especially this far out, extended projections of Tropical Storm Erika show that my area could have a hurricane hitting as early as Monday. (It’s also entirely possible nothing will happen.)
Still, better to be safe than sorry. We’re a few days out so now’s a good time to start putting some of the tips of MPU 269 where we discuss emergency preparedness to work. Here’s a quick checklist of things you can do to get your tech ready:
- Check out some of those emergency preparedness apps
- Charge up your battery backups
- Sync your devices
- Make sure your backups are up to date (Mac and iOS)
- Make sure you have copies of all your essential documents, preferably paperless copies
- Unplug any nonessential electronics and drives, and unplug anything else you can prior to a storm's arrival to avoid damage from power surges.
- Go back and take another listen to MPU 269
Of course you’ll want to make sure you take care of your non-tech related needs as well. The Red Cross and NOAA have some tips on Hurricane Preparedness.
Be safe!