Hurricane? Here are some tech tips
Is a hurricane bearing down on you? Here are some practical tech tips to help you ride it out. Before the hurricane arrives, purchase a battery backup (or two). They can be purchased from Best Buy, Office Depot and other places that sell computers and office equipment. You will need to charge it up before the storm arrives. It can serve two purposes— you can run your router and computer during brown-outs and you can use it to power your cell phone after the power goes out completely. Just note that it will have an alarm that will go off when the power goes out— but you can silence that by pressing the on/off button for a couple of seconds (in most cases— check the documentation that comes with the unit if that doesn’t work). I was able to keep my iPhone charged during hurricane Irma (September 2017) for the whole week that the power was out in my area of Tampa. Also, if you get a second one, you can power your router and computer for short periods after the power goes out (often, internet is still working if your router has power).
Just before the hurricane arrives, you can also shut your computer down, unplug it and place an opened garbage bag over it and tie it off at the bottom and place it up high to help protect it from water damage.
If you think you might have to evacuate or pay your bills while the power is out, you can download apps to your iPad or cell phone for each of the services that you want to pay a bill for (for example the Chase App to pay a Chase credit card bill, etc.). Also, you can do the same for your Bank (like Bank of America App), where you can pay your bills from the Bill Pay area.
Remember, the bigger the battery backup you get, the more time you can use it after the power goes off. Here are two that I like:
Large APC Pro 1500VA
https://www.bestbuy.com/site/apc-back-ups-pro-1500va-10-outlet-2-usb-battery-back-up-and-surge-protector-black/6165881.p?skuId=6165881
Small APC 900VA
https://www.bestbuy.com/site/apc-back-ups-900va-9-outlet-1-usb-battery-back-up-and-surge-protector-black/6411066.p?skuId=6411066
