by James Valle
With Sandy coming to hit the Mid-Atlantic area this evening, there is some tech precautions you can take.
Have flashlights available with new batteries and use them sparingly.
If you have a landline (copper line) at home, make sure you have a single line corded phone available that does not require a power adapter or batteries. This will allow you to have have phone service.
Make sure you charge your rechargeable batteries, and portable electronic devices; like cellphones, laptops, portable hot spots, tablets, and any other portable electronic devices you can use for communicating to others. If you have to use your cellphone, make sure you use it sparingly as possible to preserve power. Have cellphone car chargers available when you loose power. If you need to communicate to others, text messaging is more successful than calling. Here is a great app you can download on your smartphone to call or text for free, called Viber.
If you have to use your computer, make sure you have a very good surge protector/backup battery. While using your computer, this would also be a good time to backup your data before you loose power. If you do not need to use your computer, We highly recommend powering off your computer(s) and disconnect it from the electrical source, even if it’s connected to a surge protector. After major storms in the past, we have seen too many computers damaged even when they were turned off but still connected to a electrical source.
If you have computers at your business location, this would be a good time to turn them off and disconnect from the electrical source, especially if you know you will not be back until after the storm. Make sure your computers, battery backup and other computer devices are off the floor just in case there will be any flooding in your area.
Other than that, everyone be safe and use common sense!!
