Use your phone to protect data, documents

Times Staff

The key to saving your most important possessions from a major storm fits in your pocket.

Smartphones have changed the hurricane prep game. You can use them to take photos of your possessions for your insurer; scan and store copies of your important financial and medical records; save your most prized photos; and, afterward, take notes and photos of any damage.

All that information can be saved via an online cloud storage service, so even a lost or damaged phone won’t prevent you from filing insurance claims and starting your recovery.

You’ll still want to take some physical possessions with you during an evacuation, but phones can lighten that load.

One thing your phone may not be able to do after a storm is pay for anything Power and communications could be down. Don’t count on credit cards, mobile payment apps like Apple Pay and Venmo or banks being open. Keep enough cash on hand (and hidden) to get by for at least seven days after a storm.

Here’s a quick guide to preserving your stuff.

Create a checklist

• Create a list of documents business, financial, personal, property and medical that you need to preserve and protect.

• Don’t forget your kids’ records, and any older relatives’ who need help.

• The same goes for your business records. Scan and save digital copies of everything.

• Do the same for your photos.

While our phones have become our cameras in recent years, you probably have old family photos, VHS tapes, etc., that need to be digitized. Do it now Even if you have to use your phone to photograph an older photo, it’s better than nothing.

• Figure out which records should be stored digitally and which you need to take with you. The safest bet is to scan and save everything in the cloud, even the records and photo albums you’ll take with you.

• Make a checklist in advance of your most important physical possessions paper records, photo albums, framed photos, home movies, etc. so you know what to grab when it’s time to evacuate. Don’t leave it to memory.

See DATA, 14HH