If you’ve been following our Blog recently, you know that our town suffered through a catastrophic storm three weeks ago. Brookfield. Connecticut was changed forever on May 15th around 5:00 P.M. as a “macroburst” toppled countless trees, damaged homes and vehicles, and wiped out hundreds of miles of power lines and poles rendering roads impassible for days, and residents left in the dark. We’ve been under tornado warnings before, but the forecasted intense storms never materialized as this one did. Still, when my wife who had spent her college years in Mississippi told us to head to the basement, we did. I may not always listen to her, but I definitely respect her tornado knowledge as I remember texting her almost weekly about a tornado heading right for her. In today’s Blog, we’re going to tell you the steps you should take if mother nature’s fury descends upon you and your technology. We have first hand experience!
If you own a mobile device, make sure you have a good weather app on it. While The Weather Channel’s accuracy is often up for debate, their mobile app is excellent. The radar is reliable, and it’s able to pinpoint when rain will begin at your current location. There’s even a lightning tracker which will tell how far away from you that lightning has struck. On May 15th I watched the dark red cells on the radar get closer to us, giving me time to shut down computers and televisions before the storm reached us. That’s always step one – shut down wired devices before a storm hits. You should have your computer(s) and printer(s) plugged into (at minimum) a surge protector. I would recommend shopping for an uninterruptible power supply as well. An uninterruptible power supply (UPS) conditions power to even out the flow of electricity under normal situations, as well as take the burden off your devices in the event of brownouts or blackouts. If the power does go off, those equipped with a battery backup will allow you ten to fifteen minutes to save your work and shut down your devices properly. If everything is plugged into a surge protector, flip the switch on the strip until power is restored. If you’ve simply plugged your devices into the wall (tell me you didn’t), make sure it’s all unplugged so the sudden surge of electricity doesn’t fry your electronics.
We all have iPhones in our house. Seconds before the apocalypse seemed to be coming, our phones lit up and let out a shrill alarm about a tornado heading for us and to seek shelter immediately. That is allowed to happen thanks to a setting in, of all places, “Settings”. On your iPhone or iPad, tap “Settings” then “Notifications”. Scroll to the very bottom of the screen, and look for “Government Alerts”. Enable “AMBER Alerts” and “Emergency Alerts” to always be in the know. Emergency Alerts are the key to weather alerts like this one. Many residents in our area didn’t have power for five to seven days. Somehow we were spared and got it back twenty four hours after it went out. When the power came on, our home network came back as well, and the router appeared to be connected. Because of that, our phones seemed to be connected to our wireless network. The issue was that the cable was down, so we didn’t actually have Internet. Our home network was operational, but we couldn’t connect outside. In order to receive Internet on our wireless devices, we had to rely on our data plan. To do this, turn off Wi-Fi on your device. On an Apple device, simply swipe up from the very bottom of the screen, and tap the Wi-Fi’s antenna icon. It will turn from blue to gray. You may also tap “Settings”, then “Wi-Fi” and tap the toggle switch to turn it from green to white. On an Android device, tap “Apps”, then “Settings”, and toggle the Wi-Fi switch to off. You might have to do this daily while the Internet is down because iOS will disconnect for a twenty four hour period before trying to restore the connection. Remember not to go crazy downloading movies and music while you’re using data because you don’t want to incur extra charges during this time. Also, if you have a printer that allows you to print from your mobile device, reconnect your Wi-Fi, and you’ll be able to print from that device whether you have Internet or not. Turn Wi-Fi back off when you’re finished.
We were so incredibly blessed that our home didn’t receive damage and our family was safe. Two people were lost in our area, and the financial toll that this storm has taken on many will last for years. Our thoughts and prayers go out to all who were affected. It’s incredible what these natural disasters can do in such a short period of time, as the height of the storm lasted around seven minutes. While I know that technology was the least of many’s worries the last few weeks, it is important to know how to minimize damage and stay connected through social media and the Internet for emergency information and your own sanity. Hopefully you’re never faced with something like this, but if you are, you’ll know how to weather the storm.