Hurricane Irene Heads Towards The East Coast, Here Are A Few Geek Tips To Make It Slightly Better

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As Hurricane Irene makes its way closer and closer to the US, there is still some time to prepare. Of course, the big items should be taken care of first, however once the family, house and truly important tasks are taken care of — there are also some other things you can do to help make the experience a bit easier.

Image courtesy: Weather.com

And trust me, I use the word easier as a last resort because there is really nothing easy about a hurricane. In fact, a better word may be bearable. That being said, first and foremost — prepare the yard and house by picking up the items which are usually laying around. And yes, that includes those that may seem big — including tables and chairs as those can sometimes be more dangerous than the little items.

You should also consider getting some extra food, a charcoal grill, some charcoal, water and batteries for when you lose power. And for those batteries, remember, if you lose power and have nothing that is powered by batteries you may lose that feeling of knowing what is going on and what to expect in the coming hours.

Pro tip, while gadgets are cool, in a time of a storm and limited or no power a simple AM/FM radio is a wonderful thing to have.

Another point to consider, get some gas in the car along with some extra gas in a can for those lucky enough with a generator. You should also take some time to think about the some other ‘in advance’ type of things. For example, if there is a branch or part of a tree that could blow and break a window you should cut it now. Remember, the more you do now, the easier it will be if you get hit.

With the big points out of the way, here are some goodies that you can do to help make things after easier. Keep in mind, a big storm can kill power for several days. Or worse, several weeks. With that, here are some geek tips — charge every gadget that you have that you may want to use — most important a mobile phone. And here, SMS will probably be king.

Also, download some content now — after all, the power goes out, the cable goes out and so does the internet. Plan ahead and have stuff to watch or keep yourself entertained after the fact — especially for those with kids. Maybe hit up your local retail outlet and buy an external battery or two and a car charger for your phone or laptop is always handy to have when you have no power in your home.

Your camera will also be handy for after the storm, and with that, I leave you with this thought and the below image — take this storm seriously as they can be really really dangerous. This image was my house in 2005 when Hurricane Wilma came across the southern part of Florida. All in all, it was a little over $40,000 worth of damage which came from winds of about 110 miles per hour.