Smartphones and Hurricanes

Although it now looks like most of western Massachusetts will be in for nothing more than a fairly typical, albeit long duration nor'easter over the next few days (1-5 inches of rain, strong winds) - nothing like the stronger impact to our south - this would be a good time to update and tend to your smartphone or tablets as part of your storm preparation and monitoring. Moreover, it's a given that we will be experiencing power outages around these parts, too.

Preparation:

1.    Keep the phone charged
Charge up all your phones and tablets. Additionally, it is wise to keep them plugged in as you'll want to make sure you have a full charge if you experience a power outage. If you have any portable charging accessories, like a Mophie case for an iPhone, make sure to charge those up as well.

2.    Save battery life
If you do experience a power outage, make sure to use your phone as sparingly as possible and save the battery for emergency phone calls and information. Turning down the screen brightness on the phone and closing any apps you run in the background will conserve battery life.

3.    Download some of these apps, some are free and some are not.

Massachusetts Emergency Information App

Check out this link, http://www.mass.gov/mema/mobileapp

American Red Cross

www.redcross.org/mobile-apps/hurricane-app

Hurricane Supply List

https://itunes.apple.com/app/hurricane-supply-list/id322581064?ign-mpt=uo%3D6&mt=8

Hurricane Tracker

https://itunes.apple.com/app/hurricane-tracker/id327193945?ign-mpt=uo%3D6&mt=8

Hurricane Track for iOS

https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/hurricane-track-for-ios/id437519442?mt=8

Hurricane HD

https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/hurricane-hd/id363451838?mt=8

iMap Weather Radio

http://imapweatherradio.com/

Disaster Readiness

http://www.phoneflips.com/2011/disaster-readiness-guide/

Tune In Radio

http://tunein.com/mobile/

And if you know of other apps that could be helpful, we'd love to know about them. 

(Written/compiled by Mindy - posted by Sharon)