One of the better things you can do to be ready for a bad storm is backing up all of your important documents.

Losing your important documents would be a massive pain in your behind. When you’re considering your preparations for any kind of disaster, they should be kept in mind. For example, if you lose your passport but need to travel soon, you’ll either have to postpone it or pay an exorbitant rush fee to get a replacement quickly. Or perhaps when the storm comes, if you or a loved one is injured, wouldn’t it really suck to have to scramble getting your insurance information in order because all of the documents were destroyed? These are just two of the many annoyances that make people’s lives difficult following a bad storm. The thing is, when you lose so many important documents at once, getting them back might cost you a bit of money, but it’ll certainly cost you a lot of time.

With these concerns in mind, consider backing up these important documents in the case of a storm:

• Driver’s licence
• Birth certificate
• Marriage certificate
• Divorce certificate(s)
• Social security card
• Passport
• Educational attainment documents
• Military paperwork
• Medical paperwork
• Medical information
• All of your insurance paperwork

Paper is remarkably weak, and the modern world gives you many options for backup storage of important documents. The first thing you can do is take photos of or scan all of these documents. After that, you can upload the files on a secure cloud or file-sharing website. Putting these documents online will be the best way to physically protect the information, but make sure you’re doing so in a secure manner with a reputable company. Whether or not you back up these documents online, it’s wise to also transfer them to an external drive or a DVD and put them in a secured lock box.