Prepare your personal records ahead of Hurricane Irma

TAMPA (FOX 13) - With Florida inside Hurricane Irma’s cone of uncertainty, people have already started preparing for the potential hurricane.

There is another important step to remember: get your personal records in order.

Geoff Simon, senior vice president of investments for Raymond James, joined Good Day Tampa Bay on Wednesday to discuss how you can protect your documents and the extensive list of records you need in the chance of a natural disaster.

Simon suggests you start placing them in a safe place in case of flooding.

“Just having them is one thing, but if you end up leaving them in your house and there’s some flooding or damage they have to be in something that’s going to keep them high and dry,” he said. “So a good, secure container is a really important thing but a lot of people don’t realize how important it is. It’s good to have anytime, it’s good to know where all of that is, but it’s good to have it in a safe place.”

Here is the full hurricane document checklist:

Vital Records:
- Driver's licenses
- Birth certificates & adoption papers
- Social Security cards, passports, citizenship papers
- Marriage license, divorce decrees, child custody papers
- Current military ID, military discharge
- Medical and vaccination records & photos and ID chip numbers for pets

Insurance Policies:
- Policy numbers and insurance company contact information for:
- Homeowners, renters, flood, auto, life, health, disability, long-term care

Property Records:
- Real estate deeds & mortgage documents;
- Rental/lease agreement
- Auto/boat/RV registration and titles
- Video, photos or a list of household inventory.

Medical Information:
- Immunization and medical records,
- Prescription information (drug name and dosage)
- Health insurance ID cards, physician names & phone numbers,
- Powers-of-attorney for health care, and living wills.

Estate planning documents:
- Wills, Trusts, powers-of-attorney, attorney names & numbers.

Financial records:
- Previous year's federal tax returns,
- Investment records/certificates,
- Bank, brokerage & retirement account information
- Credit card, checking and savings account numbers,
- Contact info for financial institutions/advisors & credit card companies

Personal Records:
- Address book
- backups of important computer files, a l
- List of usernames & passwords for online accounts,
- Account information for utilities and other services