How to keep your important documents safe in severe weather emergencies

ALAMO, Tenn. — It’s spring in West Tennessee, and that means the potential for more severe weather.

In the event of severe weather, you need to know what documents you’ll need and where to find them in an emergency.

“Most people have a safe or lockbox or something at a bank,” Crockett County EMA Director Joe Jones said. “Just take care of them, and know where they are.”

Those documents include your birth certificate, driver’s license, insurance records, wills, financial records and medical papers.

Jones suggested a way to keep those documents safe.

“Get a lock box, a waterproof lock box. That’s the only thing you can do,” Jones said.

You can buy one of these online or at a home supplies store.

Jones says it’s important to know where these documents are and to keep the lock box in a safe place.

“I wouldn’t carry it away from where I knew where it was. As long as it’s in your house, you’re all right,” Jones said.

But if you have to evacuate, take it with you. Keeping these papers together prevents you from looking for them later.

If you cannot find your birth certificate, you can contact the health department in the county where you were born, or the state health department.