Nature can be incredibly unpredictable. With incidents of flooding on the rise all over the world, it’s becoming more important than ever before to be proactive when it comes to protecting essential family documents from water damage.
Read on to find out the steps to take to protect your documents, plus, get professional tips on how to recover water-damaged documents.
Key Takeaways
To protect physical copies of your family documents, invest in a waterproof document bag or safe.
Place all of your essential documents in a flood kit so you can easily access them in the event of an evacuation.
Ensure you create digital back-ups of your documents using a secure Family Operating System® like Trustworthy.
Flood-Protection Options
Planning before natural disasters hit is the best way to ensure your important legal documents are safe.
“An ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure,” says Scott Friedson, CEO of Insurance Claim Recovery Support, an Austin, Texas, company that helps large property owners negotiate claims with insurance companies.
“Don't wait until it's too late. Take action now to protect your records and provide yourself peace of mind, knowing your essential documents will withstand unexpected catastrophes.”
Use Waterproof and Fireproof Document Bags
If you’re looking for ways to protect essential documents from flooding, one of the easiest options is to invest in a waterproof document bag.
There is a wide range of waterproof document bags out there on the market today, and a large proportion of these products are fireproof as well.
Waterproof document bags vary in price pretty dramatically depending on the size of the bag and the complexity of their protective materials.
At the high end of the spectrum, you can expect waterproof and fireproof document bags to be constructed of multiple layers of both aluminum-based fiberglass and silicone-based cloths. The aluminum fiberglass protects the documents from incredibly high temperatures, while the exterior silicon coating safeguards against water damage.
Waterproof document bags are ideal for traveling to protect key documents like your family passports or proof of insurance.
The only drawback to remember is that space tends to be limited when it comes to document bags. That means if you’re on the hunt for an option to store a larger number of documents indefinitely, you might want to consider an alternative.
Invest in a Water-Resistant Safe
A water-resistant safe is definitely a more permanent storage option for home and office use.
Like waterproof document bags, water-resistant safes are also generally fireproof. They use outer metal frames with an internal, fireproof core to protect documents from extreme heat. Meanwhile, the safes are made waterproof thanks to rubber seals and water-resistant bolt systems.
A mid-range waterproof safe should be able to keep documents safe while submerged in 8-10 inches worth of water for up to 72 hours.
The primary benefit of a water-resistant sage is that it supports a larger capacity of documents and valuables. But like waterproof document bags, a safe can only protect against flooding for a couple of days. That means you’re working against the clock if a property floods and you’ve got to recover your documents.
Digitally Back Up Important Documents
Investing in a waterproof bag or safe to protect the original paper copies of important documents are critical steps to ensure your family is flood-proof. But that’s only half of a strategy.
Next, you’ve got to digitize your essential documents. Digital backups provide the ultimate safeguard in case you’re unable to recover your waterproof safe or document bag after the flood waters recede.
“By keeping secure digital copies, individuals ensure they can retrieve documents from anywhere, even if the physical copies are destroyed,” says Kalim Khan, co-founder and senior partner at Affinity Law in Ontario.
“In today’s world, digital storage offers a secure and easily accessible way to preserve critical information. Cloud storage services, for example, provide encryption and redundancy, reducing the risk of loss even in catastrophic events.”
Take Trustworthy, for example.
Trustworthy's dynamic and intuitive Family Operating System® that makes the process of digitizing your important documents fast and simple. Trustworthy supports drag-and-drop document management and mobile app scans, and scans documents directly to your inbox so you can upload anything to your secure vault instantly.
Meanwhile, all of your digital documents are protected by multi-factor authentication, tokenization, and 256-bit AES encryption keys, ensuring only you and those you trust can access them.
That means if your original documents are lost because of flooding, you’ll still have copies of family IDs, birth certificates, Social Security cards, and insurance documents that are 100% secure, accessible, and dry.
Take a look at Trustworthy’s range of features to find out how it can help you protect your family documents from flooding.
Store Copies of Documents Off-Site
After focusing on digitalization using a platform like Trustworthy, your next step should be to consider the best place to store copies of your physical documents.
If you live in an area that’s prone to flooding, it goes without saying that storing important documents in your home will always be high-risk. That’s why it’s worth storing family documents off-site at a location that’s more protected from the elements.
Affinity Law’s Kalim Khan advises: “Storing physical copies off-site in a safe deposit box or with a trusted advisor is another prudent measure. While digital backups are highly reliable, having a hard copy stored securely in a flood-proof location can offer an extra layer of protection. Off-site storage protects documents from damage caused by local natural disasters, ensuring they remain safe and intact.”
One practical option might be to keep a waterproof and fireproof safe at a family member’s house, which includes copies of important paperwork. You might also opt to store documents in a safety deposit box at your local bank.
You just need to make sure that the documents you're storing off-site are still reasonably accessible.
Again, this is where it pays off to opt for a digital safety deposit box like Trustworthy because you’ll be able to instantly and securely access your documents on a range of devices from anywhere in the world.
Organize Documents in a Flood-Ready Emergency Kit
Remember the waterproof document bags we discussed earlier? Well, they’re an ideal way to start building an emergency flood kit.
An emergency flood kit is a collection of essentials that you’ll be able to grab quickly and safely while evacuating your home in the event of a natural disaster like flooding. While the exact contents of your emergency kit can vary pretty dramatically depending on your lifestyle and needs, you should aim to include things like:
Essential family documents like IDs, birth certificates, and insurance documentation.
Important electrical items like your mobile phone and a charger.
Access to finance like some emergency cash or a credit card.
Prescription medication and a first-aid kit.
It’s important that you regularly review what’s in your kit to make sure medications and documents are always up-to-date. That way, you’ll always have the bare essentials with you if you must leave your home quickly.
Elevate Document Storage in Flood-Prone Areas
When storing your documents or flood kit, you should always do your best to keep it elevated.
That means placing your documents on one of the upper floors of your home or on top of a high shelf. This will ensure that if your home does start to flood, you’ve got plenty of time to reach your documents before they’re affected by the encroaching waters.
If you’re using a physical security key to protect a digital vault like Trustworthy, make sure you’re placing them up high or in your flood kit, too.
How to Recover Water-Damaged Documents
Accidents happen, and sometimes, even the most proactive measures aren’t enough to keep your physical documents safe.
Unfortunately, recovering water-damaged documents is incredibly difficult. But it’s not impossible. Here’s what to do if you’ve got wet documents on your hands:
Increase circulation in the affected areas. Turn on fans and open windows in the room that’s flooded to get air in and start drying things out.
Blot your documents with clean towels or sponges. Don’t use newspapers or unclean towels to blot wet documents, because the ink or dirt could transfer onto the item you’re trying to save.
Don’t pull apart wet documents or photos. Wait until they’re damp so that the documents separate cleanly from one another.
Don’t have time to save all your documents immediately? Place lower-priority documents in the freezer. This will keep them in the best possible condition until you’re able to recover them.
Looking for more document recovery tips? Check out the FEMA website. They've got all sorts of advice on how to tackle recovery for different types of documents or family treasures.
Frequently Asked Questions
What is the best way to protect important documents?
To protect physical copies of documents, it’s worth investing in a waterproof document bag or safe. But it’s equally important to create digital copies of your documents in case your waterproofing measures fail.
How can documents be protected from moisture in a safe?
To protect documents inside of a safe from moisture damage, consider adding silica gel packets, uncooked rice, or calcium-chloride-based products.
How many places should you use to back up your important documents?
To safeguard paper documents, make sure you create a digital backup. To protect physical copies, store a copy of important documents off-site in case your property is compromised by flooding.
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Trustworthy is an online service providing legal forms and information. We are not a law firm and do not provide legal advice.
