When the storm comes, your laptop can be a connection to the outside world

A hurricane has swept through the area, knocking out the power to your house and your neighborhood. How do you stay in touch with the outside world?

If you have a laptop computer - with a fully-charged battery, of course - you'll have many options.

The Free Press' Web site, at www.Kinston.com, will have up-to-the-minute news about where to find help, shelters and power outages. The site includes weather maps and a planning guide and will have stories and photos from around the area.

"It's a confusing and frightening time when a storm knocks out the power to your home," Free Press Publisher and Editor Patrick Holmes said. "But it's our goal at The Free Press and Kinston.com to have important information readily available to our readers and Internet viewers."

Additional features available at Kinston.com are message boards - where readers update each other - and photo galleries, an area where readers can post their own pictures of hurricane damage.

The Free Press' sister publications, The Daily News of Jacksonville (www.jdnews.com) and The Sun Journal of New Bern (www.newbernsj.com), have similar features on their sites.

Another site that should be of particular interest to residents outside the Kinston city limits who've lost their power can be found at Progress Energy's Web site. In detail, the site displays a map showing where power outages are, what time they began and the estimated time before power will be restored. The site is at http://www.progress-energy.com/aboutenergy/stormcentral/maps/index.asp.

Bryan C. Hanks can be reached at (252) 559-1074 or at bhanks@freedomenc.com. Check out his blog at http://bhanks.encblogs.com.

Hurricane help on the Web

In case of a hurricane, The Free Press' Web site (www.Kinston.com) is your immediate source for information. Other media sites you can visit include:

-- WCTI ABC-12 (www.wcti12.com)

-- WNCT CBS-9 (www.wnct.com)

-- WITN NBC-7 (www.witn.com)