03/16/2025
Unfortunately the Rolla area was hit by a tornado, hail, and high winds. My internet and phone were down early in the day. Local radio stations are/were down. I have spent most of today outside cleaning up messes myself so was not fully aware of the extent of damage in Rolla proper until later in the day. Several reached out to me but mostly through text messages so I wasn't fully aware of the mess.
A1 Tech will be available to help to cleanup this mess and restore normal operations.
Of course in business dealing with scam victims is my #1 job and it sounds like scammers are already masquerading as FEMA and contacting folks in Rolla. DO NOT GIVE THEM ANY INFORMATION OR MONEY! IF you have not contacted anyone about your damages any contact related to the storm damage is likely a scam. Unsolicited contacts of any kind reaching out to you should be viewed with suspicion. If you question them and they become increasingly pushy and telling you you need to act immediately, know it is a scam. These are the true bottom feeders of society and there is a special place in hell for them!
Data recovery is my #2 job. It is one of the most costly and inconvient and definitely my 2nd most common job. Sometimes this requires a clean room service which is quite expensive. It can range from a couple thousand dollars to tens of thousands of dollars depending on the extent of the damage and number of devices impacted. Not all data loss is caused due to scammers and malware. Bad weather is also a common reason for data loss. Computers at your home may have been damaged due to power surges, water, and/or physical shock damage, resulting in data loss.
The information on these devices may be worth more than the device itself. If this is the case, DO NOT ATTEMPT DATA RECOVERY OF DAMAGED DEVICES ON YOUR OWN! THEY NEED TO BE LEFT UNPLUGGED AND OFF with the battery removed if that is possible! Improper data recovery can render recoverable data unrecoverable or make it more difficult and costly.
If you have a reliable cloud backup or secure onsite or offsite backup, data recovery should be much easier. I also mention geographic separation of data backups. One can take a backup to their place of work, family, or friends to make sure all eggs aren't in the same basket. That way if a disaster destroyes the primary location of information, it will be backed up in another location.
Damage due to improper power protection or extreme power conditions is my #3 most common cause of electronic damage. The weather itself is the likely cause of most of this due to lightning induced surges and brownouts.
Generators used during power outages can also result in damage to sensitive electronics. Many traditional construction generators due not produce clean power. These are fine for large motors, pumps, simple power tools, and heating elements but not modern electronics. Inverter generators produce clean power, make less noise, and use less fuel so are ideal for powering electronics, though they are more costly and complex. An inverter or quality home backup generator is best suited to powering electronics, appliances, and HVAC systems during a power outage.
I am going to try to hold Monday open for emergency service to local impacted businesses and residents. Routine maintenance and non-critical services will be delayed to take care of those most impacted be the storm.
PLEASE CALL 573-458-9175 if you need my services. DO NOT use Facebook to contact me if you want a timely response. I get several dozen or more scammers contacting me each and every day on Facebook so this means of communication is very low priority for me. It might be several days or you might get one of my snarky responses intended for the scammers! The platform is a complete cesspool of scammers and sees no need to try to tackle this problem as they profit directly from the paid ads and indirectly from the engagement the scammers generate. Do not send money to anyone through Facebook related to this disaster or otherwise.
