Winter Storm Power Outage:
It does happen at times that a winter storm and a power failure occur simultaneously and cause great problems both physical and social. Though an outside warning siren may keep you ever alert, you never know as to when the power will be restored. Outside the temperature plummets, the wind picks up and snow begins to fall. Under such circumstances or conditions, you have to be pretty sensible and alert while using your common sense quite appreciably. The best way to cope with this situation is to make yourself prepared as much as possible prior to the winter storm and a power outage as both are expected almost simultaneously. No doubt, professional weather software may prove vital in this context. Some useful tips in this regard are as follows.
1. Before the Storm Power Outage Hits:
- Do get all your windows double-panned, insulated and well sealed. If some drafts are still left there, cover them with some plastic sheeting from the outside and with some film kits from the inside.
- Keep checking and repairing the caulking around the window seals time and again.
- Avoid making the whole house completely airtight because carbon dioxide may get accumulated from any heat source depending on a flame.
- Insulate your water pipes well before the temperature dips below freezing.
- Stock up on candles and hurricane lamps.
- Store a good amount of drinking water.
- Manage lots of board or card games around.
- Arrange a big selection of good books to read.
- Do have useful craft projects.
2. Tips for Surviving During the Winter Storm and Power Outage:
- The best tip in this regard is to use your common sense and all the available resources inside when the outdoor warning siren blows and the storm hits and the power fails.
- Be quick to close off all the parts of the house you are not using currently.
- Try your best to pull everyone into a smaller area in order to conserve heat, light and other resources.
- The bottoms of doors and windows should be stuffed with rolled up towels to the ward-off wind.
- Gather all the family members into a smaller area in order to accomplish activities like reading, playing cards or board games and dining under the same source of light together.
- Candles, hurricane lamps, kerosene lanterns, etc. must be used sensibly and economically.
- Music is known to boost up spirits in a scary, emergency situation. So do manage to listen to the same musical programme on your FM/AM radio while sitting together.
- Always use the stored water very sparingly for drinking or washing because you never know when this calamity will be over.
- Try to undertake off-grid cooking in the garage or at the same well-ventilated area to save the wastage of artificial light.
- Keep your freezer sealed up tight and try your best to use it once or twice a day when direly required. It will keep the frozen food intact as long as possible.
- Play a lot of card or board games under a single lighted candle to avoid boredom and fear of the storm. Work it out to be a fun time rather than make it a family crisis.
- Also, try to spend your time reading good storybooks aloud to the kids sitting around you.
- Craft projects like knitting, making jewelry, scrapbooking, reorganizing the family library, sorting through stacks of photos and arranging them into the album, etc. can serve the collective well-being of the family.
Hence, you can see that there may be a lot of tips or ways to survive against a winter storm power outage.
