Blackouts and Emergency Preparedness
Historically the most commonly arising emergency in your dwelling is a town-wide power outage, oftentimes for many hours, now and then for many days. That’s not surprising given an ancient and over-needed power grid. We are far more reliant upon electrical power in the home than most of us realize. Just count the total electrical plugs in your house or apartment and see how many are occupied with plug-ins.
The following are a handful of ways you can ready yourself:
Flashlights – Have at least one for each person. If battery operated, replace batteries each year; if they are the rechargeable type, then keep them recharging around the clock or do so every week or so. Better yet, use self-powered flashlights (solar, pull-string or hand-crank, shake). Best location to store a flashlight is next to your bedside.
Automatic Systems – There are a plethora of automatic lighting systems that have batteries that can be recharged. They remain plugged into an electrical outlet, and automatically turn on when electricity goes out. These range from individual flashlights to dual spotlights. Best places to install them: hallway(s), kitchen, basement, garage or carport
Lanterns – Long ago, kerosene or oil lamps were commonplace, but also more common were house fires caused by these lamps falling. In today’s society, thanks to new technologies, there are many types of self-powered rechargeable LED lanterns Dynamo, solar and sometimes both.
Keep the power going in an emergency
Generator – In the suburbs and rural areas, it is not rare to own a backup generator; gas, diesel engine, propane. The size can vary from auxiliary to large enough to supply power everything in the house. Pretty difficult for urban dwellers, though, in particular those living in apartments. But…
Mini-Generator – You might know them as jumpstarters, but many of the new ones currently have built in DC to AC inverters with multiple outlets. Fully charged, one of these will provide temporary house current for appliances, power tools, computer, tv, etc.
Inverters – Power inverters convert DC (e.g. from a car battery) to AC (120v house current) and come in a range from 100 watts to as many as 10,000 watts (surge).
Cooking Power
Most kitchen stoves run on either electricity or natural gas. In emergency situations, oftentimes neither will operate.
Outdoor (and some indoor) grills – There are a wide range of grills, hibachis, and portable stoves one can purchase that can be used with propane, kerosene, charcoal, or wood for fuel. Some can be used indoors, all can be used outside or on apartment balconies.
Backpacking Stoves – Almost all of these can be used in your kitchen as well as outdoors or on the deck. The bigger ones, while not always the best for backpackers because of weight or bulk, can be used as a replacement stove in your kitchen.
Solar (Sun) Oven – One of the more ingenious ways to cook and bake in an emergency (or in any energy-conserving situation) is to utilize the sun’s energy. All you need is a solar oven with several hours’ exposure to the sun, and you can do just about anything you would prepare on or in your kitchen stove. These have been used in many of the world’s recent catastrophes, like the earthquake in Haiti.
Food & Water
Food – If the electricity goes down, so does the icebox. Cook whatever is in there first and foremost, because if the blackout is a long one refrigerated food will go bad. Go for the freezer food next, for exactly the same reason. The smart idea for any emergency is to stock up on canned and dehydrated~dried} foods, at least 72 hours’ worth and preferably longer.
Water – Not many are very aware of the amount of H2O we use every day for drinking, cooking, washing. Water is one of those necessities we often overlook until there is none. Assume a minimum of one gallon per person per day, and that’s a barebone minimum. More is better. So, it’s a good idea to have some water in storage, at least enough for basic necessities. Keep water in sealed 1-gallon or 5-gallon containers, even in the Coast Guard approved sealed pouches with a shelf life of about five years. There are also 55-gallon tub storage bladders and 65-gallon heavy duty storage bladders.
The Lavatory
Lastly, there is the toilet. For many, a loss of power also means no water. And without water, a toilet has around one flush. For those in this scenario, there are a wide range of solutions from single use disposable liquid and solid waste pouches to several-use portable chemical toilets.
To Summarize
All emergencies are unanticipated, but most can be prepared for ahead of time with some simple emergency supplies.In the event of no power, specifically one that lasts more than a few hours, think about what you commonly take for granted during a common day and night…light, heat, food, water, toilet. Now think about going without them.
