Winter Emergency Preparedness
Here’s hoping that you all are safe and warm. Invariably at least twice a year we get a major power outage, a summer outage is a pain but a winter outage is especially nasty. This week has been a challenge even for those of us who have done this before. Let me tell you what not to do. Don’t listen to the weather report, don’t believe the weather report when a friend tells you. And, don’t check your emergency supplies the day before the storm. Otherwise, you could end up driving down 218 dodging ice patches, fallen trees and stuck vehicles trying to get to the store with electricity because you are out of milk, snacks, drinking water and have 3 teenagers in the house!
Check out the guidelines below from the CDC for winter storm prep. A couple of things not mentioned that are especially helpful are a grill or a camp stove that can be set up outside. One hot meal a day can make the inconvenience bearable when the outage lasts for more than a day or two. May also keep you safe because you are not out there on the road. We also keep picnic supplies year round, no dishes to wash. Make your hot meal a one pan affair. If you have a well and septic tank, well, you will be hauling water or melting snow to flush the toilet, one of the not so wonderful aspects of living in the country. Melting snow is not so bad when you only need to flush one or two times a day, but if you have more than a couple of people living in your house, twice a day is probably not enough. Thank goodness for friends on public water.
This storm brought down a lot of trees, branches, power lines and even snapped power poles. Just notified that my power is back on, hope yours is too.
Thanks greatly to the men and women out there working to get the power back on. https://www.cdc.gov/disasters/winter/beforestorm/preparehome.html
Happy New Year! Let it Snow?
