Power outage - does and don'ts

 

After experiencing a power outage that lasted about 3 hours, there are things that I wanted to write about because of things I have seen and learned about after the power outage.

Living in an apartment building

• Once the power is out, the emergency generators will kick in so that there will be emergency lights in the halls and stairwells. The generator will also mean that there will be one elevator that is working, so if you don’t have to go out it’s a good idea just to stay home or, if possible, use the stairs.
• Make sure that you keep your refrigerator and freezer doors closed to keep the cold in these areas so that you can keep the food from going bad.
• Turn off any lights that you had on when the power went out, or at least try and remember which lights were turned on.
• Water is also going to be impacted, so remember that if you don’t need to flash the toilet, it’s a good idea not to. As soon as the water goes out, ensure that you at least fill up a glass with some water, as you will probably get thirsty at some point.
• Now, here is a major don’t do. Do not use the outlets in the hall for your personal use, as these outlets are using the emergency generator for their power. I did hear that in some apartment buildings, people were taking their microwaves out into the hall to make lunch. This is not good because you don’t know how long the power is going to be out, and you could be endangering the lives of others in your building, especially if the generator runs out of power.

Driving

• Remember that if the traffic lights are out, that means that the intersection is now a four way stop. Yes, that means that you must stop at the intersection and not just drive through the intersection. Again, this could result in an accident if all directions think they can just drive.

Pedestrians

• If you need to cross the road, remember that there are also cars trying to get around and some may not stop at the intersection, so be extremely careful.
  

Living in a house

• The biggest one for this is to make sure that you keep your refrigerator and freezer closed to ensure that you keep your food cold.
• Turn off any of the lights that you had on when the power went out.

Summary

Yes, a power outage can be a disruption and could mean that you are going to have to do things a little differently but remember you aren’t the only one dealing with the outage. Power outages aren’t something that anyone likes to deal with, but at least making sure that you do the right thing to help manage the situation, everything will be ok.