People in the city and the rural areas experience power cuts from time to time. While some power cuts are short-lived, others may take longer. Due to technical failures, one may have to endure hours of a power outage. Depending on where you live, you might feel isolated and helpless. People are so dependent on electricity for everything that it feels daunting not to have a power supply even for an hour. But panicking during a power outage will not help; instead, one must stay calm and collected and think for solutions. Continue reading this article to learn valuable tips one must follow during a long power cut.
Stay Connected: Be it day or night, when the power goes out, the first thing you need to do is to make sure the family members are safe. If any members are outside, let them know of the power cuts via text or call. Keeping everyone updated about the situation is especially crucial when you have low-power backup on your mobile phones.
- Check the weather update on your phone and learn more about the current weather. At times, power goes out when there’s a storm approaching. So, be sure to check the news on your phone if the power hasn’t come in hours.
- Look out for any alerts given out by the government to stay safe. Let your neighbors know that you are safe and ask if they need help.
Take Care of Appliances: At times, the power does not go out all the way. But, you feel a dip in the electricity voltage, and your appliances start acting weird. Rolling brownouts occur due to excess electricity consumption in a town or city. Be sure to turn down appliances and disconnect gadgets from the sockets during brownouts. You may easily avoid blackouts by installing a generator outside your house. For people who experience frequent brownouts, investing in a good generator is always a smart option that saves them a lot of trouble.
Find The Food: After a couple of hours of a power cut, it is time to check out the food. Some items are kept at a lower temperature than the others; therefore, they start to get bad first when there is no cooling available. However, do not open the freezer and take things out just yet because the freezer tends to stay cool for longer. Opening the freezer during a power cut will only make the ice melt faster. Instead, eat the food that is likely to rot faster and if you are uncertain if a food item has gone bad, throw it out.
Prevent Fire Hazard: You don’t have the central heating system available inside when the power goes out. So, it might get chilly very fast. Many a time, one may want to heat the place by lighting a fire inside the house. But it may also create a fire hazard. So, the first thing you should do is turn off the gas. Instead of using candles to light up the place, you may use flashlights to be on the safer side.
