Take the "Winter Ice Storm Challenge"--what should you have on hand in case of emergency?

Ok, here is the setting: It is the coldest week of the year, as cold as it gets where you live. An ice storm (fairly common where I live) has taken out power to your home and much of the surrounding area.

Challenge: List the items you should have on hand to ride out this situation in your home. Here are a few categories to stimulate your thinking: Light, Food, Shelter, Health, Sanitation, Safety, Security. I've deliberately left something very important off this list--what is it?

Make your list first, then come back here and read my answers.


My Answers to the Ice Storm Challenge

WATER. The big item I left off the list above was water. Normally in a power outage you can still get city water, but only if your pipes don't freeze, which they could easily do at the coldest time of the year, with temperatures in the teens and twenties. So at the start of the storm, fill bathtubs, pots, and other food-safe containers with fresh water. You should have at least ONE GALLON PER PERSON PER DAY. If you are on a private well and the power is out, you'll be without well water unless you have backup power.

LIGHT. The best answer for long-term indoor lighting without power is the candle. Get a number of 3" diameter pillar candles. One inch will take 8-10 hours to burn. So a 3x9" candle will last for at least a week of nights. They will not provide enough light to read, unless you have an array of them. But they will keep you from bumping into things, and will fill the psychological need for light, which is very powerful.

Get a half a dozen or more pocket-sized LED flashlights at a discount store. Give one to each family member, and keep a couple more in reserve. Get the kind that take one AA battery, and get a supply of lithium batteries. One lithium battery, while expensive, will last a week if used sparingly (a couple hours a night), and they won't leak inside your flashlight and ruin it, unlike those alkaline batteries will after a few years.

Camping lanterns are also a nice touch. Battery-powered is preferred for the indoors, though you can use a propane lantern if the room is well-ventilated. Please be sure about that.

Don't go to sleep with candles or propane lanterns alight.

SHELTER. At the coldest time of the year without heat, your house will become very cold, especially at night when everyone is trying to sleep. Congregate in one room, and focus on making that room as comfortable as possible. Pick the smallest room that still provides enough space, preferably with a low ceiling to reduce the volume to be heated. Body heat from you and other family members will raise the temperature significantly above what the room would otherwise be.

A small propane space heater, used carefully, can be a godsend. If you use one, pick a larger, more open and ventilated area. Even a small space heater can take the worst of the chill off a very cold night in a surprisingly large indoor area. Use it sparingly to conserve fuel. Turn it off before going to sleep--if the cold wakes you up, turn it back on and run it a while, then shut it off and go back to sleep. This really works, and is much safer and more fuel-thrifty than running it all night.

Set your faucets on trickle to help keep them from icing up. This is especially important for faucets and sinks on an outside wall.

Practice fire prevention. With candles, open flame cooking (see below) and space heaters, the opportunity for fire is greatly increased. Have buckets of water nearby and be watchful. Keep flames and hot items away from combustible papers, wood and such.

FOOD. You should always have at least one week's supply of food for the whole family in your house, at a very bare minimum. Most people do, but some don't. Eat the leftover stuff in the refrigerator first--before the house gets cold, some of the food in there could rise above 40 degrees for hours and spoil. Then go after the stuff in the freezer. Even if it gets very cold outside, the freezer will probably defrost at least partially in a couple of days. Mix in stuff from the pantry, then when the freezer has yielded its goodies, use that as your last, unperishable stores.

If you have a cooler and it is constantly below freezing outside, you could put some of your perishable food outside in the cooler. Secure the cooler and its lid carefully to prevent animals from getting inside. If your garage is securely below freezing you could put the cooler there.

Preparing food may be easy if you have a gas stove and the gas is still working. Or you could use a charcoal or propane grill, though that will be cold for the cook. A propane-fired camping stove is probably the best option if you don't have a gas stove or the gas is off.

HEALTH AND SANITATION. Keep ample stocks of prescription medications on hand, especially those for heart conditions, diabetes, and other illnesses that could quickly become medical emergencies without regular meds. Have an amped-up first aid kit on hand--not just a box of Bandaids. With open flames and use of hand tools you should expect more cuts and bruises than normal. Plus the ice storm will make emergency service much slower, or even inaccessible.

A good trick to know in case of heavy bleeding is use of a disposable diaper or even a feminine napkin. The modern absorption materials make these items amazingly effective at controlling bleeding.

Keep an ample supply of toilet paper on hand. In the event that the plumbing is out of order, you can improvise a toilet with a bucket and trash bags. The good news, if there can be good news in this situation, is that with freezing cold weather, the waste will not develop an unbearable smell piled up outside (in plastic bags) as it will be frozen, or at least very cold.

SAFETY AND SECURITY. Because of the increased potential for injury and the reduced (or prevented) access to medical services, emphasize safety to each member of your family. Use knives and other tools very carefully. If the ground and walks outside are slippery, avoid going outside, and be extremely careful when you do. Do not try to travel somewhere on foot or by car unless absolutely necessary. And do maintain fire security at all times inside the home.

COMMUNICATIONS. Land phone lines could be out. So could cellphone towers, if they lose access to power. Nevertheless, have a hand-cranked cellphone charger on hand. Have a couple of AM/FM portable radios with extra batteries. An inexpensive set of cellphone-sized walkie-talkies can be very helpful when someone does need to go outside, though effective range is limited to a block or two.

WHAT IS NOT ON THIS LIST? Conspicuously absent is a generator. That's because in most situations, a generator is not a practical substitute for normal home electrical power over a long period of time. You can certainly run your refrigerator, a well pump, and a few lights off of a big enough gas-powered generator (5,000 watts or larger), and you could probably store enough fuel to span a week's worth of periodic operation. But generators aren't a good answer for longer-term power outages. And our one-week scenario could easily become two or three, if you are a bit remote, or if the outage is sufficiently widespread.

Also missing are firearms. This is not to say you shouldn't have one or more guns for self-defense in your home or on your person. But this one-week neighborhood power outage is unlikely to heighten the security risk necessitating violent defense of your home. In fact it may objectively lower it, as criminals who might otherwise be disposed to break into your home will have ice storm-related problems of their own.

Keep in mind, as mentioned earlier, that a one-week emergency could easily stretch out significantly longer. And you don't know at the start of an emergency how long the situation will last. Prepare wisely, and conserve your consumables as judiciously as you can to make them last.