South Hackensack News & Events

Power Outage Preparedness

OH MY GOD THE POWER IS OUT

Whether a power outage in your home is caused by a grid failure or severe weather, you can take the following steps to prepare and respond. Include power outages in your family emergency plan, identifying alternate means of transportation and route to home, school or work.

Perishable food should not be held above 40 degree for more than 2 hours. If the power outage is 2 hours or less, there is no need to be concerned. Avoid opening the refrigerator or freezer.

The following is recommended by the American Red Cross and the Federal Alliance for Safe Homes.

What do I need to do?

Purchase one or more coolers. Inexpensive Styrofoam coolers can do an excellent job.
Surround your food with ice in cooler. By doing this your food will stay cold.
Have self-stable foods available. These could be can goods and powered or boxed milk.
A digital quick-response thermometer should be necessary in your kitchen anyway. With theses thermometers you can quickly check the internal temperatures of food for doneness and safety.
Turn off any electrical equipment that was in use prior to the power outage.
Turn out all lights; leave one light on to alert you when power is restored

What to Do?

During a power outage do not open the refrigerator or freezer. Tell the little ones not to open the door. An un-open refrigerator will keep foods cold enough for a couple of hours at least.

A freezer that is half full will hold up to 24 hours and a full freezer will hold up to 48 hours.

If it looks like the power outage will be more than 2 hours pack refrigerated milk, fish, poultry, meats, eggs, dairy products, gravy and leftovers into your cooler surrounded by ice.

If it looks like the power outage will be prolonged, check with a relative who is not affected by the power outage and see if you can stay there and store your perishable items, if not you need to prepare another cooler for the freezer items.

What preparedness items should I have?

A supply of flashlights with batteries
A battery-powered portable radio or TV
An alert all hazards radio
Cash on Hand, many ATM machines may not work
Non perishable food
Gas in your vehicle
Fully charged cell phone
Have an emergency power supply for anyone dependent on medical equipment requiring electricity.
Contact your local electric and gas company and tell them you have someone who is on medical equipment and is in need of electricity. By doing this before, the electric company will know and can assist you.

What not to do!

Never go near or touch a downed wire, contact your police department or call 9-1-1
Never plug a generator into a wall outlet or hook them up directly to the home electrical system, as they can feed electricity back into the power lines, putting everyone in danger
Use gas powered generators outside and well ventilated
Connect only individual appliances to portable generators

When driving use caution as lights could be out.

When power is restored, wait a few minutes before turning on major appliances to help eliminate further problems.

During a power outage, resists the temptation of calling 9-1-1 for information – that’s what your battery-powered radio is for.