Ice Storm Reminds of Emergency Preparedness Need

Exactly one minute after the power went out yesterday, it occurred to me how unprepared my household is for any sort of emergency.

Oh, we have a small first aid kit and insurance to help with long-term affects after a major mishap, but I have written dozens of times about emergency preparedness and yet my house is severely lacking in any form of emergency kit, plan or other preparation.

Sure, we have a tongue-in-cheek plan for when the zombies attack, made over wine after watching horror movies. Many of the plan actors have moved though, so that emergency preparedness plan needs revised too.

And this weekend, I need to make a serious effort to plan for all the weird emergencies that could occur. Three hours without power left me with this knowledge.

Find the information for your emergency plan.

The first thing I need to do to plan for emergencies is get more information. I have gas heat. But when the ice storm knocked the power out, my heat went off. The temperature in the house dropped several degrees in that short period of time. Once the heating and cooling service company is not swamped with emergency calls, I need to find out why no electricity meant no gas heat.

It turns out that most gas heaters these days are manufactured with an electronic ignition, so they have no pilot light. That means a smaller chance of a gas-related incident trying to relight a pilot light as there is no pilot light, but it also means no heat when the power is out.

Then I realized that if we were without heat for a long period of time, I would have to find someplace else to stay. Okay, not a problem, we have lots of friends who would give us shelter in an emergency. Okay, problem. I have a cat. My in-laws would encourage us to come to their house, but the parrot might attack the cat and my mother-in-law is severely allergic to the cat. Not a good emergency shelter plan.

Other friends where we could stay have cats as well. Sounds like a better option, except that my cat is deathly afraid of her own species, having been tormented and attacked by them when she was young. Not a happy emergency plan for the cat.