Getting Through Power, Water and Network Outages

Power and water outage preparedness is about one thing: keeping daily life safe when electricity, tap water, phones or card payments stop for hours or for days. Most outages are short and boring. A few are long and hard. This guide covers the first hour of a blackout, food and medicines, heaters and generators, water notices, phones, payments and fuel, so that your household knows what to do before it happens.

Your electricity, water and telecom suppliers, and your national emergency agency, set the official rules and give the live information during an outage. Use this guide for the method. For anything about your meter, your pipes or your medical equipment, follow the instructions of the supplier or your clinic.

The first hour of a blackout

The first hour sets the tone. People who stay calm and do a few simple things have an easier time later.

Do these in order:

Check if it is only your home. Look outside. Are the street lights and the neighbours' windows dark too? If only your flat is dark, check your own fuse box or breaker first. If the whole street is dark, the fault is outside.
Get light. Use a torch or head torch. Avoid candles, because they cause fires.
Protect equipment. Unplug sensitive items such as computers and televisions, or switch them off at the wall. When the power returns, a surge can damage them. Leave one lamp switched on so you can see when it returns.
Keep the fridge and freezer closed. Every time you open the door, cold air escapes.
Check on others. Knock on the door of a neighbour who is older or lives alone.
Find out why and how long. Use your supplier's fault line or website from a phone, or a battery radio.
Charge what matters. Use a power bank for your phone. Lower the screen brightness.

Our article on what to do when the power goes out in the first hour walks through a typical evening step by step.

Here is a short example. Say it is six in the evening in autumn and the lights go off. You check the street, and the neighbours are dark too. You light the battery lantern, put the head torch on the table, eat the food from the fridge that spoils first, and message your aunt that you are fine. By seven you know from the radio that a line has fallen in the next district. That is calm, and it took one hour.

Food, medicines and devices without power

Food. A closed fridge keeps food cold for a limited time, and a closed freezer keeps it for longer. How long depends on how full it is, the room, and the food. Eat perishable food first: fresh meat, fish, milk and cooked leftovers. Use tinned and dry food after that. Follow your food-safety authority on what to throw away, and when in doubt, do not eat it. Our article on how long food stays safe in the fridge without power has a simple routine.

Medicines. Some medicines must stay cold. Insulin is the best-known example, but not the only one. Your pharmacist or doctor can tell you exactly how your medicine should be stored and for how long it stays safe outside the fridge. Ask them before an outage, not during it. Our article on how to keep insulin cold without power shows common methods, and always follow the advice from your own clinic and the product leaflet.

Medical devices. If someone in the home uses a machine that needs power, such as an oxygen concentrator, a ventilator or a powered bed, tell your electricity supplier. Many suppliers keep a register of vulnerable customers and give priority information. Ask your clinic what to do if the machine stops. Keep their phone number and the emergency number where you can see it. If a device failure puts a life at risk, call the emergency number.

Phones and small devices. A power bank, a car charger and a hand-crank or solar charger all help. Close apps, turn on low-power mode and keep calls short.

Generators and heaters without carbon monoxide

This is the most important safety section in the guide.

Petrol and diesel generators, charcoal grills, camping stoves and many gas heaters give off carbon monoxide. It has no colour and no smell, and it can kill people in minutes or hours, even if they feel only a little sleepy. Every winter in outages, families are poisoned because they brought a generator or a barbecue indoors.

Rules to remember:

Never run a generator, grill or camp stove inside a home, a garage, a shed, a balcony or near a window or door. Keep generators outdoors and well away from the building, as the maker's manual says.
Only use heaters that are made for indoor use and that your supplier or maker says are safe, and follow the instructions.
Fit a carbon monoxide alarm with a battery. Test it. Put one near the bedrooms.
If the alarm sounds, or if anyone has a headache, dizziness or nausea that began when the heater or generator started, go outside into fresh air at once and call the emergency number.
Only a qualified electrician should connect a generator to the house wiring. Connecting it wrongly can send power back into the lines and hurt repair workers.

Our article on generator safety and carbon monoxide at home explains the placement rules and what to do if you feel unwell.

For warmth without any of these, use layers, blankets, a closed door and one small room, as in the guide to keeping one room warm.

Boil-water notices and dry taps

Water problems come in two forms. The tap may run dry, or the water may flow but be unsafe.

Dry taps. If the supply stops, use your stored water for drinking and cooking first. Use bath water or bucket water for washing and flushing. Your supplier may set up tankers or collection points, so listen for notices.

Boil-water notices. A notice tells you that tap water may carry germs. Your supplier explains what to do. Typically you must bring water to a rolling boil and let it cool before you drink it, brush your teeth with it, wash fruit with it, make ice or prepare baby food. Follow the exact instructions in the notice, because they can differ. Our article on a boil-water notice: what you can and cannot do lists the common questions, such as showering and washing dishes.

Toilets. Without running water, a toilet can still work if you pour a bucket of water into the bowl. Our article on how to flush a toilet without running water explains the method and how to keep hands clean afterwards.

Keep a store of drinking water at home. The track on water storage in the household emergency preparedness guide shows how to build it.

Reaching family when networks are congested

When something happens, everyone calls everyone at once. Phone networks get busy, and mobile masts may lose power after a few hours on battery backup.

What helps:

Send a short text message instead of calling. A message uses less capacity and may go through when a call does not.
Use one contact outside the area. Agree in advance that everyone will message the same person in another town. That person passes news to others.
Keep calls and data use low. Do not stream video or refresh social media. Save the battery.
Know the fallback. Agree on a meeting place and a time, in case you cannot get a message through.
Use a radio for information. A battery radio is not affected by phone congestion.

Our article on how to contact family when cell service is down has more ideas, including what to do on a landline and in a building where the signal was already weak.

Paying when cards and apps fail

Card readers need power and a connection. Cash points need both. In an outage, many shops accept only cash, or they close.

Keep a small amount of cash at home, in small notes and coins. Keep it in your go-bag or with your papers. Know where the nearest shop is that sells essentials and that may have a backup generator. Do not spend your cash on things you do not need, because you may need it for several days.

Pay attention to scams. In an outage, some people pretend to be from a supplier and ask for payment details at the door or by phone. A real supplier will not ask for your bank details at the door. If you are unsure, call your supplier on the number printed on your bill.

Fuel shortages and transport disruption

Fuel can be hard to find after a big event, or when a supply chain breaks. Petrol pumps also need electricity. Public transport may stop.

A few simple habits make a difference:

Keep your car's tank at least half full during storm or winter seasons, so you can leave if you must.
Plan to walk or cycle for short trips, and know which shops are within walking distance.
If you must travel, check official transport updates before you leave.
Store fuel for generators and stoves only as your fire authority allows, in approved containers, outside the living space. Do not keep large amounts at home.

If you rely on a car for work or health appointments, tell your employer or clinic early. They often have a plan for such days.

Common mistakes

Opening the fridge to "check". Cold air escapes each time.
Bringing a generator, grill or camp stove inside. This can poison a household.
Using candles as the main light. Torches and lanterns are safer.
Waiting until the outage to ask the pharmacist about medicine. Ask beforehand.
Drinking tap water during a boil notice without boiling it. Follow the notice.
Relying on a phone for information. Keep a battery radio.
Having no cash. Card readers and cash points need power.
Forgetting neighbours. Check on people who live alone.

Quick reference

Problem	First action	Read more
Lights go out	Check if it is the street, get a torch, keep the fridge closed	First hour
Cold medicine	Ask your pharmacist or clinic how to store it	Insulin without power
Need heat or power	Never use fuel-burning devices indoors	Generator safety
Boil-water notice	Follow the supplier's exact instructions	Boil-water notice
No running water	Use stored water; flush with a bucket	Flush without water
Phones congested	Send short messages; use one outside contact	Contact family

Questions people ask

How long can I expect a power outage to last?

It depends on the cause. Many outages end in hours. Storms, floods and attacks on the network can lead to days. Your supplier gives estimates, and you should plan for more than the first estimate.

Is it safe to use a camping stove inside if I open a window?

No. Open windows do not remove the risk of carbon monoxide. Use camping stoves and grills outdoors only, or eat food that needs no cooking.

What should I do if someone in my family depends on a medical machine?

Tell your electricity supplier in advance so that they can list you for priority information. Ask your clinic for a plan, and keep their number near the machine. If the machine stops and it is a danger to life, call the emergency number.

Should I turn off the water at the main during an outage?

Only if your supplier or authority advises it, for example when pipes may freeze or contaminated water may enter. Learn where your stop tap is before an event, and ask your supplier when it should be used.

How can I stay informed if the phones fail?

Use a battery or hand-crank radio tuned to the station your civil-defence agency names. Neighbours, community halls and local officials also share information in person.

Learn this in five minutes

The ReadyCiv track "Power Outages" gives you five short lessons: get through the first hour calmly, keep medicines and medical devices working, use generators and alternative heat without poisoning yourself, manage a multi-day outage in winter and in summer, and report faults and follow rolling blackout schedules. Each lesson takes about five minutes, so you can be ready for the most common utility failure in a single evening.