For people without electricity

[Laurelin]

I know very little about surviving the cold but I was trying to check on things and found this. Maybe it helps a little.

https://austinenergy.com/ae/outages/during-an-outage

[PoindexterOglethorpe]

1. Helpful, although those without electricity probably can't read this.

On Thanksgiving Day 1987, we were in Golden, CO. We'd just moved in and I was trying to cook our holiday dinner. Thanks to a snowstorm, the electricity went out. My husband had the foresight to call a local hotel and book a room for us (including our two young children) in case the outage lasted. As it happened, we got power back in an hour or so and I was able to finish cooking our dinner, and we were able to stay home.

But his clear thinking has stayed with me. And while I have never myself been in such a situation, and I know that many people won't think of booking a hotel, or don't have the financial resources to do so, I would do the same thing in a similar situation in the future.

We were lucky that day. We had just moved from Phoenix, AZ, to Golden, CO, and had invited one of my husband's coworkers to join us for the holiday. I'd bought the turkey the day before, so getting it thawed out to cook was a bit of a challenge, but I managed.

More to the point, in my entire life (and I'm now 72 years old) I don't think I've ever gone even 24 hours without electricity. Which shows how privileged I have actually been. I haven't lived anywhere that I've lost power for even one day. I will admit to living in places with underground utilities, which helps. I have them here in Santa Fe, NM, and had them before this in Overland Park, KS. Honestly, more places really should have underground utilities.

[Laurelin]

2. You are lucky

I was without power for almost two weeks after Opal and over a week after I- forget- which- hurricane. And several days once after an ice storm. When I was in Texas most recently we lost power pretty routinely, sometimes just for a few hours, sometimes for a day or two. Good old Ercot.

I was reading pioneer books to my kids when Opal hit so that was helpful in a way. (See? This is what it was like, although they had a fireplace and stove and not a charcoal grill for food...) I still remember the thrill of seeing the power crews arrive. They even brought actual hot food to the kids. My heroes. )