Dealing with Thunderstorm Blackouts

BOOM! Everything that you were doing, is probably going to be put on hold for a while. In fact, you can't read this if you hear the tell-tale "CRACK!" followed by the "PPPppppyyyuuuuu..." of electrical items powering down. Yep. Your electricity is out thanks to a thunderstorm. It can be fun. But most of the time it's just annoying and, yes, even a little scary! Even as I write I'm sitting in a room darkened by just such a loss of power. Thankfully my laptop was fully charged! This may be my first time being home alone in the middle of the night without power (and yes, I'm a little spooked), but since I've got some time on my hands, I'll give you a little list of things that have made my time in the dark, just a little bit easier!

First, when your electricity goes out, don't panic (like I did). Your first stop should be for a flashlight, lantern, or candle. It may be hard to find in the dark, so if you have a cellular phone or some other electronic that lights up (ipod, pda, book light, etc.) use that to navigate your way to these. Next, find an electric bill or phone book. You should be able to find on your electric bill a listing for a number to call in case of outages (if not, your phone book should have a listing near the front cover, of emergency numbers). Call the hotline and report the outage. This not only helps assure that the electric company knows about the outage, but most companies will also give you an estimate of how long it will be before your power is restored (I'm writing this at 3:33 in the morning, and my estimated time of power restoration is *sigh* 4:20).

Once you've placed your call, you should look for a weather radio. These are really great to have around, since you can't just check weather.com or flick on the local station. Once you know what's going on with the weather, you can decide your next course of action. If your weather is severe (even if the weather radio doesn't say so), get somewhere in the most center part of your home, preferably with no windows. Bring a heavy blanket with you and keep it close by in case things get really nasty. This can shield you from any broken glass or minor debris. Make sure to bring along your phone as well as your lantern and weather radio.

If the weather isn't so bad, or the bad portion passes over, here are a few other tips.

Most weather radios are able to pick up FM and AM stations, so turn on a little music. It reduces your stress and keeps your mind off of the storm ( or lack of air conditioning in my case!). If you have a laptop with a charged battery, set the laptop to a power-saver mode, if available. If not, most laptops can have their screen brightness lowered by pressing the Function (Fn) button and the down arrow key simultaneously. Tap the down arrow key until the screen is on minimum brightness (your screen will get not get any dimmer). This will save a good amount of battery life (with lowest screen brightness and power saver, my computer went from 1.5 hours of life to 4.5 hours of battery life). This, too can provide some music to soothe you. I caution against using your laptop to play DVDs or digital movies, as this is quite draining on your battery life.

Though this usually goes without saying, it's always important to remember not to open your refrigerator. Your food should keep until the power is restored (provided power is restored within 24 hours). If you begin to feel hot, go and get a small washcloth and run it under cool water, then wring. Wave the rag back and forth a little, then fold and place on the back of your neck. However, no matter how hot you get, do not take a bath or shower. Lightning can travel through the plumbing and seriously injure or kill you. It is also important to caution you if you choose to use candles. Do not leave them unattended.

Oh, and by the way... my power came back at about 7 a.m. this morning. Air conditioning never felt so good!