Power Grid Collapse
Many things can cause the loss of power. Too much heat, excess cold, a hurricane, earthquake, ice storms... the list goes on. But once the power is out, you need a plan to deal with the situation quickly.
The risk of death is real. In February of 2021, one winter storm took out the power for almost 5 million customers in the state of Texas. It's estimated that more than 700 people lost their lives from a combination of hypothermia, accidents involving ice, carbon monoxide poisoning and the additional stress on people with underlying conditions.
That's over 700 people, from a single storm, in 2021, in the state of Texas.
In August of 2020, high demand for power in California caused rolling blackouts that left more than 350,000 homes and businesses without power. These blackouts happened during a heat wave that saw temperature records broken across the state.
On September 10 of 2017, hurricane Irma struck the Florida Keys, causing widespread power outages. Major business areas had temporary power restored in as little as a week. However, the more isolated and hard-to-reach homes took as long as a month or more before they were reconnected to the grid.
When you lose power, your first job is to protect yourself against the cause of the outage. That means following the advice on dealing with heat waves, winter storms, hurricanes, earthquakes or other disasters.
THEN you can focus on dealing with the power.
7 Items You Will Wish You Had During a Black Out!
How to Prepare Yourself for a Power Outage
Preparation - Survival
Click Here for information on what to do from the United States government website, Ready.gov.
Click Here to download a PDF file with information on what to do from the United States government website, Ready.gov.
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This information is presented to make people aware of the larger world around them. If you can prepare for something as devastating as this, you're much more likely to be ready for smaller disruptions. Be aware and prepare.
6/6/2020
Updated 4/15/2021