The first 24 hours without power

Most outages end within a day. Handle the first few hours well and you protect your food, your phone battery and your household's safety for however long the outage lasts.

In the first hour

1. Check whether it's just you. Look out at the neighbors' lights, then report the outage to your utility by app, text or phone. Don't assume someone else already did.
2. Keep the fridge and freezer closed. A closed fridge keeps food safe for about 4 hours. A full freezer holds for about 48 hours, a half-full one about 24.
3. Switch to battery light. Headlamps and LED lanterns, not candles. Candles are a leading cause of house fires during outages.
4. Unplug sensitive electronics so a power surge doesn't damage them when service returns. Leave one lamp switched on so you'll know when the power is back.
5. Put phones on low-power mode and decide who keeps a phone charged for calls versus who goes dark.

In the first few hours

• Turn on a battery or hand-crank NOAA weather radio for updates.
• Check on neighbors who are older, live alone or rely on medical equipment.
• If anyone's medicine needs refrigeration, move it to a cooler with ice packs before the 4-hour mark.
• If you'll run a generator, set it up now, in daylight, outdoors and at least 20 feet from doors, windows and vents. Read generator safety first.

By evening

• Cold weather: pick one interior room to keep warm. Close its doors, hang blankets over the windows and gather people there. Sleeping bags and layers are safer than any improvised heater.
• Hot weather: stay on the lowest floor, drink water steadily and know where your nearest cooling center is.
• Never use a gas stove, oven or grill to heat the house. Test your battery carbon monoxide alarm.
• Eat perishable food from the fridge first, then the freezer, then the pantry.

The next morning

• Check the fridge thermometer. Food above 40°F for more than 2 hours should be thrown out; see food safety during an outage.
• Get your utility's restoration estimate and plan for it. If it's days, not hours, move to your two-week supplies, or to a friend's house or a shelter.
• Recharge phones and power banks from a power station, solar panel or car, but never run the car in a closed garage.