Make sure your home is equipped with a power outage kit. The kit should include the following items:

1. An oil or battery-powered lamp or lantern, a flashlight, and extra batteries.
    
2. Candles and matches. Use candles on a flat, stable, non-flammable surface.
    
3. A battery-powered radio.
    
4. Easily accessible emergency phone numbers for your utility, doctor, fire, and police.
    
5. A cell phone, or a telephone connected directly to the jack. Cordless phones and phones with answering machines rely on electricity to operate.
    
6. A first-aid kit and prescription medications. If the outage is caused by bad weather, realize that road travel may not be possible for several days.
    
7. Extra blankets, sleeping bags, and warm clothes. If you are without heat, close off one room to live in and wear extra layers of clothes.
    
8. Clean drinking water. Have at least one gallon of fresh water available for each person in your home per day.
    
9. A manual can opener and non-perishable food. A camp stove and fuel may be handy, but be sure to use them outdoors.
    
10. A cooler for storing frequently used foods. Food will keep for several hours in a closed, full refrigerator and up to two days in a closed, full freezer.
     
11. Firewood if you have a fireplace or woodstove.
     
12. Do not use gas appliances (such as gas-powered generators) for indoor heating if they are not designed for this purpose – carbon monoxide poisoning can occur when gas is burned in enclosed spaces.