April showers bring May flowers, but with showers in Nebraska comes thunderstorms and severe weather. If you’re like me, I hightail it for home and find sanctuary indoors. Why do we do that? Some examples are when there is a spring shower, you have shelter to not get wet, when there is a blizzard, you have warmth, and with strong winds, you won’t get blown away. As one may nestle into their blankets to find comfort, all of the sudden everything goes dark and eerie silence settles in. What just happened? The power went out! There are certain safety tips during a power outage that should be taken.
Boone Manion, Prema’s Alliance Foreman says, the number one thing is to be prepared. How do you do this you may ask? He says, “Have a survival kit containing water, a blanket, first aid kit, flashlight, emergency numbers, and make sure you have access to an emergency NOAH radio. Once you have your survival kit secured, one of your emergency contacts should be your electricity company.” There will be several questions that will need to be answered for them to provide service. Have on hand the name on the account who pays your bill, your account number, a meter number, and your address. Make sure to give them a call back number in case they need to contact you for further questions. One of their first questions to you may be to check your breakers. These could be in your house panel or out by your meter, usually a little black box that looks like a light switch. Pay attention to your surroundings, see if your neighbor has power. These details may help your electrical company diagnose the problem. Let them know if you heard a loud noise like a firecracker going off that could tell them that a fuse is blown, or if the lights blink three times before it went off indicating a breaker operation, and if there is any emergency necessities in your house.
Tip two, Boone says “Keep informed with your NOAH radio. If severe alerts are issued stay away from windows and doors and try to stay in an interior room, in case of a tornado proceed to the lowest part of the house if possible.”
Tip three, in case of a prolonged outage make sure to conserve water. You also want to conserve hot and cold air. Examples of this are don’t open your doors or windows to conserve your heat in your house, and while in your house try not to get into your refrigerator or freezers more than necessary to let the cold air out so your food will not spoil.
Following these tips should make a power outage more bearable. “Keep in mind that you must be patient, as you’re in your house, your friendly lineman are out in the severe weather restoring your electricity which may take time,” Boone explains.