Natural events cause an accompanying Electrical Utility Outage, I list some proactive tasks we can accomplish prior.

Our Electric services went out tonight I was left home alone feeling powerless.
J. Lebec

We mostly "make do", but sometimes evacuations are ordered
when a "blackout" is of a long duration.

I opened the door and walked into the house, it was 126 degrees F. outdoors. I had just arrived home from work as a millwright at an electrical generation plant in the city of Mecca, California. Sitting on the couch in a darkened hot room was my wife and two grandchildren. My first words were "I want to move someplace where I always have to wear a jacket". We were living in a home in the city of La Quinta, California, the locals referred to it as "The Cove." It is a small town nestled between two mountain ranges, beautiful during the winter of 72 degree days, life-threatening hot during the summer. The temperature of the pool was 110 degrees F. offering no relief in the heat.

I do not recall what caused that particular Electrical Outage, there are many possibilities. In order to generate power, there is an enormous amount of equipment needed. Failure due to age, lightning strikes, or an event that causes the circuit to go to "ground". The infrastructure weakens over time, some of the equipment has already had a service life of decades. Some equipment fails prematurely immediately after installation. Other times a tree limb comes in contact with a power line causing it to short to ground. Sometimes the trees fall and wipe an extensive amount of poles, wires, and transformers. Animals may also cause some outages when they come into contact with fuses, transformers, switchgear, or on occasion, they short two lines together with their bodies. During high winds and storms, ice can enshroud the lines exerting massive weight on them causing the cables to break. Tree limbs are a large source as well, the utility companies spend a lot of their budget on tree clearing, pruning, and inspections.

Eight causes of Electrical Outages:

1) Storms: Hurricanes, Tornadoes, Floods, Wind, Wildfires, along with Heat, Ice and Snow are some of the most common causes.

2) Vehicles: Collisions happen all of the time, unfortunately, many include our electrical infrastructure, a utility pole is no match against a one-ton vehicle traveling at 35+ miles per hour.

3) Trees: Falling across the lines, lack of proper trimming, auto accidents, and storms may cause a tree or its limbs to come in contact with the lines. Trees can also fall into the support equipment causing catastrophic failure often extending the lose of power much longer than expected.

4) Earthquakes: No matter how small or large, they are capable of upsetting an already compromised system, or if powerful enough create the damages.

5) Animals: Seeking warmth, or using the infrastructure as a highway, birds, snakes, and mammals all are the cause of some failed equipment.

6) Lightning: Capable of sparking a wildfire, striking a transformer on a pole, or a switchyard. All lightning strikes are investigated when they are reported.

7) Construction: Digging is sometimes complicit in damaging underground utilities, call 811 prior to digging.

8) High Demand: Heat will cause the lines to become overburdened and sag dramatically. Along with higher temperatures come higher demand, all of the equipment is taxed to its limits causing some to melt and then fail.

A Generating Plant was overrun with feral cats. Seeking warmth during the winter they would curl up inside the high voltage circuit breakers in the Steam Turbine Building. The felines would "short out" the breakers, causing a mild explosion and destruction of the electrical equipment. That type of incident is not isolated to just cats, I have seen rats, squirrels, and snakes cause the same types of events.

While working in another plant when during a storm I looked out a large "roll up" door. While working during a storm there is something hypnotizing about a hard rainfall. Suddenly a lightning bolt shot out of the sky and struck a transformer situated on the top of a utility pole. It exploded like a bomb, it was louder and brighter than any other I had seen up to that date.

While in high school I witnessed a lightning bolt strike a sidewalk, it blew a chunk about a 10-foot square, leaving a hole 4 feet deep.

Lightning is powerful.

Often Power Outages are complications caused by another event such as a Hurricane. Most of the time no matter what natural event occurs utility outages are the expected extended circumstances. Many times the electrical outages are the initial problems dealt with versus the major event that started the chain of events.

In a way, some Electrical outages can be predicted, such as during a high wind someone may make a statement such as "Well the next thing to happen is we will lose our Electric service." It's not really a prediction as much as a call to action. Is it really a prediction? No, it isn't any more than having a flashlight set up next to a door for that type of incident.

When the power does go out there are some things we need to do to determine if it is a widespread power outage or isolated to your home. We may call a neighbor, look outside at the city in the distance, check if you live in an area with streetlights, finally check the main breaker on the utility box. If it is a tripped breaker, or in an older home a "blown" fuse, take caution when resetting the breaker or replacing the fuse. Stand to the side of the breaker if possible, if not shield yourself with heavy clothing, leather gloves, and safety glasses. Breakers can explode, if one has tripped for no apparent reason, there must be a hidden problem. Line surges, a quick trip to the ground, or a worn out breaker may be a contributing factor.

We can call the Utility Company, the wait on the phone may take a while, especially if it is a widespread incident. Be patient and wait, they are most likely already working on the problem and are answering many concerned calls.

It is always best to perform some proactive tasks prior to an Electrical outage to ensure our chances of making it through it in relative comfort, the following is a list of 11 tasks:

(Follow this Link to FEMA's emergency planning templates)

1) Write down a plan and place it in your emergency kit, make sure all affected people in your household have a copy of at the very least contact information. Include all family members input during the creation of the document. Practice, and talk about the plan every six month's, make sure the kids know what to do if they are home alone. Discuss also the possibility that people will be away from the house as well if it is a serious event they must know what to do.

2) Check to make sure there are fresh batteries, your water supply is fresh, flashlights are in working order, check the integrity of your emergency supplies as well.

3) Have state of the art charging systems for your electronic equipment, we will need our cell phones, radios, and possibly a heat source. A vehicle may be used to charge electrical gear as well, however extreme caution is urged. If the vehicle is being used as a warming source, do not run the car inside the garage with the garage door closed, it can be deadly.

4) Charge all of our electrical gadgets every night while we sleep, it is rare when an isolated power interruption wakes people up, often we wake up to it. The exceptions, of course, are when they are extenuating circumstances of a larger major event.

5) Learn how to open the garage door with no electricity, it is not difficult, it is one of those tasks most people never think about.

6) Keep frozen water in your freezer, it will help preserve the food for a longer period as well as become a source of drinking water during a prolonged situation.

7) Keep gas in your vehicle, at least 1/2 of a tank full, an evacuation may be ordered and we want to be certain we can get somewhere.

8) Learn about what the local governments have developed in the local procedures and emergency plans. Normally found on the City, or Counties websites, a visit to city hall may be in order as well. If there are disabled people in your household the local authorities will have information pertaining to that situation as well.

9) Take a family photo with the pets, most people will recognize a family pet with the family, but unfortunately not if it is alone. Be certain all faces, body types, and a clear photo of the animal is included. Flyers may also be made prior to an event, include your out of state contact person's telephone number also.

It is important to have a photo of the family, and the pets.

10) Be sure to include your medications, grab your entire supply, we don't know how long we may be displaced after being evacuated. In the event they are lost or forgotten, call your Doctor, they will help you out, the chances are you are not the only person asking for help.

11) In the emergency plan have an out of area telephone contact telephone number. During an emergency, the local lines will most likely be jammed up. When we hear that familiar "busy" signal, most people (it is human nature) immediately attempt to make that same call again. It complicates things by adding more callers locally, making the problem even worse, the out of area lines will not be impacted as much, (unless everyone takes my advice, they won't). Texting may be a little better, it does not use as much bandwidth, but there again if a call doesn't go through, people may automatically start texting.

On a cautionary note:

1) Don't open the refrigerator or freezer, we never know how long the outage will last.

2) Have a supply of extra clothing, a wood burning stove can be utilized for warmth as long as it is vented. Check the household CO2 monitor every year when we change to daylight savings time.

3) Turn off all of the electrical equipment, a sudden surge is capable of destroying them or even starting a fire. Check the smoke detectors batteries every year when we change to daylight savings time.

4) If you have an electric generator for use due to a life support system a disabled family member is dependent on, perform maintenance on a weekly, monthly, and semi-yearly schedule. There is nothing worse than having an undependable critical piece of equipment. Keep enough fuel for at least one week.

(Follow this Link to read more on FEMA's generator safety.)

5) Do not use any internal combustion engine, unvented heater, Bar-B-Que, or generator indoors. As mentioned above Carbon Monoxide will end a person's life.

6) Turn off the water supply, notably, if you are on a well, a sudden surge may destroy your pump's motor. In a flooding event, do not use the water from a well until it has been tested and declared "safe", or drinkable by a certified lab.

7) Stay calm and don't panic, most outages do not last longer than a few hours, in extreme cases, they may continue considerably longer. Such was the case after the Hurricane in Puerto Rico, Maria wiped out the entire electrical infrastructure on that Island, causing an outage of over a month.

8) If you smell gas, immediately call the utility, shut the main valve while waiting for them to arrive, it very well may take several hours.

9) After the outage and accompanying emergencies have passed, take stock of your supplies and replenish them.


We all have or will experience an Electrical Outage, rolling blackout, or Brownout, pre-planning reduces stress and adds confidence to people, good planning and practice are well worth the time, effort and expense. This article deals with an extensive outage, most are not as extreme as I have described. It never hurts to be overly ready, particularly when considering an electrical outage having been incurred by a larger event. We are not really preparing for one event, we are preparing for at least two. The second, an outage normally accompanies the first, such as a Wildfire, during many of them, the outage is the least of our problems.

He has some sharp little teeth, they need to chew on "stuff". 

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jacquesandkate  emergencykitsplus.com