Winter storms

With high winds and heavy accumulations of ice and snow, winter storms can cause outages. To be prepared, experts suggest you should be ready to meet your family's basic needs for up to three days. Make sure you're ready with:

• Light. Keep a flashlight and extra batteries handy. Use care when burning candles; open flames are a dangerous fire hazard.
• Warmth. Have extra blankets or a sleeping bag for each person. Don't use gas stoves, kerosene heaters or other open-flame heat sources. Deadly carbon monoxide gas could build up in your home without your knowing.
• Water. If you have a water well and pump, keep an emergency supply of bottled water.
• Food. If your home has an electric range, stock an emergency supply of convenience foods that don't require cooking.
• News and information. Keep a battery-powered radio with extra batteries on hand.
• Means of communication. Keep a plain, hard-wired telephone handy; you may need it to report your electricity is out. Many cordless or feature-laden telephones require a plug-in power source to operate, and may not work if a power outage occurs. A cell phone will work as long as its battery is charged (you may want to keep an extra charged battery handy) and the nearest cell tower has power or battery backup power. However, a plain, hard-wired phone can operate on power delivered through the phone line.

For more information, check the National Weather Service Severe Weather Information site.

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