Power Blackout

• Keep flashlights, a battery-powered radio, and charged backup batteries on hand — not just your phone.
• Install a battery-powered carbon monoxide alarm: the CDC specifically recommends one for any home that uses a generator.
• Keep bottled water and food that needs no refrigeration or cooking.
• If you depend on an electric medical device, have a backup plan ready ahead of time — not after the power is already out.
• If you're planning to buy a generator, decide now where you'll set it up: it has to be an outdoor spot at least 20 feet (6 meters) from doors and windows.

• Never use a gas stove or oven to heat your home: the CDC explicitly prohibits it.
• Keep the refrigerator and freezer doors closed as much as possible.
• If it's cold, wear several loose layers of clothing, a hat, and gloves; seek medical attention right away if body temperature drops below 95 °F (35 °C).
• If it's hot, find a place with air conditioning, stay in the shade, cool your skin with water, and avoid intense physical activity.
• Never use a charcoal or gas grill inside the house or in an attached garage: it's the same joint CPSC and FEMA warning that applies to generators.

Food without power follows exact rules. According to FoodSafety.gov: the refrigerator keeps food safe for up to 4 hours without power. A full freezer holds for about 48 hours with the door closed; a half-full one, about 24 hours.

• Throw out any refrigerated food that's gone more than 4 hours without cooling, and any frozen food that has fully thawed and reached room temperature.
• Never taste food to decide if it's safe: when in doubt, throw it out.
• Check the generator, refuel it, and store it properly before the next emergency.
• If you had headache, dizziness, or confusion while the generator was running, seek medical attention: those can be early signs of carbon monoxide poisoning.

Your family's blackout plan follows the same format as the rest of the guides, with two specific decisions: who turns the generator on and off, and exactly where it goes. Don't leave that decision for the moment the power goes out: mark the spot on the ground or in the yard ahead of time.

How to store it so it works when you need it

The CDC calls for approved food-grade containers with a tight-fitting lid, made of a sturdy, unbreakable material —never glass— and with a narrow mouth for pouring. An explicit warning: never use a container that has held toxic chemicals such as bleach or pesticides. And what almost everyone forgets: stored water should be replaced every 6 months. To disinfect the container before filling it, use a teaspoon of unscented household bleach per liter of water, wait 30 seconds, and pour it out.

What food to keep on hand

Ready.gov recommends several days of non-perishable food and gives a concrete list: ready-to-eat canned meats, fruits, and vegetables —and a can opener—, protein or fruit bars, dry cereal or granola, peanut butter, dried fruit, canned juices, and pasteurized long-life milk. The rule when putting it together is simple: food your family will actually eat, that needs no cooking, and that you can rotate before it expires.

• Keep the refrigerator and freezer closed: every time you open one, you waste hours of stored cold.
• Throw out any food that has touched floodwater, even if the container looks intact. This is an explicit Ready.gov instruction.
• Keep a manual can opener. It is the item people forget most, and without it your pantry is useless.
• If you buy bottled water, keep it sealed in its original container, in a cool, dark place.

When the cell network is overloaded: text, do not call

The joint FCC and FEMA guide explains why: "text messages may get through when your call does not", even if delivery is delayed when the network is congested. And it asks for something almost no one does: "limit non-emergency calls", because every call takes up space that emergency communications need. Also save a contact under the name "ICE" (In Case of Emergency), the convention rescue personnel look for on someone else's phone.

How to stretch your battery

The same guide recommends lowering screen brightness and turning off apps to conserve charge. In an emergency your phone stops being entertainment and becomes your only line to the outside world: treat it like your water supply.

The battery-powered radio is still irreplaceable

The FCC and FEMA recommend a battery-powered radio or a portable television to follow emergency bulletins during power outages. It is the only channel that depends on neither your electricity nor the cell network.

The alerts you already have and did not know about

In the United States, Wireless Emergency Alerts are free messages that go straight to your phone for severe weather, AMBER alerts, and threats to safety in your area. Two things worth knowing: you do not need to sign up —phones have supported them since 2012— and they are not affected by network congestion, so they get through when calls no longer do. Find out what the equivalent system is in your country, and do not mute it.

• Have at least one light source that does not depend on the grid: a battery-powered or hand-crank flashlight, or a rechargeable lamp.
• Charge phones and backup batteries before the forecast event arrives, not after the power is already out.
• Keep a list of important phone numbers on paper: if your phone dies, your contacts die with it.
• Agree with your family that after an emergency everyone texts the same contact instead of calling each other.

This is the section that decides who has a hard time and who has a dangerously hard time. An emergency does not suspend diabetes, high blood pressure, pregnancy, or dependence on an oxygen concentrator: what gets cut off is access to the pharmacy, the clinic, and electricity. Everything that follows needs to be prepared beforehand, because once the emergency hits, there is no more room.

1. Keep a reserve of your medications, and know which ones hold up. Ready.gov calls for a several-day supply of prescription medications. For those that need refrigeration, the CDC is blunt: once the power has been out for a day or more, discard any medication that requires refrigeration, unless its label says otherwise.
2. The insulin exception, worth knowing word for word. The FDA documents that insulin in the manufacturer's original vials or cartridges —opened or unopened— can stay unrefrigerated between 15 and 30 °C (59 and 86 °F) for up to 28 days and still work. It loses effectiveness at extreme temperatures, and the longer the exposure, the less effective it becomes. In an emergency "you may still need to use insulin that was stored above 30 °C" —that is better than not using it at all— but as soon as proper storage is available again, those vials should be discarded and replaced.
3. If someone depends on electric medical equipment, there is one step almost no one takes. Ready.gov says it explicitly: you can ask your power company to put you on a priority list for service restoration. That step is free, can be done on any ordinary day, and changes the order in which you get reconnected. Add a backup battery for an electric wheelchair and for any assistive device, and talk with your doctor about how to keep the equipment running during a power outage.
4. Keep a copy of medical information, not just the pills. A list of medications with dosages, allergies, diagnoses, doctors' contact information, and —for infants— the vaccination record. A prescription bottle cannot always be refilled at a pharmacy in another city; a written list can solve that.

Pregnancy and newborns

The CDC calls for prenatal vitamins and other medications in the kit, plus supplies in case delivery happens without being able to reach a hospital: clean towels, clean sharp scissors, a bulb syringe, gloves, two clean white shoelaces to tie the cord, clean sheets, sanitary pads, soap or alcohol, and garbage bags. For infants: diapers, wipes, ointment, bottles, and formula. One detail that matters: ready-to-feed formula is the safest option in an emergency, because it does not need to be mixed with water and comes in sterile, single-use containers.

Disability, reduced mobility, and older adults

Ready.gov stresses planning accessible transportation in advance for evacuating or getting around, and including a service or support animal with its food, water, and supplies. That plan should be worked out with specific, named neighbors, not left vague.

The blow that comes later: mental health

The CDC names the normal reactions after a disaster —fear, anger, sadness, worry, numbness, frustration, trouble sleeping, or nightmares— and recommends taking care of your body, staying in touch with other people, and taking breaks from the news. In the United States and its territories, the Disaster Distress Helpline is available 24 hours a day: 1-800-985-5990, with service in Spanish. Asking for help here is not weakness: it is part of recovery, just like repairing the roof.

1. Before you go back in: look, smell, and listen from outside. The CDC lays it out this way: if you smell gas or suspect a leak, shut off the main valve, open all the windows, and get out immediately. If there is standing water inside and you can cut the power from a dry spot, do it. And one simple warning that prevents explosions and fires: use battery-powered flashlights, not candles, gas lanterns, or torches.
2. Ventilate before you settle in. The CDC recommends going in briefly to open doors and windows, and letting the house air out for at least 30 minutes before staying inside.
3. Shutting off utilities: when to do it, and the mistake you cannot make. Gas has a rule with no exceptions: if you shut it off for any reason, only a qualified professional can turn it back on. Never turn it back on yourself. Electricity is shut off by switching off the individual circuits first and the main breaker last —the order matters, because an electrical spark can ignite gas if there is a leak—. Water should be shut off if pipes may have cracked, because that contaminates the house supply, and should not be turned back on until authorities confirm it is safe to drink.
4. Go back only when authorities say it is safe. It sounds obvious, and it is the instruction people break most often: go back home only when authorities say it is safe. Structural damage is not always visible from the street.

• Make a photo inventory of what is in each room today: it takes twenty minutes and is worth its weight in gold for a claim.
• Keep that inventory and your policies outside the house —in the cloud or with a family member— because a file that gets soaked along with the house is useless.
• If you have to leave, take your documents with you, not your furniture.
• Do not sign anything with a contractor while you are in shock: check the money section for the warning signs of fraud.

The documents you need to protect today

The official recommendation is to keep insurance policies, deeds, property records, and other important papers in a safe place outside the house. FEMA publishes the Emergency Financial First Aid Kit for this, organized into four sections: household identification, financial and legal documentation, medical information, and contacts. Its rule for paper: a fireproof and waterproof box or safe, a bank safe-deposit box, or in the hands of someone you trust. For digital files: password-protected files on an external drive or in secure storage outside the home. And if you pay everything online, print your account records periodically.

An emergency fund, even a small one

The CFPB avoids magic formulas: "the amount you need depends on your situation", but "even a small amount can provide some financial security". Its underlying argument is the one that matters: without that cushion, a single unexpected expense can grow far larger than the original bill through interest and fees, because it forces you to rely on credit.

A blackout concentrates demand into very few hours and a handful of very specific things: light, charging, cold, and hot food. Whoever has one of those four things working has instant customers.

• Ice, which is the first thing to run out and what saves a refrigerator full of food.
• Charging phones and batteries wherever there is power or a backup source.
• Rechargeable lamps, flashlights, and batteries.
• Hot food for people who cook with electricity and just lost it.
• Carbon monoxide detectors and guidance on safe generator use.
• Renting and installing emergency generators for businesses that can't afford to close.
• Moving and storing frozen food in coolers that are still running.

It helps to start with one figure to size up what we're talking about: according to the ILO, informality affects nearly half of the employed population of Latin America and the Caribbean, around 47%, with huge differences between countries — under 30% in Uruguay and Chile, over 70% in Bolivia and Peru. For millions of families in the region, "looking for a job" and "starting something on your own" are the same sentence. What follows is not a promise of income: it is a map of what people actually do when a crisis hits, with the requirements and the risks laid out plainly.

Charging and lighting station

With a backup battery or a small solar system, a power strip, and a visible spot, you can set up a charging station that people will pay for without hesitating. It works even better paired with something you already have — a store, a food stand — because the customer charging a phone sticks around and buys something.

Ice and the cold chain

Ice is the product in highest demand and shortest supply. If you have a way to make it or bring it in from an area with power, you have a business; if you also offer temporary cold storage for restaurants and families, you have a service no one else is providing. Watch your pricing: this is exactly the kind of product price-gouging laws keep an eye on.

Renting and maintaining emergency generators

The real market is businesses losing money for every hour they're closed: pharmacies, stationery stores, medical offices, convenience stores. This is a high-investment, high-responsibility business: any installation wired into the panel requires certified personnel and a transfer switch, because a badly connected generator can electrocute the crew repairing the line outside.

United States — SBA disaster loans

For areas with a declared disaster. The Economic Injury Disaster Loan (EIDL) provides working capital for affected small businesses and nonprofit organizations; the physical damage loan covers losses not covered by insurance. Combined cap of $2 million, interest not exceeding 4% if you cannot obtain credit elsewhere, terms of up to 30 years, and the first payment deferred 12 months. There is also a line for homeowners (up to $500,000) and for renters for personal property (up to $100,000).

Mexico — what actually exists today

FONDEN stopped taking on new commitments on January 1, 2021. What operates today in emergencies is PAEAN, run by Civil Protection, and it is worth knowing exactly what it is and is not: it delivers relief supplies — food kits, water, blankets, roofing sheets, cleaning materials — when a state's own capacity is overwhelmed. It is not a reconstruction fund or a loan for your business. For capital, look at state, municipal, or development-bank programs, always verifying on the official website: fraud schemes that use its name circulate around these programs.

Brazil — Pronampe for micro and small businesses

A credit line for microenterprises (annual revenue up to 360,000 reais) and small businesses (from 360,000 to 4.8 million). The amount can reach up to 60% of the previous year's gross revenue for businesses with more than one year in operation, and up to 50% for new ones. The maximum rate is the SELIC rate plus up to 6% per year.

The danger that kills the most in a blackout: carbon monoxide.

Two blackouts that show how long one can last, and how much it can cost.

Northeastern U.S. and Canada, August 14, 2003

It affected 50 million people and 61,800 megawatts of load across Ohio, Michigan, Pennsylvania, New York, Vermont, Massachusetts, Connecticut, New Jersey, and Ontario. Power took up to 4 days to be restored in parts of the United States, and more than a week in Ontario, with rolling blackouts. The cost is estimated at $4 billion to $10 billion. The official lesson: the final report attributed the cause to inadequate tree trimming near high-voltage lines and a lack of situational awareness by the operator. NERC recommended mandatory, enforceable electric reliability standards, which up to that point had been voluntary.

Mexico's national blackout, December 28, 2020

At 2:20 p.m., a failure on a 400,000-volt line between Güemes and Lajas spread in under a minute. According to CFE figures cited in the Mexican Senate, 10.3 million customers lost power, the country's largest blackout since 1981. The lesson: a single failure at one point in the interconnected grid can spread across an entire country in seconds, which led to demands for an independent investigation into the resilience of the national grid.

Related guides on this site:

• Energy crisis — when supply fails, not the line.
• Solar flare — a possible cause of a large-scale blackout.
• Extreme cold — blackout plus cold, the most dangerous combination on record.