Storms knock out power across BC every winter, sometimes for days. A little preparation keeps an outage from being an emergency.
Build a kit
Keep flashlights and batteries (not candles, a fire risk), a battery or crank radio, power banks for phones, drinking water, non-perishable food, and any essential medications. A list of emergency numbers and your utility's outage line helps too.
Protect food and stay warm
Keep the fridge and freezer closed — a full freezer holds for a day or more. When in doubt about food safety after a long outage, throw it out. For heat, close off to one room, dress in layers, and never use a barbecue, camp stove, or generator indoors for heat — they produce deadly carbon monoxide.
Generator safety
If you use a generator, run it well outside away from windows, never in a garage, and never backfeed it into the house wiring without a proper transfer switch installed by an electrician. Keep CO alarms working.