When The Power Comes Back On

One of the simplest rules once power returns is: Check before you trust everything is back to normal.

Food Safety First

  1. Check the temperature of your fridge and freezer if you have a thermometer
  2. If the fridge was above 4°C for more than two hours, discard perishable food when in doubt
  3. Partially thawed freezer food that's still cold can often be safely refrozen or cooked

Resetting Your Home

  1. Reset clocks, routers, and any devices that lost power
  2. Check on anything that was running before the outage (sump pumps, medical equipment, aquariums)
  3. Check your circuit breakers if anything doesn't come back on its own

Checking In

  1. Let anyone who was worried about you know you're okay
  2. Check on neighbours, especially anyone who may have struggled more than you did
  3. Note what worked and what didn't, for next time
Important

The return of power doesn't always mean everything is instantly back to normal - food safety and equipment resets are easy to overlook in the relief of the moment.

Insight

Each outage is useful practice. A few small adjustments now (a better flashlight location, a fuller water supply) make the next one easier.