We lost ours for 4 days in the strange october snow that hit new england this year.

Anyway, it's pretty easy to save most of your food as long as you've got that much snow, and a protected area to keep it away from animals- coolers on a porch for instance. Thats' what we were able to do. You can also just keep bringing snow into your freezer /fridge in zippy bags or other containers.

Having the gas stove is awesome too because as long as you can boil water you can make instant coffee but what we also found was that (we have a really old mr coffee type coffee pot) was that we could actually pour the boiling water directly into the coffee pot, slowly, and brew it outselves like that. It wasn't super hot but it was better than nothing.

Good luck! It's never easy.

Um, how are you typing this?

Power outages suck. Hope you get surprised by an early fix.

If you know there's going to be a risk of a bad storm, it's a good idea to fill all your Tupperware with water and freeze it. Then if the power goes out, put it in the fridge. Winter also brings bad rain and windstorms that don't always provide ice for your cooler.

Also, if power outages look likely, I crank my furnace for a while.

When power does go out, gas stoves are great, but matches are kind of important, too.

Turn everything off that you can. Otherwise the draw when the power comes on again can make more trouble.

Go buy emergency nightlights. You plug them into your outlets and they work as nightlights when the power is on, but immediately shine emergency lights if the power cuts. They don't last forever, but they help, especially if the power goes out while you're in the shower, on the stairs or about to chop down on a meat bone.

Keep those little LED flashlights in every room of your house.

Most importantly, stock up on massive quantities of booze.

Um, how are you typing this?

Power outages suck. Hope you get surprised by an early fix.

If you know there's going to be a risk of a bad storm, it's a good idea to fill all your Tupperware with water and freeze it. Then if the power goes out, put it in the fridge. Winter also brings bad rain and windstorms that don't always provide ice for your cooler.

Also, if power outages look likely, I crank my furnace for a while.

When power does go out, gas stoves are great, but matches are kind of important, too.

Turn everything off that you can. Otherwise the draw when the power comes on again can make more trouble.

Go buy emergency nightlights. You plug them into your outlets and they work as nightlights when the power is on, but immediately shine emergency lights if the power cuts. They don't last forever, but they help, especially if the power goes out while you're in the shower, on the stairs or about to chop down on a meat bone.

Keep those little LED flashlights in every room of your house.

Most importantly, stock up on massive quantities of booze.

Sorry about that. The forum keeps saying "internal error." Yeah, no ****.

oh oh - Breezy that storm is headed this way. I'd better get out the flashlights etc. Marcolo - good tip about the water.
I'll crank up the furnace now and leave it on a little longer than normal. Fortunately it's supposed to start to warm up soon.

Yup, I am without power also and I am 45 miles from Breezy. I don't know how she is posting but I am currently on a generator.
I make sure my big freezer is full heading into winter. A frozen turkey or beef roast is one big ice block and helps keep things frozen longer.
Heading into storm season I make sure that we have everything in the way of emergency supplies on hand. Food, water, lamp oil, matches, toilet paper.........it is better to have it and not need it than need it and not have it.

Please do not go outside to check on your trees when limbs could still be falling as this can be extremely dangerous. The term "widow maker" comes to mind.

For those of still waiting for the storm stock up on batteries, flashlights, and a portable radio. Get gas in your car, get cash on hand and make sure you have your phone charged and the phone car charger handy. Do you have prescriptions filled and food for your animals? Do laundry now if you can.

Hope the storm fizzles out before it gets worse for everybody - we only expect snow in my part of the country - I've been without power for a week more than once so I know what a bummer it is. It also explains why I'm one of only three people in the US who still has a land line.

It's a little late now, but around here the most painfully learned lesson from the hurricanes for many people was:

If you don't have a manual grinder, be sure to grind coffee before the power goes out.

Buy a generator. ASAP.

In the Great Southern Ice Storm of 94, my mom was without power for 3 weeks. We were out for 3 days, but we had a generator and had hot water and heat (both gas fired, but electric blower), hot coffee, cold food and even TV (Cable was out though). All it took was a bit of engineering to have it tie into the panel and regular feeding with gasoline. I highly recommend Honda, as it it's much quieter and more reliable, even though it's one of the costlier brands.

We were without power for 18 days following Ike - in Texas. Thankfully we had a gas water heater and never lost water. Having a camp stove and good quality battery powered lamps made a big difference to our comfort. For us the hardest thing was listening to our neighbors' generators - which they used to run air conditioners.

The house we are building in Northwestern Washington will have a masonry heater and a gas range. Our biggest concern is water since we are on a well there and rely on an electric pump for water. We plan to have a water cistern that we can use for gravity feed if needed.

Despite their generators' noise, neighbors were a major source of support during the long electrical outage - good to know people do help each other through times of shared difficulty.

I hope that those of you dealing with this stay warm, comfortable, and safe.

If you know about a big storm ahead of time it's always good to fill the bathtub with water for drinking, cooking, flushing the toilet.

The best kitchen appliance for a power outage is a generator! Moved to western Washington 5 years ago from Calif. Spent $500 on a generator that has seen us through 8 straight days without power during that huge windstorm, several multi day and full day outages. Our home is wired for a generator so it operates one heater (house has two zones) the fridge, some lights, the tv and some outlets in the kitchen. I run an extension cord from the generator to the garage freezer. Along with a gas cooktop and electric frying pan, we're good to go. We were on generator for 8 hours yesterday and 6 today.

I second/third the generator. Down here it's hurricane damage not ice storms. Scary either way. WE are fortunate that we also have a motor home that DH brought to the house when we were struck so we could take hot showers. Actually, the entire neighborhood used it to take showers. Some type of gas cooking device is necessary. Water in jugs or fill the bathtub. We keep lots of bottled water also for drinking/cooking in case of emergency. The water down here is so bad we drink bottled water anyway. Please stay safe all of ya'll in harms way. And please take heed to skyedog's advice about being very careful while outside.

Breezy,

We lived in Vancouver BC, for the last 3 years and recently relocated back to Michigan....love, love Washington! But when you guys get snow the place shuts down! 20" that's more than the storm Christmas weekend 2008....we flew out of Seattle...what a nightmare!

The house we bought here is on a well and came with a generator, knock wood we've not used it yet, but boy do I feel good that we have it! Bes of luck to you! Im sure giving that beautiful marble a hug will get you through until next week!

I checked the radar, we are getting that storm tonight, but they are only saying 1-3"....fingers crossed!

During Irene my best idea was to bring in my solor lights from outside to offer light inside. I also used charged batteries from the solor lights I was not using and put them in flashlights and radios. Good luck!

Oh starbucks was my friend I would buy lots of black coffee while I used their wi-fi and than bring home the coffees to reheat on gas grill or stove for the next am.

>Oh starbucks was my friend

You were lucky. Around here businesses didn't have power, either, for a couple of weeks after the storms. Every time I pass the big generator the local grocery store put in after the hurricanes of 2004/2005, I want to give it a hug. :)

One word (well, four): pressure-operated sump pump.

Conditions that cause basement flooding are often the same conditions that knock out power, and if you've only got an electric pump you will really regret it. In the city get a water-pressure-operated one. In the country get one with extra batteries.

We are going to sell our pull start generator this year and get an electric start. Harder and harder for DH to start it with his bum shoulder. My cousin (you-know-who) got an electric start so his diminutive wife could fire it up if they lose power while he is on duty.

Another one that lived several long power outages without a generator. Now we have one!!!! It is the kind that goes on automatically and if my dishwasher died at the same time our generator did I would replace the generator first.

Yes, yes... an automatic generator! We put ours in after losing hundreds of dollars worth of food in a fully-stocked freezer two winters in a row. We cook on gas, but heat, water (well), flush, lights, TV and micro sure are nice in the middle of a wailing Nor'easter!

Also: If you know a storm is coming, gas up the car, get some cash and stock up on comfort food and drinks!

Oh yes, and unless you live on a main road, keep calling your power company. We once sat in the dark for an extra day before realizing everyone else in town was back on line. The problem turned out to be on our private road... way down on the power companies to-do list.

1. another one with a generator with an automatic transfer switch, here.
2. After two separate periods of power out this year, one for 5 days, the second for 9, I would never be without one in this region (and we were able to help the neighbours save their frozen food, charge their phones and ipods, provide hot showers etc).

But after the 9 day outage, we bought a chainsaw. No more waiting for the town to come and clear up the access to our street: we're dealing with those fallen trees ourselves if we have to.

We also made a point last winter of digging a pathway to our propane tank, so the refill guys could get to it: they told us lots of people hadn't, so they were unable to deliver. Gotta keep that tank access clear! (same for oil tank, for those using it).

Hi breezy. We've been out for 48 hours already. Since we are rural, no power means no heat, no water, no cooking without some other method. We have a small portable generator which we can use to plug the frig in, unplug and then plug a hot plate in, And at the moment my iPad. I'm really loving our Russian fireplace right now, we're able to keep heat between 65-68 by keeping the fireplace burning. It's starting to melt off the trees now, but no idea when PUD will ever get to us. We are so tired of this we're ready to venture out. Hope your power gets back quickly.

We've had 2 this year -- first one was worst but taught me what to do. We had no power for 5 days and day 4 the generator ran out of gas. Until then we were in good shape as I had listened to advice on what to have on hand (see link below) and it worked well.

That was in the Fall and winter might be easier from the standpoint of having ice on hand -- we just didn't open the fridge once we really lost power. The ice cream did not fully melt in the freezer that last day so we didn't lose any great amount of food.

Water for the toilets was one big issue. Afterwards I went out and bought 4 five-gallon kerosene containers and would fill them immediately before any storm, just in case the generator goes on the clink.

Cell phone saved us as our internet was out for 5 days. I had to charge that in the car -- so a full tank of gas is really important too.

We have an electric kettle for boiling water and the backup give us limited power and lights. That does it for coffee, tea and anything instant. With no power or generator I'd haul the gas grill out and use that for boiling and any semi-emergency cooking.

If you have gas you are lucky. We have electric only but micro is on backup so I cooked ahead and put food in microwaveable containers. We ate on paper plates with plastic utensils.

It's the one time we'll eat canned fruit and packaged applesauce. Peanut butter and jelly sandwiches turn out to be power-loss-proof.

Follow up was that we also had too many trees near our house and spent the past month having many of them removed. Two of them turned out to be rotted in one or another section -- a disaster waiting. So that's perhaps something to think about after the snow. It immediately made a huge difference in the ability of the ground to dry out on one side and relieved the fear of anything falling. We still have 2 trees to go but they are secondary. OTOH, it left us with 5 years of firewood and a big bill.

We seem to be getting your storm tomorrow so fingers crossed here.

Here is a link that might be useful: supply list

If the temp is below 40f, then everything in the fridge can go into a box or boxes and set outside. Cover with something like a blanket or towels.

Freezer will be fine for 12-24 hours if you don't open it. Else, put things into a cooler and set outside. If you have that 20" of snow, shovel it around the cooler.

Weird electrical problems can happen with limbs hitting wires. It would not be a bad idea to unplug things or turn off some breakers until the power is fully restored. I've heard of people losing TVs, computers, stereos, DWs, W/Ds and other electrical stuff when a limb pushed a Kilavolt line into a house line. Sparks, smoke, etc...

Hope you get power back soon.
I am in Seattle and we have power. I am 50 to 60 miles north of Breezy.
I was lucky with this storm.
Nothing to add other than this is how it looks where Breezy is.

Here is a link that might be useful: power outage news