Infrastructure failures
What Should a Household Prioritize During a Power Outage?
Prioritize life-support equipment and medicines, then safe lighting and communication, food temperature and water, before ordinary electronics and comfort loads.
SharedMorrow Editorial · Last reviewed 2026-10-05
Direct answer
Prioritize life-support equipment and medicines, then safe lighting and communication, food temperature and water, before ordinary electronics and comfort loads.
Start here
Identify powered medical equipment and temperature-sensitive medicine and start the backup plan provided by the clinician, manufacturer, or local emergency plan.
Work through the decision
Use flashlights instead of candles, reserve phone power for necessary contact, enable low-power mode, and organize batteries, vehicle charging, or approved backup power. Turn off and unplug sensitive electronics, leaving one light to indicate restoration; do not work with wet hands, standing water, or damaged outlets.
Common mistake
Keep refrigerator and freezer closed, record outage time, and gather water, critical records, cash, and keys where they are accessible. Spending all power on entertainment, heating with a stove, or running a fuel generator indoors or near openings can be more dangerous than the outage.
When to stop and get help
Use the emergency plan immediately for failing medical support, dangerous indoor temperature, gas odor, carbon-monoxide alarm, or water touching electrical systems.
Next step
Decide early about an official safe place during dangerous heat or cold, disabled lifts, or loss of water.