Here’s Everything You Need Before the Next Power Outage Hits

Last night was a fun one for many in Amarillo, wasn't it? My wife and I were out running some errands when we got a call from our oldest son, who was at home. The call? "Ummm, the power just shut off. We heard it just wind down and stop." We told him we were just about done with errands and would be home.

Sure enough, we reached Soncy & Hillside and the traffic lights were off; the Toot'n Totum on the corner was without power, as was everything else in that area. That's when the alerts to my phone started from Xcel. We were going to be without it for a while.

How A Power Outage Can Affect You

Aside from it being a major inconvenience, you don't realize all the ways a power outage can affect daily life. The first thing we thought about? It's hot outside, and we have no AC now. So we went around the house and closed all the blinds. That promptly made it pretty dark in the house. So we sat there, joking around, then our daughter spoke up.

"Mommy, I'm hungry." Oh yeah...dinner. One of the things we ran out to get. Minor problem. Our house is ALL electric, no gas. Couldn't use the stove or oven thanks to that. Well, now what are we gonna do? I don't want to DoorDash or anything like that; I'm positive many were already doing that. We landed on just making sandwiches. Not exactly the best dinner plan, but everyone was fed.

Items To Have On Hand In Case Of A Power Outage

We realized as the power was out just how many things we didn't have that could've helped us through the outage, so we started making a list of things we should probably grab. We had a little tap light that was charged, thankfully, so we at least had a little light. Another thing we realized was we should probably have food on hand that doesn't require prep from a household appliance.

Other items you should make sure you have on hand for a power outage would be a flashlight with extra batteries on hand, a battery-powered radio, a first-aid kit, a portable phone charger (which we had, but was dead), blankets for those colder months, and cash. Yes, cash on hand. I mean, you may need to buy items, and if the power is out and you only have cards, you're kind of stuck.

Something To Avoid During A Power Outage

As I was scrolling Facebook during the power outage, I saw many people complaining about one thing predominantly. That would be certain intersections in Amarillo, namely Soncy & Hillside. We got a chance to experience how messy that can be. We had to drive through it, but reading how many people nearly got in an accident was stunning to me.

If you know an area is without power, try to avoid that area on the road. It's not always possible, but if you can, avoid it. If you must go through that area, treat all the intersections as a four-way stop. If you don't remember how that works, please refresh yourself. We don't need an accident muddying things up even further.