Wet weather and gusty winds mean high chances for a power outage at your home. We spoke with Slemco Communications Director Mary Laurent, who had some tips for preparing for outages.
Be ready to make insurance claims.
"Use your phone, take pictures of what you have in your home. Use a video and walk through your home so you can document everything that you have and you can get access to the serial numbers and the model numbers of what you have, document that now because it’s going to make it a whole lot easier when the storm passes through," she says.
Laurent adds, that if you want to use a generator it should stay outside.
"The main thing you want to make sure that if you have a standby generator. Something that you have to put fuel in, gas or something like that, you want to make sure you plug your appliances directly into the outlets on that generator. You do not under any circumstances want to try to run your whole house under one of those generators," says Laurent.
As far as the length of time your power could be out, restoration might not happen as quickly as normal.
"If you’re in an area that is hit very hard, you may be out for an extended period of time, or you may be one of the ones where you’re the first people we put back on, it just depends where the impact is. But you have to be prepared for several days to be able to take care of yourself," says Laurent.
