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Power Outages

Power outages often accompany other types of disasters which overshadow the effect of the loss of power itself. However, prolonged power disruptions need not be preceded by a natural disaster. They may also be caused by:
  • Acts of terrorism
  • Cyber attacks
  • Geomagnetic storms

What's the role of CERT during a prolonged power outage?

Identify neighbors who rely on medical devices and refrigerated medications at home, traffic and crowd control, emergency communications, points of distribution, and report incidents of civil unrest.


Prolonged, widespread power outages threaten the welfare and security of communities in several ways:
  • Life saving medical devices that use electricity
  • Mass transit and traffic control
  • Business and industry shutdowns
  • Lack of refrigeration for food and medicines
  • Pumps (water, fuels, sanitation, etc.) rely on power to operate
Emergency generators are designed to offer short-term power to certain vital services such as hospitals and law enforcement agencies, but are not designed to operate for weeks on end. 

Few individual citizens our households have emergency generators and those that do generally have small fuel reserves. The decision to purchase and maintain a generator for your personal use should be made in consultation with an electrician who can help you determine the needs of your home and how to best integrate it into its electrical system.

1859 Carrington Event


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