Prepping for red weather warnings

[SnugglyJumpersMakeItBetter]

Or even amber, if you're being sensible! I thought I was prepared for Storm Goretti (although I didn't know it was a red warning, I thought it was just your ordinary Cornish winter squall) but I have learnt from experience! I thought I'd share my mistakes so you guys can learn from them too!

Things I did right:

Charging LED lanterns
Charging power banks for phones
Charging phones
Charging laptop
Mini torches ready
Kettle full and freshly boiled
Knew where candles and matches were
Hot water bottles filled and in beds
Had puppy pads for dog who couldn't be safely let out
Filled 2 bowls of water for flushing loos. Half filled bath and put bowl ready beside it.
Filled largest lidded tureen with fresh water suitable for drinking/teeth brushing etc
Filled 2 bottles of water for dog
Filled cheapo plastic water dispenser with hot water and placed next to sink ready for handwashing, on cork mat so wouldn't cool as fast as on metal draining board
Parked in carport rather than driveway

Things I did wrong:

Didn't bother looking for 3rd power bank
Forgot about third LED lantern stored in car
Didn't charge tablet and old MP3 players too. I hate the silence, or worse, the sound of the storm raging! I need to drown it out with some benign prattle. In the same vein, I should have downloaded audiobooks to tablet and charged speaker.
Didn't fill thermos flasks with boiling water
Didn't set up cool box with food for the next 24 hours so wouldn't have to open fridge/freezer!
Forgot to stock up on bottled water!!
Didn't have MORE batteries/candles/matches - it's never enough.
Didn't have enough newspaper for dog to relieve herself on - she didn't trust the puppy pads so had to hide them under the newspaper, which we nearly ran out of!
Didn't draw all blinds - could have reduced the risk of flying glass from shattered windows.
Let car run low on fuel! I was nearly in the red today and the first 2 petrol stations were closed! If I'd have had to drive someone to hospital or something that could have been bad!
Had a crappy first aid kit! I really need to get a proper one set up
Didn't have enough lanterns. I think I'll buy at least 2 more. They're cheap enough for the peace of mind they give you. It makes all the difference being able to see properly.
Didn't do all the laundry I could have in the hours leading up to the red weather warning kicking in. It's stressful thinking you might run out of pants!
Had no kitchen roll
Didn't fully fill bath, only half! Half might do for an amber warning but I'll fully fill it next time it's red.

I'm sure there are other things I'm kicking myself about, I'm just too tired to remember them now! Do you guys have any suggestions? We had about 10 minutes of the lights flickering before they went out for good - what would you have run around doing in those 10 minutes specifically?

Have you got a chest freezer? Generator? Wood burner with ample supply of logs? Supplementary camp stove?

Based on living in NE Scotland where most rural houses have these things as standard, I think you’re very focused on water (less likely to be affected) and not focused enough on heat and food. Water still works in a power cut. Also, did your windows break? And frankly you can wash pants in any water - doing laundry is not the problem. How long was your power out for? Do you have a gas stove/log burner/camping stove to heat food and water on, and was it actually necessary?

Also frankly even in a red weather warning, just let the dog out into the garden. You’re making yourself and her miserable. The actual risk from falling slates is small.

We get a lot of power cuts. My best buy for relatively low amount of money was the power cut light bulbs. They function like normal light bulbs most of the time but they have a battery in them and in the event of a power cut they still turn on. We have them in all of our lamps and so we always have light without ever having to think about it.

My best buy for a large amount of money is the solar generator. Its free to charge it (solar) and it will keep the essentials going for hours (in our case generally the wifi router)

Fruitcake!

It's a good prepping option. It lasts a long time and its always nice to have a treat to hand.

I wish I had a picture to show you of the damage we woke up to this morning. We lost the ridge tiles and about 30 slates.

No generator which means we lose water when we have a power cut as we're on a bore hole. The power is still down and is likely to be until Sunday morning. I'm staying with a friend tonight but that might not always be an option. We had one power cut a few years ago that lasted 5 days!

We don't have a wood burner but luckily the stove is gas so we can always heat water for hot water bottles (if we have water, hence the obsession!!)

The windows didn't break but one slate was thrown at such force it's lodged into the wooden window frame like a dart in a dartboard! It made me realise that the windows could be shattered in a similar storm.

Was an observation not a suggestion 🤷‍♀️

Unless you’re really rural power is off for such a short period. The only prepping that’s needed is to ensure phones are charged and power bank is charged too plus have a camping stove in the house. Filling the kettle fine and the water filter jug fine but overkill beyond that. We were under ref last year and it was a storm in a teacup, it’s simply not like countries with proper weather

I've never heard of 'power cut light bulbs' before! I'm definitely going to look into them. We don't get as many power cuts as we used to but when they last for days on end, especially in the winter when the daylight hours are so short, they can be incredibly stressful!

How much did you spend on the solar generator? I've been looking at Jackory power packs which have a solar charging option. Even they are around £1500 though which is more than I can afford at the moment.

Our years in Shetland taught me most of what I needed to know. Being raised in Scandinavia I was pretty much prepared for rural living in winter.

We always have petfood, medicine, first aid kits, wet wipes, toilet bags, bottled water, juice, cocoa milk, chocolate, sweets, chips, adequate food, charged power banks, emergency radio, flashlights, batteries, candles, matches and a supply of gas for our Trangias.

We have been winter camping and have winter sleeping bags (-20C) in case the heat is affected. We have plenty of thermal underwear, wool socks, wool sweaters, fleece sweaters and warm windproof outerwear.

A toolbox, a roll of thick plastic and a snow shovel can be useful to have in the shed.

We keep enough wood at home for the woodburner.

And a set of playing cards. Very important.

We are relocation to a big Scandinavian city but will more or less keep going but won't need the wood.

I am really rural. Coastal Cornwall, out in the sticks, and we got a battering.

We had storms for decades we just get on with it.
The uk has turned to a nanny state with warnings, stock piles, school closed the list goes on.

I never prep for anything.

suspect the prepping topic is not for you then

The lightbulbs are about a tenner on amazon.

We have a Jackery. A fairly high power one. I work from home a lot and run a business so I needed it for business continuity reasons.

Guessing you don’t live somewhere where it’s really an issue. I don’t, I’m in a city where any issues are resolved pretty quickly. Easy for us to laugh it off.

Thats not the case for people eg in the north east of Scotland who frequently have power cuts for days, sometimes weeks in the depths of winter when it’s freezing cold. Or for the OP living extremely rurally on the coast of Cornwall and losing not just power but water too.

Very sensible in those circumstances to be prepared and minimising their concerns doesn’t make you look brave or clever.

Sorry to learn you’ve been so badly affected. We have plug in PIR lights which continue to work in a power cut. There is a detachable part which can be used as a torch.

I am lucky not to be in an area affected by that awful weather, however I still prep as if I am. I have a mixture of torches and lanterns with normal and rechargable batteries, a couple of Feuerhand lanterns which run off lamp oil, candles and suitable holders, some indoor PIR lanterns which are good for walkways, bathrooms and toilets etc but go off when there is no movement to conserve batteries and some bulbs which run off power banks from a USB cable. A Jackery and another big power bank plus smaller Anker ones for phones etc. We have woodburning stoves for heat, hot water bottles plus various camping stoves which run off gas or twigs or the BBQ to cook and heat water. We have bottled water but also a few of these Barrow water bags which are good to have instead of filling the bath. I would not worry too much about laundry and buy a few extra pairs of pants instead. I would get my first aid up kit stocked along with over the counter meds plus any prescription medication. Catering blue roll can work out cheaper than kitchen roll and is just as good for mopping up etc. Get some snacks for comfort along with easy to heat tinned food, and keep some cartons of UHT milk for hot drinks or sachets of instant coffee or hot chocolate. Also get into the habit of keeping your vehicle topped up with at least half a tank of fuel, never let it get lower and build yourself an emergency vehicle kit in case you do need to leave. Only you know what you need and have already worked out what was missing. Get these things in place asap if you can and at least before next winter 😊

These lights sound interesting. Could you link to them please?

https://www.amazon.co.uk/Automatic-Emergency-Portable-Wireless-Induction/dp/B0FP1MH4HV/ref=asc_df_B0FP1MH4HV?mcid=73032c1a272a3736b33e6a4babf4adcf&tag=googshopuk-21&linkCode=df0&hvadid=776371541703&hvpos=&hvnetw=g&hvrand=17226078717181805872&hvpone=&hvptwo=&hvqmt=&hvdev=c&hvdvcmdl=&hvlocint=&hvlocphy=9222482&hvtargid=pla-2447704586540&hvocijid=17226078717181805872-B0FP1MH4HV-&hvexpln=0&gad_source=1&th=1

These are the PIR lights

https://www.amazon.co.uk/BrightArk-Rechargeable-10-100-Dimmable-B22/dp/B0DQXLDYB8/ref=sr_1_5?crid=Z9UKR5D54Y1N&dib=eyJ2IjoiMSJ9.AwuHc1kd9L3QHtB0nN88zGGLjOHPIAKVMav18GCDeZbiCGr1xpyHgY7S0wyWUfXWKPXvseLapMC7rTPktpndacVJGWJA3h5esBLmiOmvIE7g3AAFQa0MYQ3MI8SuZuaQHqGOR7eIaYROEwLZUWtHvNsm_fZ8Ernf402hDAPCdP4JEvikpBpPoX1AVRPTUWEJT4rpA7ZmSuodpWy4lZLbk1UtUATfbqeLJ1KZ3sPlHf_LPbFgp2Ay68TCWmDGvhUYRvMOQmr1upLd5GBIFWV-1FRT5ShXyUQnVNbYpPWGfVw.YBpNCBBV-qqUg8WFIckmE97cEz0CfM88RBmvoxbrJO0&dib_tag=se&keywords=power%2Bcut%2Blight%2Bbulbs&qid=1768000178&s=lighting&sprefix=power%2Bcut%2Blight%2Bbulbs%2Clighting%2C103&sr=1-5&th=1

These are the power cut bulbs

We’ve had ours for about five years so no longer available on Amazon. @user38 thankfully has found another.

Ooooh, I’ve never heard of borehole water before! We had a well with an electric pump, which was an issue during power cuts. The worst we ever experienced were power cuts of 24 hours, although my grandparents had an outage of 6 days during Storm Arwen. I understand your focus on water now. Would it be worth saving towards a generator in your circumstances?

Fruit bread is also a sensible option in times of crisis.

How do rechargeable light bulbs work? Do they run on mains power when the mains power is on, and then automatically draw from their built‑in battery when there’s a power cut? 🙏

yes. If the power just goes off without the light being switched off they stay on. If the light isn't on at the time of the power cut there is a little button you can press to switch to battery. They recharge themselves when the light is being used normally.

How long do they last on battery?

Brilliant! 😊