Severe weather in my area has left up to 40,000 people without power. High winds have downed trees, blown over fences, damaged roofs, and caused other assorted mayhem. Heavy rains have caused several mud slides blocking many roads. Power went out at my home about 8:30 pm last night and was still out when I left for work this morning. Power was on here at work but had obviously went out at some point as all the computers were turned off. Hoping power is restored by the time I get home this evening, but if not we'll be feasting on leftovers from the fridge and cooking whatever was in the freezer as well.

On the bright side, this event has given me a chance to examine our preps.

- Emergency lighting: check (assorted candles and flashlights, as well as oil lanterns which we didn't need to light)
- Water: check (luckily, we have municipal water supply that doesn't go out when the power does)
- Backup power supply: no check
- Emergency family plan: no check

Lessons learned and/or things that need to be done:
- Double check current battery supply and buy better battery powered lanterns; it is amazing how quickly kids panic when the power goes out (especially when they are guests in your home) and how quickly a simple little LED light calms them down; I nearly forgot about the candle option on the old D cell maglites
- I noticed our stored water supply is WAY down so that has been added to the items to be stocking up on
- WRT backup power supply, I need to look into getting a generator again. Will probably check into something small and simple (i.e. read cheap) to start with. At least something to power the fridge anyway. Eventually we might invest in a natural gas powered deal that switches on automatically if the power goes out.
- WRT the emergency family plan, that needs to become a HUGE priority. Any suggestions here would be helpful and appreciated.
- Thankfully no downed trees in the yard as the chainsaw blade needs to be sharpened. I suppose I could get it done with the axe and bowsaw if absolutely necessary though. Also a few kukris and machetes amongst my collection of sharp stuff.

Thinking along the lines of the damage I saw on the way in to work, I am thinking some supplys of extra building materials (thinking hammers, nails, boards, etc) and some tarps might be nice to keep handy as well. Supplies of duct tape, maybe some heavy clear plastic to cover any broken windows would be good to have too.

Did I miss anything? Thoughts? Suggestions?