How To Prepare for a Winter Storm

1/14/2022 (Permalink)

Keep an emergency kit stocked with three days' worth of essentials

From frozen pipes to black ice and flood water, extreme winter weather in Colorado Springs, CO, can wreak havoc on your home. Here are four ways you can prepare your family for a winter storm.

Tips For Winter Storm

1. Draft Communication and Evacuation Plans

All members of your household should know how to get in touch with each other and where to go in the event of a winter storm. Ideally, your communication plans should address a variety of specifics scenarios. Similarly, your evacuation plan should incorporate not just the safest route to your local emergency shelter, but also a viable alternative. If local authorities tell you that you should get out, get out.

2. Winterize Your Car

Fleeing a blizzard is not the time to have your car refuse to start or run out of gas. Have your mechanic perform a thorough check before winter hits. Make sure your winter tires have good treads. Keep your gas tank full, and stash winter supplies in your trunk, such as a windshield scraper, matches, a first-aid kit, blankets, an emergency signal, and sand or kitty litter for creating traction if you get stuck.

3. Protect Your Pipes

Frozen pipes can burst and lead to a flooded building. To avoid needing the services of a water damage recovery company, you can help prevent broken pipes and flood water by a variety of means:

• Leave cabinets under sinks open to allow warm air in
• Insulate pipes with heat tape, pipe sleeves or — in a pinch — newspaper
• Close interior valves that provide water to outside hoses

4. Prepare Your Home

Keep an emergency kit stocked with three days' worth of essentials:

• Water
• Nonperishable food
• First-aid supplies
• Medications
• Flashlight
• Batteries
• Radio
• Pet food and supplies

Bring pets inside, and make sure any alternative heat sources such as space heaters, generators, fireplaces, and stoves are clean, functioning properly, and well-stocked with fuel or materials.

Winter is inevitable. Severe winter storms are not. Expecting the unexpected can help you ride out a winter storm safely and with minimal flood water, frozen infrastructure, or other damage to your home.