Extended Outage Guide
Most outage guidance covers the first 72 hours. This guide covers what changes after that, and when to act.
Before You Read
It tells you what changes and when. For the how, it points you to the guides that already cover each topic in depth.
A 72-hour outage and a two-week outage are not the same event at different lengths. They are different situations. The problems that matter on day two are not the problems that matter on day ten. Conditions compound: what started as an inconvenience becomes a decision about water resupply, then about fuel rationing, then about whether to stay or go.
This guide walks the timeline so you can see the shifts coming. Each phase describes what is changing in your household and links to the NWS guide that covers that topic. If you have not yet read the Power Outage Action Plan, start there. It covers the first response. This page picks up where that plan leaves off.
A note on timing
Every outage is different. Season, climate, household size, housing type, and preparation level all shift the timeline. A well-insulated home with stored water and a propane heater faces day 10 very differently than an apartment with a half-empty pantry. Use the day markers as a general sequence, not a fixed schedule. The order matters more than the exact dates.
Phase 1
This is the phase your emergency kit was designed for.
If you have done any preparation at all, the first three days are manageable. You have light, water, food, and a plan. The house is still close to normal temperature. Your phone may still have charge. The biggest risks are the acute ones: carbon monoxide from a misused generator, spoiled food eaten too soon, or a candle left unattended.
During this phase, your primary job is to preserve what you have. Keep the refrigerator and freezer doors closed. A closed refrigerator holds safe temperature for about four hours. A full freezer holds for roughly 48 hours, or 24 hours if half full (USDA FSIS). Activate your emergency lighting. Check on neighbors who may need help, especially anyone relying on powered medical equipment.
Most outages end during this window. The ones that do not are the subject of the rest of this guide.
Phase 2
Your emergency supplies are depleting. The house is no longer at a comfortable temperature. Daily routines need to change.
Your refrigerator crossed its safety threshold days ago. By now, your freezer has likely thawed as well. Anything that was above 40 degrees F for more than two hours should already be discarded (USDA FSIS). The remaining food decisions are about your pantry, your canned goods, and your stored supplies. Eat perishables and opened items first. Save shelf-stable foods for later. Drink the liquid from canned vegetables for hydration and electrolytes.
A well-insulated home loses roughly 1 to 2 degrees F per hour in cold weather with no heat source. By day four, the whole house is cold. In summer, the opposite: without air conditioning, interior temperatures track toward outdoor ambient.
Now is when single-room strategies matter. In winter, close off unused rooms, concentrate people and heat in one space, and seal drafts under doors with rolled towels or blankets. In dry summer heat, a wet cloth hung over an open window creates simple evaporative cooling as air passes through the moisture.
If you have been putting off hygiene because the outage "might end soon," day four is the day to establish a routine. Handwashing remains the highest priority. A daily sponge bath uses less than a quart of water and prevents skin breakdown and infection.
In cold weather, keep your feet dry: rotate socks daily (one pair wearing, one drying, one spare) and air out your boots for at least two hours. Prolonged wet-foot conditions can cause tissue breakdown in as little as 13 hours.
Emergency HygieneFirewood, propane, gasoline, batteries: whatever you are consuming has a finite supply. Day four is when you should calculate your daily burn rate and divide remaining supplies by it. A small fire that warms your body briefly uses far less fuel than a large fire keeping a room warm all day. If you are running a generator, consider cycling it: run it for essential tasks (charging devices, running a well pump, powering a medical device), then shut it down. Monitor every gallon.
Phase 3
Problems that were minor in week one become serious in week two. The house itself starts working against you.
Three things happen to your indoor air during an extended outage. First, drain traps under sinks and unused toilets can dry out in low-humidity conditions, allowing sewer gas into your home. Pouring a few tablespoons of mineral oil into each drain creates a film that sits on top of the trap water and prevents evaporation, a technique commonly used in vacation homes left unoccupied for months.
Second, in humid conditions without climate control, condensation on cold surfaces can support mold growth within 24 to 48 hours (CDC/EPA). Indoor humidity above 60 percent accelerates this. Open windows for cross-ventilation when it is safe to do so.
Third, any combustion heating, including devices marketed as low-emission, consumes oxygen and produces carbon dioxide. In a sealed room, this depletes breathable air even when carbon monoxide levels remain low. If you are running any fuel-burning heat source, crack a window at least one inch on the same floor and keep a working CO alarm active.
Stored water that seemed like plenty on day one may be running low. A gallon per person per day is the minimum for drinking and basic cooking. Add hygiene, dishes, and sanitation, and realistic consumption is closer to two gallons. Before you need to resupply, identify your nearest non-tap water source: a water heater holds 30 to 80 gallons, and rainwater, pools, or natural water bodies can supply non-potable water for flushing, cleaning, and (after treatment) drinking.
Transport matters. Five gallons of water weighs about 42 pounds. Plan how you will carry it before you need to. Filter and treat water at home rather than at the source, so you do not waste treated water on non-drinking tasks.
If you are on a municipal sewer system and the power has been out this long, the pump stations that move sewage through the system may also be offline. Sewage backup into your home is a real possibility. If you notice slow drains or gurgling from fixtures, stop flushing immediately and switch to a bucket-and-bag system. Homes on septic systems generally continue functioning without power.
Surface cleanliness matters more now too. The CDC recommends 5 tablespoons (one-third cup) of household bleach per gallon of water for disinfecting hard, non-porous surfaces. That is approximately 1,000 parts per million of sodium hypochlorite. Keep food preparation areas, shared surfaces, and sleeping areas as clean as possible. Make the solution fresh daily. Never mix bleach with ammonia or any other cleaning product.
Your brain consumes roughly 20 percent of your body's energy at rest, despite making up only 2 percent of your body weight. When calorie intake drops, cognitive function drops with it. You forget things. You make mistakes: a candle left burning, a step skipped in water treatment, a miscalculation of remaining fuel. This is not a character failure. It is physiology.
The countermeasure is structure. Write things down. Keep a daily log of what you consumed, what tasks you completed, and what needs doing tomorrow. A written checklist catches the errors a tired brain will not. Eat something before making important decisions, and choose calorie-dense foods (peanut butter, nuts, oils) when supplies are limited. Maintain a routine, especially for children: wake times, meal times, chores, and rest provide stability when everything else feels uncertain.
Your pets need water and food on the same schedule you do. Keep pet food in sealed, hard-sided containers to avoid attracting rodents. An open bag of kibble in a powerless house with no climate control becomes a pest magnet within days. In cold weather, a dog sharing a sleeping area provides real body warmth. Account for pet food and water in your supply math from day one, not day eight.
Emergency Preparedness With PetsThe Turning Point
Two weeks in, the adrenaline of the first few days is long gone. What remains is arithmetic.
Take a hard inventory. Count every gallon of water, every can of food, every gallon of fuel, every battery, every dose of medication. Write it down. Estimating supply levels is one of the most common mistakes during extended disruptions, and it grows more dangerous the longer conditions persist.
Divide what you have by daily consumption. That number tells you how many days your current situation can sustain. If the answer is uncomfortable, the next question is whether to reduce your consumption rate or change your location.
Relocation is not failure. It is a decision that becomes the right answer under specific conditions: indoor temperatures are dangerous and you cannot maintain a safe zone, water is exhausted and resupply is not feasible, a household member has a medical need that requires electricity you cannot provide, or fuel for heating and cooking is gone. The decision is easier when you have identified a destination and a set of trigger conditions before the outage, not during it.
If you are staying, two weeks is also the right moment to assess what did not work as expected. What ran out faster than planned? What did you wish you had? What would you do differently on day one if this happened again? Write it down while the experience is fresh. That document becomes the most valuable thing you produce during the entire outage, because it turns one hard experience into better preparation for the next one.
Go Deeper
Every topic in this timeline has its own in-depth guide. These are the ones that matter most during an extended outage.
Power Outage Action Plan
The first response. Start here.
Heating During Outages
Safe heat, layering, CO rules
Cooling During Outages
Staying cool without AC
Food During Disruptions
What to eat, what to discard, how to stretch it
Emergency Water Sources
Where to find water when stored supplies run low
Sanitation Without Water
Bucket flush, waste bags, portable toilets
Emergency Hygiene
Sponge baths, handwashing, laundry, dental
Generator Safety
CO placement, fuel, transfer switches
Utility Shutoffs
Gas, water, electrical shutoff procedures
Fuel Preparedness
Storage, rotation, and rationing
Preparedness With Pets
Evacuation, supplies, extended care
Bleach Water Disinfection
The EPA protocol, done correctly
Sources
USDA Food Safety and Inspection Service. "Keep Your Food Safe During Emergencies." Refrigerator 4-hour window, full freezer 48 hours (24 hours if half full), discard perishable food above 40 degrees F for 2+ hours. fsis.usda.gov
FDA. "Food and Water Safety During Power Outages and Floods." Appliance thermometer guidance, freezer temperature retention, refreezing safety. fda.gov
CDC. "Mold." Clean up and dry out within 24 to 48 hours after moisture exposure. Maintain indoor humidity below 50 percent. cdc.gov
EPA. "Mold Cleanup in Your Home." Mold can begin growing on wet materials within 24 to 48 hours. Indoor humidity above 60 percent accelerates growth. epa.gov
CDC. "Cleaning and Disinfecting with Bleach." Hard surface disinfection: 5 tablespoons (1/3 cup) per gallon of water. Keep surface wet for at least 1 minute. Never mix bleach with ammonia.
CPSC. Generator safety data, CO fatality statistics, and placement requirements. Cited in full in the Generator and Backup Power Safety guide.
Raichle, M. et al. Washington University School of Medicine. The brain accounts for approximately 20 percent of the body's resting energy expenditure despite comprising 2 percent of body weight. Referenced in Scientific American, Trends in Neurosciences (2013), and BrainFacts.org (Society for Neuroscience).
Ready.gov. Power outage preparedness guidance, medical device planning, communication during outages.