Winter – Cold Weather and Power Outage Safety

Winter brings cold temperatures, snow, freezing rain, and high winds. When rain freezes, ice weighs down trees and power lines, this can lead to power outages (see below for multi-language fact sheets).

Photo by Brett Sayles (cc license)

During a winter storm

Washington Department of Health tips:

  • Wear several layers of loose-fitting, lightweight, warm clothing rather than one layer of heavy clothing. Wear mittens rather than gloves. Wear a warm, woolen cap.
  • Do not drive unnecessarily.
  • Reduce the temperature in your home to conserve fuel.
  • Heat only the areas of your home you are using. Close doors and curtains or cover windows and doors with blankets.
  • Use alternative heat methods safely. Never use a gas or charcoal grill, hibachi or portable propane heater to cook indoors or heat your home.
  • Never use a generator indoors or in a garage or carport.
  • Be careful when shoveling snow. Do not overexert yourself.
  • Be sure to eat regularly. Food provides calories that maintain body heat.
  • Watch for signs of frostbite and hypothermia — slurred speech, disorientation, uncontrollable shivering, stumbling, drowsiness and body temperature of 95 degrees Fahrenheit or less.
  • If you become trapped outside, get out of the wind and stay dry. Build a lean-to or snow cave if nothing else is available. Do not eat snow; it will make you too cold.

If in your vehicle

  • Make sure someone knows where you are going. Stay on the main roads.
  • If you must stop, remain inside the vehicle. Use a bright distress flag or your hazard lights to draw attention to your vehicle.
  • If trapped in a blizzard, clear your tail pipe and run your engine and heater for 10 minutes every hour. Open your window slightly.
  • During night hours, keep the dome light on in the car so rescue crews can see your vehicle.
  • Keep an emergency kit in your vehicle. Include a three-day supply of water and non-perishable food that can be eaten without being cooked. Include a blanket or sleeping bag for each passenger, a flashlight, cell phone, shovel, sack of sand or kitty litter, booster cables, flare, coffee can with lid, and toilet paper.

PDF tip sheets in other languages: Spanish, Chinese, Korean, Russian, Somali, Ukrainian, Vietnamese

What should I do if I see damaged or downed power lines?

Department of Health Seattle & King County:

  • Don’t get near any fallen or sagging power line!
  • Call the utility company about the line
    (Seattle area residents: 206-684-7400, other King County residents: 1-888-225-5773).

If you have a power outage, safe ways to stay warm

  • Find places where you can go to get warm, such as the home of friends and family whose homes have power.
  • Wear several layers of light weight, warm clothing rather than one layer of heavy clothing. Wear hats, mittens, and blankets indoors.
  • Close curtains and cover windows and doors with blankets. Everyone should try to stay together in one room, with the door closed, to keep in body heat.

Prevent poisoning from carbon monoxide

  • If you don’t have electricity, only use a generator outdoors and far from open windows and vents.
  • NEVER use a generator indoors, in garages or carports
  • NEVER cook or heat indoors with a charcoal or gas grill 

Help Others

person in rain with a blue umbrella

Emergency Preparedness

Resources and information about emergency preparedness, disaster planning, and other emergency public health alerts.

Emergency and Disaster Preparedness

Seattle-King County Disaster Preparedness Fact Sheets and Flyers
Key fact sheets with tips to help you prepare for and manage a disasters such as floods, power outages, hypothermia, and more. Many topics have additional languages.

Carbon monoxide facts in multiple languages - King County
Particularly relevant to refugee and immigrant populations is the issue of carbon monoxide poisoning when there are power outages. This is a link to carbon monoxide facts in multiple languages.

Lost In Translation - Minnesota Medicine
A short article about a Karen refugee family from Burma, and how a simple lesson about our emergency system might have saved a life.

Prepare Yourself - Seattle Office of Emergency Management
The Seattle Office of Emergency Management has prepared information to learn how to plan for personal and family safety and needs. Infographics are translated into Amharic, Chinese, Khmer, Korean, Laotian, Moldavian, Romanian, Russian, Somali, Spanish, Thai, Tigrinya and Vietnamese.

National Resource Center on Advancing Emergency Preparedness for Culturally Diverse Communities
A site developed by the Drexel University School of Public Health’s Center for Health Equality, with support from the HHS Office of Minority Health, to serve as a central clearinghouse of resources and an information exchange portal to facilitate communication, networking and collaboration to improve preparedness, build resilience and eliminate disparities for culturally diverse communities across all phases of an emergency.

ECHO - Minnesota Department of Public Health
Emergency & Community Health Outreach (ECHO) uses TV, radio, phone, print, web and DVD has resources to bridge the communication gap for immigrants and refugees in Minnesota, and makes resources accessible to others.  They provide resources about emergency preparedness, health and safety and civic engagement in multiple languages.

Fire Safety

Home Fire Safety - Seattle Fire Department
Fact sheets from the Seattle Fire Department with information about Basic Home Fire Safety in a number of languages:  English, Tigrinya, Amharic, Oromo, Somali, Spanish, Chinese, Vietnamese, Burmese, Hmong, Ukranian, Russian, Nepali, Lao, Thai, Cambodian.  

Community Fire Safety Advocates - Seattle Fire Department
Provides fire safety presentations in English, Chinese, Cambodian, Lao, Vietnamese, Thai, Spanish, Oromo, Somali, Amharic and Tigrinya.  Attendees learn:  The real dangers of fire; The most common home fire hazards; How to respond properly to a home fire. Use the form provided to request a Community Fire Safety Advocate presentation or participation in a community event. See also fire safety videos in Amharic, Somali and Tigrinya. 

Champion of Change

Mohamed Ali, a Seattle area Somali refugee with master’s degree in public health, has been honored by the White House as a Champion of Change for his work in the Puget Sound area.  In 2012 a severe winter storm hit the area and many people lost power.  Ali did outreach in his community to warn about the dangers of carbon monoxide poisoning from bringing generators and grills inside. Read the Seattle Times article: Federal Way man to be honored with White House’s Champion of Change award .

person in rain with a blue umbrella
Photo by Chris Yarzab (cc license).
Female nurse taking blood pressure of female patient in a hospital bed

Translated Nurse-to-Patient Communication Pages – Harborview

Female nurse taking blood pressure of female patient in a hospital bed
Photo by UW Medicine

Pages developed with nurses and interpreters to aid caregivers in communicating basic information to their patients. Use of the pages requires no prior knowledge of the patient’s language, but requires that a patient be able to read and point to a written response.

These pages are not meant to be a substitute for using a qualified interpreter. Rather, they are a basic communication aid for nurses providing comfort and care to patients. For more complex communication needs, always use an interpreter.

The Greek and Polish translations have not been reviewed. Thanks to Camelia Ades, RN, MSN, MPH for contributing the Romanian translation