Outpost Preparedness
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22 declarations since 2015 · 19 states

Winter storms

Two things kill, and neither is the cold on its own.

Carbon monoxide, when the heat fails and people bring a generator or a grill inside — generators are the single largest source of non-fire CO deaths. And hypothermia, which claims around 1,300 Americans a year. The house going cold is survivable. What people do about it is what is not.

Source: CDC / CPSC
Do this tonight

Find your water shutoff and make sure somebody other than you knows where it is. Frozen pipes do more damage than the cold ever will.

Where winter storms actually get declared

Federal major disaster declarations, FY2015–present.

South Dakota 3Tennessee 2Alaska 1Arkansas 1California 1Delaware 1Iowa 1Kansas 1Kentucky 1Louisiana 1Maine 1Massachusetts 1Mississippi 1Montana 1Nebraska 1New Hampshire 1North Dakota 1South Carolina 1Texas 1
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The 72-Hour Checklist

One page, and it works for every hazard — the first ninety minutes look the same in all of them.

Your state
What you actually face

Every declaration where you live, ranked, with the failure mode behind each.

Severe storms →Flooding →Hurricanes →Wildfire →Snowstorms →Ice storms →