Politics & Government
Question of the Week: What Are Your Top Three 'Must-Have' Items in Case of a Power Outage?
After two-thirds of Laguna Niguel residents lost their power Thursday afternoon, stores were flooded outside of city limits for batteries, water and ice. What are your top three must-have items in case of an emergency?
Thursday left most of us in the dark—literally.
After two-thirds of the city's 65,000+ residents spent almost 8 hours without power, things eventually returned to normal for the most part by mid-day Friday.
However, that's not say that the outage didn't leave its impact. Numerous because they had to close their doors.
Find out what's happening in Laguna Niguel-Dana Pointwith free, real-time updates from Patch.
“When the blackout happened everyone in our area had closed down around 5:30 p.m.,” said Molly, a manager at
"The electricity was not out here so we were able to stay open all night, said Keith, a barista at theocated at 27020 Alicia Pkwy.
Find out what's happening in Laguna Niguel-Dana Pointwith free, real-time updates from Patch.
located in the Southern California Edison service area of Laguna Niguel had full power and was busy for hours serving customers.
Stores in nearby Aliso Viejo were swarming with people loading up on batteries, water and ice.
According to Laguna Niguel Emergency Preparedness coordinator, Paul Russell, these are the top three three items to have on hand and ready to go:
1. A battery-powered camping lantern or flashlights with plenty of extra batteries. A battery-powered camping lantern is able to sit by itself on a table and provide light in all directions.
2. An AM/FM battery powered radio. Local news and talk radio stations are usually very quick at getting the big picture regarding local emergencies. There are commercial AM and FM radio stations in Orange, Los Angeles and San Diego counties that provide this service on a voluntary basis.
3. Ready-to-eat food that does not require preparation or refrigeration that can be easily opened without an electric can opener. Healthy snack food such as granola bars and dried fruit (i.e, raisins, dried apricots, etc.) are easy to store and provide good nutrition.
For much more information on what items to have on hand in the event of a power outage, or any other type of an emergency, visit ready.gov or call your city’s Emergency Preparedness coordinator.
In Laguna Niguel, Emergency Preparedness coordinator, Paul Russell, may be contacted at (949) 362-4312.
Laguna Niguel Patch wants to know what are your three must-have items in case of an emergency. Tell us in comments.
