Electrical Outage: New Bedford Southend Ward 6 from Monday 23 (10:30) - Tuesday 24 (18:50) February 2026

from New Bedford Light's "New Bedford 'walloped' by largest snowstorm in history"

Snow is beautiful, undoubtedly, for no more than 15 minutes. The same way that it settles to the ground, we have to tame our perception of snow when reality settles in... Beauty possesses an ugly side when it wreaks havoc upon us. The beautiful cold reveals the danger and isolates us from the warmth, leaving us to clean it up.

If you are a New Englander (some readers are outside of the region and also international, who may never have experienced snow), you recently experienced the storm storm from Sunday 22nd to Monday 23rd of February, that nobody enjoyed. For instance, several areas experienced a power outage with no electricity for almost two days, on top of areas not getting plowed (as of writing this are still not cleaned up yet). Areas in the Southend of New Bedford had no electricity from 10:30 AM EST on Monday to 6:50 PM EST on Tuesday. You can imagine how debilitating and dangerous this situation can be considering different circumstances and preparedness.

This blog post is a post mortem written after electricity became available in my area. Rather than go through the play-by-play of how I dealt with the situation, instead I will focus on salient tips and tricks, how to stay healthy both physically and mentally, and how I put this into practice all within the context of technology and resources I have. 

With that being said, what I write about is more of a primer rather than an exhaustive breakdown of what to do. It would probably be a good idea to have something like this in printed form so that you can reference it in the event of an electrical outage. Generally speaking, being aware of these scenarios and seeing it listed in simple format can be helpful.

"The idea of adventure is easier than the real adventure."

A little digression, for some of us, we often romanticize the apocalypse, living in medieval times, etc after consuming entertainment that use these themes and imagine ourselves in them. When we face them in real life, the idea often disguises and warps the reality of hardship that a person experiences when living through any of the aforementioned romanticized themes. These were times in history and fiction where modern conveniences were obliterated or have not existed yet. It's always easier to imagine living through these scenarios at the comfort of our couches and seeing them through a television.

"Absence makes the heart grow fonder."

Speaking about televisions, modern society needs electricity. Without it portions of our lives will be put on hold, let alone other things like the internet requiring electricity to run. This also includes some appliances for heating and preserving/making food. Any disruption to our electrical needs will have dramatic impacts given the amount of time we live without it. Having common thing like our electricity, when it is abundant, can sometimes cause us to ignore preparing for events like the snow storm we just had.

"I rather have it and not need it, than need it and not have it."

Preparation is tantamount to being more self-assured should a similar situation to the one we had occurs again. In most situations, especially in the USA, blizzards are few and far between if any. However, we should always take into consideration that something could happen. We should also acknowledge that it is nearly impossible to prepare for everything but having some areas covered, such as having food and water supply available will make going through difficult situations just a little bit easier.

When I talk about preparedness, I am not only talking about the physical materials that someone needs to survive, I am also talking the skills encompassing routines and mindset to overcome scarcity and difficulty. For example, going camping as a hobby provides useful skills that translate well to overcoming these types of situations, especially if they extend for a period of time.

Being a traveling backpacker, hiker/camper, and certified scuba diver are skills that helps me approach scarce situations. Backpacking and hiking is the definition of having limited resources; scuba diving is the definition of literally being submerged and surrounded in a dangerous situation (by choice). Call it masochism, call it fun, regardless, a person inherits a number of skill sets that are useful.

I've traveled throughout the USA and internationally. These include places where I did not speak the language and/or encountered areas with varying degrees of crime, undeveloped infrastructure, and not knowing anyone, typically by choice. In some instances, knowing how to read a map and using a compass, is critical. I've even acquired being able to speak, read, and write Spanish in a span of 6 months along the way, late in my life. Needless to say, these skills have helped me, in my day to day.

Scuba diving is 90% safety and 10% skills. Acquiring a scuba certification involves as many things that can go wrong in a dive, understanding the reasons, and dealing with them appropriately when/if they occur for obvious reasons. Developing the skills of improving diving requires constant practice like reducing air usage, swimming more efficiently, or finding lobsters to catch... There is a principle in scuba, designated as, "stop, breath, think, then act" describing how situations can be approached with a clear mind and taking the safest possible actions.

These concepts can be horizontally applied to survival situations meaning that they can work in the context of regular day to day life and situations like the blizzard we just had that caused a power outage. Naturally, being prepared is tantamount to when a situation happens but also living and going through it with as little distress as possible. All in all, one must act with urgency but calm, and clear mindfulness.

TIPS

1. PREPARE: Preparing doesn't mean preparing years in advance, it just means preparing before an event. Typically, more people will congregate to places like the groceries for supplies leading up to an event that result in some supplies not being available let alone being overcrowded. To avoid this situation, having weeks, even months to gather supplies will prove to be less of a headache. Use the rest of the list as a template to determine what you may need.
2. PRIORITIZE SITUATION: Since most circumstances don't require immediate attention, getting a birds-eye view of the current situation and having a plan outweighs approaching them in an adhoc manner. Make a list of anticipated needs and wants, but also include a list of anything that will be unavailable or scarce. This list should include:
• immediate needs
• medium-long term needs
• worse case scenarios
3. HEALTH: Focus on your physical and mental health.
1. Physical health
   • Stay well nourished. Have plenty of water and have non-perishable food on hand.
   • Stay warm.
   • Catch up on sleep.
   • Try not exert too much energy, rest frequently.
2. Mental health
   • Don't panic.
   • Keep a regiment, be productive, especially when the only major light source could very well be only the sunlight.
   • Curb boredom by having hobbies and entertainment that do not require electricity that include but not limited to board game, books, etc.
   • Regulate emotions.
4. SOCIAL: Keep in contact with neighbors in person, since communicating through electronic devices such as phones, computers, etc will be limited.
5. ASSESS EQUIPMENT & SUPPLIES PRONE TO COLD/WET DAMAGE: In the event of a power outage, equipment and supplies run the risk of being damaged/spoiled if attention and action is not taken to prevent an issue from occurring.
• Have water drip from each faucet to prevent the pipes from freezing.
• Have analog tools like thermometers to monitor temperature in different areas.
• Charge/have batteries (generators), mobile devices ready. Test batteries and generators prior to use.
• Limit opening and closing the fridge to prevent food spoilage.
• Further insulate areas where cold air sneaks in. Bonus points if you have mylar to use as a form of insulation for the body and the surroundings.
• Put your mobile device on airplane mode when not in use and charging. This both reduces energy consumption and charges the device faster.
• Top up your data plan on your device and/or have external internet device.
6. PRODUCTIVITY: Wallowing in misery will only increase the misery. Get your mind off of idle time. When the only light is the sunlight, start when the sun comes up, rest when it comes down. There is nothing that will exhaust you more than realizing you didn't do the thing you were supposed to do, when you had the resource to do it. Get it done.
• Shovel snow.
• Get supplies.

I typically work on the computer. When the power went out, that option went away. In a worse case scenario, I decided to only reserve the laptop for use in case of an emergency but more specifically, to save it to recharge devices if I needed to. Anything that I needed to get done on the computer I took care of days in advance.

I also did regular inspections of the building's interior and exterior, monitoring ambient temperatures and sealing off any areas that could potentially expel warmth. Being mindful to not keep doors open too long as that will cause warm air to escape. To add, air is a good insulation from the cold so any chance to have a barrier between a hallway/foyer from the main entrance to an inhabitant can go a long way to staying as warm as possible. Rooms that typically get colder than other rooms that don't get direct sunlight, I placed a boiling pot of water (gas stove), while not efficient helps maintain ambient temperatures in the room. All in all, temperatures throughout the building stayed relatively stable and gave me confidence should the outage extend for a longer period of time.

More importantly, I am grateful that the outage only lasted for less than 48 hours. Being prepared for these types of situations does not mean it was an enjoyable experience. I know many people were not so lucky and moral began breaking down as time passed. With that said, there are lessons learned and moving forward, I am already taking steps to improving on a potential next encounter. This blog is one of the first steps.

Thank you for reading. I hope you stay safe.

If you have any recommendations to add to the list, please feel free to share.