Newtown Pa Briefly Lost Power Last Week; A Good Reminder to Be Prepared

Recent Newtown Pa power outage reminds us to have a backup plan: About 1500 people in parts of Newtown and Upper Makefield were left without power for as much as a couple of hours on Thursday.

Developments including Newtown Grant were affected, but all residents had power restored before the day was over. Newtown Electronic's Dave Funk reported that his phone rang off the hook that afternoon, with about twice the usual number of people inquiring about a backup generator for their home in the hours following the mini-power outage.

"Having a generator is one of those things like having car insurance or owning gold that isn't usually on people's radar until something happens to make them nervous," Dave said.

Have a backup plan, and just be prepared

Although it's not clear what caused the outage, it begs the question, "are you prepared to lose power?" We haven't had a significant power outage since last Winter, (when about 1M people were affected) so we're all a bit complacent. Even in this unseasonably mild weather, it's always good to be prepared just in case.

Patch.com Newtown recently posted some tips on who to call, and what to do, and it's worth taking a look at. You can also follow outage reports on PECO's Twitter page to see if the power is out, and who's affected.

You can find additional storm preparedness tips and kits for your house or home online. They are usually low-cost, or even free if you put them together yourself with items you might already have in your home.