The power's out. Here's what to do, in order

The lights flicker twice and go. The furnace fan winds down. Somebody says “is it just us?” Here is the order to do things in, with the parts that are specific to Langley.

1. Find out if it’s just you

Check the breaker panel first. If a breaker has tripped, that’s your problem, not BC Hydro’s. In an apartment or townhouse, if your unit is dark and the hallway lights are on, it’s the building: call the manager or strata, not the utility.

If the panel is fine and the street looks dark too, open the BC Hydro outage map or the outage list on your phone. Search for Langley and see whether your outage is already there, how many customers are affected and what the cause and status say. On Friday evening, Nov 6, the map showed exactly one outage in Langley, in Walnut Grove, and it was planned maintenance, not the storm. That’s a good night. The map also shows planned outages, so if your street is listed for Tuesday morning you’ll know ahead of time.

2. Report it if it isn’t listed

Three ways, and all of them work without an account number in front of you:

• Phone 1 800 BCHYDRO (1 800 224 9376), or dial *HYDRO (*49376) from a cell.
• Online through a MyHydro login or the BC Hydro app.
• Renters without a BC Hydro account: call the same number and when the system asks for an account number, just stay on the line; you’ll be connected to an agent.

If you saw a flash or heard a bang right before the power went, tell them. BC Hydro says that detail helps crews find the cause faster.

3. Turn things off, except two lights

BC Hydro asks everyone in an outage to switch off electric heaters and major appliances and unplug sensitive electronics. That protects your gear from the surge when power returns and lowers the load on the system so it comes back cleanly. Leave one light on inside and one outside, so you and the crew driving past know the moment it’s back. The Township adds: turn the thermostat down, keep doors, windows and drapes closed, and shut off rooms you aren’t using so the heat you have stays in one place.

4. Read the status like a lineman

The map gives every outage a status. BC Hydro’s own definitions, in plain words:

• No crew assigned: they know, but nobody is on it yet and there are no updates.
• Crew assigned: it’s on a crew’s list; they’ll get to it when they can.
• Crew on their way: a truck is heading to you.
• Crew on-site: they’re finding the cause; an estimated time of restoration (ETR) follows once they know what’s broken.
• Changed from assigned to not assigned: the crew was pulled to a safety emergency, the previous job ran long, or they found more damage and shifted people. Not a mistake, just the queue moving.
• Suspended: the first crew found it needs heavy equipment, new poles or more people, and it’s waiting to be reassigned.

An ETR is an estimate. A vehicle taking out a pole can mean up to eight hours of work; a branch across a line is quicker; a squirrel in a substation knocks out a lot of homes at once but usually comes back fast. Where they can, crews “switch” customers onto another circuit while the slow repair happens, which is why your neighbour across the road sometimes gets power back before you.

5. Understand who gets fixed first

In a big storm with dozens of outages, BC Hydro works in this order: anything dangerous to the public, like a downed line, first, even if a crew has to leave another job to get there; then critical services, which it identifies with the municipality (hospital, fire halls, police, the water system); then the biggest outages, to bring the most people back at once; then smaller neighbourhoods; then single homes. The honest consequence, in BC Hydro’s own words, is that a “newer” outage affecting thousands may be fixed before an “older” one on a small street. If your cul-de-sac is last, that’s why.

6. Keep the fridge shut and the barbecue outside

Don’t open the fridge to check. A full fridge keeps food cold for about four hours; a full freezer stays frozen for up to 48 hours, a half-full one about 24. After that, Health Canada’s guide (linked below) tells you what to keep and what to toss, and BC Hydro’s rule of thumb is to cook or compost anything that has started to thaw.

Never run a barbecue, camp stove or generator indoors or in the garage, and PreparedBC adds: never heat the house with the gas stove or oven. Carbon monoxide has no smell. If the CO alarm goes off, everyone outside, then 911. A portable generator runs outdoors with the exhaust pointed away from the house and is never plugged into a wall outlet.

7. Make the phone last

BC Hydro’s tips: don’t power the phone off and on (that uses more battery than sleep mode), switch on airplane mode or turn off Wi-Fi, Bluetooth, GPS and notifications, dim the screen, close apps.

8. Two things outside the house

A fallen or sagging power line is 911, every time. Assume it’s live even if it’s silent, stay back 10 metres (a city-bus length), and keep others back too. Electricity spreads through the ground from the contact point, and anything touching the line, a fence, a tree, a car, is live as well.

Dark traffic lights are a four-way stop. Stop before the intersection. If you and another driver arrive together, the one on the right goes first. Anyone already in the intersection finishes crossing. Nobody else will remember this, so creep out slowly and assume the cross traffic isn’t stopping. In Langley that means 200 Street, Fraser Highway and the Bypass become very slow, very quickly.

9. Check on the people who need power most

If someone in your home runs medical equipment, keeps medication refrigerated or relies on a lift or stairlift, have the plan written down before the storm: who you’d go to that has power, and if there’s nobody, the hospital. PreparedBC says to ask the equipment supplier or health authority about backup options, and BC Hydro suggests telling your building manager in advance if you’d need help staying in or leaving an apartment. Then knock on the door of the older neighbour on your street; BC Hydro and the Township both put that on their lists.

During a long outage the Township posts facility and service impacts on its news feed and road impacts at tol.ca/roads. Report a tree down on a Township road or a blocked drain at 604-532-7300 on weekdays (8:30 am to 4:30 pm) or 604-543-6722 after hours and weekends. Anything life-threatening is 911.

10. When it comes back

Don’t flip everything on at once; give the system a minute to settle before the heat, the dryer and the oven. Check the fridge and freezer, reset clocks and timers, and replace whatever you used from the kit so it’s ready next time. The kit itself, per PreparedBC, should carry you for at least 72 hours: four litres of water per person per day, food you can eat cold, a flashlight and radio with batteries, medication, and a printed list of phone numbers, because the one in your phone needs power.

More: What a wind warning means for Langley · Emergency preparedness in Langley · Langley emergency contacts · Snow days and Langley schools