When the Power Goes Out: A Preparedness Guide for Notaries and Signing Agents.
An INK Notary Services guide to keeping your household, essential documents, and appointments in order.
A power outage can turn a normal afternoon into a series of small decisions. Is the water safe? How long will the refrigerator stay cold? Can you get downstairs without the elevator? Who has the signing instructions if the email never arrives?
A storm, a utility equipment failure, and a routine maintenance outage can leave you answering many of the same questions. Make as many of those decisions as you can while the lights are still on.
If the power just went out, start here
Check your people first. Confirm that everyone is safe. If someone relies on powered medical equipment, check the backup immediately and put their care plan into action. Call 911 for a medical emergency, fire, or immediate danger.
Make a note of the time. Keep refrigerator and freezer doors closed. Knowing when the outage started helps you decide what to keep later.
Check your utility and local alerts. Report the outage through your utility’s official channel. If it’s part of a larger emergency, look for official water notices, cooling centers, and evacuation instructions.
Use a flashlight or headlamp. Set one by the stairs, bathroom, or exit. Save your phone battery for calls, maps, and updates.
Tell the people expecting you. A quick text to a caregiver, neighbor, client, or hiring company gives them time to make other arrangements.
Build a kit you can actually use in the dark
Start with a headlamp, extra batteries, a charged power bank with the right cables, a battery radio, a manual can opener, drinking water, and three days of food you can serve without cooking. Add a first-aid kit, a refrigerator thermometer, a cooler, hygiene supplies, some small bills, and a printed contact list. Test smoke and carbon monoxide alarms and check their backup batteries.
Keep the basics somewhere everyone can reach. Put a flashlight beside the bed and stash a charging cable with the power bank. Write down who picks up the children if school closes, who checks on an older relative, and where you’ll meet if phones are unreliable. Include pets, carriers, leashes, and food in the plan.
For anyone who uses powered medical equipment or refrigerated medication, ask the care team, equipment supplier, or pharmacist in advance how to maintain power or safe storage, when to relocate, and where to go. Write down the backup location and how you’ll get there. In an apartment, ask management how occupants who need assistance can exit during an outage.
Store water before you need it
Drinking Water
The CDC recommends starting with at least one gallon per person per day for three days. That’s 12 gallons for a family of four. Account for pets and additional needs during hot weather. Unopened bottled water is the simplest option. If you fill your own containers while the tap water is safe, use clean, food-grade containers with secure lids.
If officials issue a water advisory, follow its exact instructions. A boil-water notice and a do-not-use notice call for different actions. Boiling can kill germs, but it cannot make water contaminated with fuel or toxic chemicals safe. Keep a clearly labeled supply of safe water for drinking, cooking, and brushing teeth.
Reserve bathtub water for toilet flushing.
If you have young children at home, use covered containers stored out of reach instead of filling the tub. Use bottled water or another source confirmed safe for brushing your teeth. If a water advisory is in effect, follow your utility’s instructions for bathing and washing up.
When the taps stop
Ask building management whether backup power covers water pumps, elevators, and access systems. Save the building’s after-hours number and find your stairwell before you need it.
A conventional gravity toilet may be flushed by pouring the water you reserved in the bathtub into the bowl - only if the sewer or septic system is working and officials or building management say it’s safe to flush. If drains are backing up or the building uses a pump that has lost power, wait for instructions. For washing up, a cloth and a small basin of safe water can get you through the evening.
Build a pantry that can carry you through an outage
Start with three days of meals you can serve without power. If your budget and storage allow, build toward two weeks of shelf-stable food at home. Add a few extra servings of foods your household already eats to each grocery trip, use the oldest items first, and replace them as you go.
For the first three days, choose meals you can open and eat without a stove, refrigerator, or running water.
Build around foods your household already uses. Start with pull-tab cans of beans, chicken or fish, crackers, nut or seed butter, shelf-stable milk in small cartons, fruit cups, and ready-to-eat vegetables. Add familiar options for children and anyone with allergies or dietary needs. Use package instructions for storage after opening and choose portions you can finish in one sitting.
Meal | An easy no-cook option |
Breakfast | Cereal with an individual carton of shelf-stable milk and a fruit cup |
Lunch | Chicken or chickpeas with crackers and ready-to-eat vegetables |
Dinner | Canned beans, canned corn, and salsa with tortillas |
Snack | Nut or seed butter with crackers, or unsweetened applesauce |
Dry rice, pasta, oats, oil, and bouillon are useful pantry staples when you have safe water and a safe way to cook. Keep separate meals ready for the day you have neither. If you want to stock beyond three days, count meals your family will actually eat and rotate that stock through your ordinary groceries.
Know the refrigerator and freezer limits
Appliance, with the door closed | Approximate time without power |
Refrigerator | Up to 4 hours |
Half-full freezer | Up to 24 hours |
Full freezer | Up to 48 hours |
After four hours without power or another cold source, discard refrigerated perishables such as meat, fish, eggs, milk, cut produce, and leftovers. Frozen food that still has ice crystals or is at 40°F or below can generally be refrozen or cooked. Check the official chart for exceptions. Never taste food to check whether it is safe. If you expect a longer outage, a cooler and enough ice can keep food cold, provided the temperature stays at 40°F or below.
Use safe light, backup power, and cooking options
Choose battery lights for routine use during an outage. Keep camp stoves and grills outdoors, away from doors, windows, and vents. An open window does not make an indoor camp stove safe. Never use a gas range or oven to heat your home. For cooking on an installed gas range during an outage, follow the manufacturer’s instructions for your exact model. Keep a no-cook meal handy if you’re unsure.
A portable fuel-powered generator belongs outside, at least 20 feet from doors, windows, and vents, with exhaust directed away from buildings. A garage, carport, or apartment balcony can put exhaust too close to living spaces. If a carbon monoxide alarm sounds, get everyone outside to fresh air and call 911 from outside.
Decide where you’ll go if staying home stops making sense
Decide in advance where you can go for reliable cooling, safe water, accessible bathrooms, or power for medical equipment. Keep two options and a way to reach each. In South Florida, make that decision early when the house is heating up or an elevator outage could strand someone who needs assistance. Follow official evacuation orders and avoid flooded roads.
If you live in Miami-Dade, look up your address in the county’s storm surge planning information and sign up for county alerts.
If you’re in Broward, bookmark the county’s emergency updates. Anyone who may need evacuation or shelter assistance should check registration requirements ahead of time.
Keep essential documents within reach
Keep a protected paper folder with emergency contacts, insurance information, and the documents you’d need if you had to leave quickly. Store sensitive digital copies securely and test whether you can reach them if your normal connection or usual device is unavailable. Consider access to prescriptions, school pickup information, veterinary records, and any documents a caregiver may need. Tell the person you trust how to reach what they need.
For notaries and signing agents, plan for three kinds of outages
If this goes down | Have this ready |
Power | A charged phone, the hiring party’s number, and an approved plan for secure printing or rescheduling |
Internet or email | An approved alternate contact channel and a way to check the platform’s official status |
Remote notarization platform | The provider’s support contact and a plan to pause, confirm session status, and reschedule if needed |
If the power is on but your inbox is down, see What the November 2026 Microsoft Outage Taught Notaries for ways to confirm appointments and coordinate document access when email is unavailable.
Confirm a backup contact at acceptance, especially for evening, weekend, or deadline-sensitive work. Keep the order reference and contact number accessible without saving borrower documents in a personal email account or on a shared device. If documents are delayed, verify changes through a known number and use only the hiring party’s approved secure channels. If a remote session drops, confirm with the platform and hiring party what was captured before restarting or taking further action.
Send an update while there’s still time to change plans.
Hi [Name], a service outage is affecting [document access / printing / the remote signing platform]. I’m checking the approved alternatives and will update you by [time]. If there’s a deadline or a preferred backup process, please call me at [number] and reference [order number].
Keep the signer’s private information out of the update. Log who you contacted and when so you can pick up where you left off when service returns.
When power comes back
Check the food and water guidance before restocking or cooking. If the utility issued a water advisory, wait for it to be lifted and follow its restart instructions. Recharge power banks, replace what you used, verify any appointments you paused, and send promised updates. Write down the one thing that would have made the outage easier and fix it this week.
Save this guide and share it with the person you’d call first if the lights went out.
If you’re a notary, confirm your backup contact on your next assignment before you need it.
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Disclaimer: This article is for general informational purposes only and does not constitute legal advice. Notaries and signing professionals should follow applicable laws and transaction-specific requirements. INK Notary Services, LLC is not a law firm and does not provide legal representation, legal advice, or individualized legal document preparation. Legal requirements and individual circumstances vary. Consult a licensed attorney or qualified health care professional for guidance specific to your situation.
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