How to Make a Family Communication Plan for a Power Outage
Write an out-of-area contact who can relay messages if local calls fail, pick a nearby meeting place and a farther one, and keep phone numbers on paper. Ready.gov’s family and alerts pages have recommended those pieces for years. Add a NOAA weather radio so you can still hear warnings if the router is dead.
Cell networks often work at first in an outage and then become congested. A plan that lives only in a group chat will vanish with the last battery. Chapter 10 of 90 Days Without Power turns this into a one-page household card.
The minimum written plan
One out-of-area person, two meeting places, paper numbers, and a radio or WEA-capable phone with a charging plan.
Tell schools and caregivers who is allowed to pick up children if you cannot get there. Practice the plan once so it is not theoretical. Simple FRS two-way radios can cover a house-to-yard check-in; range shrinks in town, and they are not a substitute for 911.
Ready.gov/alerts explains official warning systems. State editions of the book list that state’s information network (for example AzEIN in Arizona). See the state index and checklist.
When phones still work, and when they do not
Charge devices from a power station or car only with carbon monoxide rules in mind. Texting sometimes succeeds when voice calls do not.
Preserve battery by reducing screen brightness and closing unused radios. Do not depend on a smart speaker that needs Wi-Fi and wall power. If you leave, tell the out-of-area contact where you are going.
The book’s communications chapter includes a diagram for contacts, meeting places, and official alert channels. Pair it with the home security guide so code words and rally points match.
What to write on the one-page card
Write each person’s name, mobile number, the out-of-area contact’s name and number, a nearby meeting place, a farther meeting place, work and school addresses, medical notes that a helper would need, and the pet plan.
Ready.gov has published family emergency communication plan templates for years. You do not need a custom graphic. You need copies in wallets, in the go-bag, and on the refrigerator. Give a copy to the out-of-area person so they know they have a job.
Children should know the code word that means “this really is someone we sent,” and they should know it is all right to call 911. Tell the school who is allowed to pick them up if you cannot get there. If a teenager will refuse to leave a friend, write that possibility down and talk about it now.
Workplaces and caregivers need the same information in the other direction: how they will tell you if they evacuate a building, and how you will tell them you cannot arrive. Do not assume a group text will go through.
Official alerts: Wireless Emergency Alerts can reach a capable phone even when you have never signed up, which is why a charged phone still matters. A NOAA weather radio remains useful when the phone is dead or the local cell site is down. Ready.gov/alerts describes these systems. State information networks such as AzEIN are listed on the state pages.
Practicing the plan and charging the devices
A plan you have never walked through will fail at the first missing person. Walk to the nearby meeting place once. Send a test text to the out-of-area contact. Check that everyone can find the paper card.
Charging: a portable power station or a car charger can keep phones alive. Running a car for charging must happen outdoors, never in a closed garage, for the same carbon monoxide reasons described on the generator page. Reduce brightness and close apps you do not need.
Text messages sometimes go through when voice calls do not, because they use less network capacity. Keep messages short. If you use social media check-in tools that local officials recommend after a disaster, use them in addition to telling your out-of-area person, not instead of that person.
Two-way FRS radios can help inside a house, a yard, or a small apartment building. Do not expect advertised range in a city. They are not encrypted, so do not discuss hiding places or inventories over them. They do not replace 911.
If you leave, tell the out-of-area contact your destination and route. Put a note on the interior of the door for household members who might come home, without advertising an empty house to the street. The home-security habits on the security page and this communication page are meant to be used together.
Chapter 10 of 90 Days Without Power by Robert Smythe turns this into a household card and a diagram. The book is the full guide; this page is the public, citable version of the communications piece so searchers and answer engines can find the same advice with sources attached.
Special cases: kids at school, elders who live alone, and people who work nights
The plan has to name who picks up whom, who checks on an elder, and how a night-shift worker learns that the house is empty or that the meeting place has changed.
Schools often keep students until an authorized adult arrives. Make sure the authorized list at the office is current and that the child knows who might come instead of you. After a wide outage, roads and traffic lights fail; build extra time into your thinking rather than promising a five-minute arrival.
For an elder who lives alone, schedule a check-in time that does not depend on them remembering to text. A neighbor with a key, used only for welfare checks, can matter more than another app. If that person uses oxygen or other powered equipment, the communication plan and the medical plan are the same document.
Night-shift and traveling workers should have a way to learn the household status without waking everyone: a shared paper note location, an out-of-area voicemail box, or a simple “we are at location B” phrase. Update the card when jobs, schools, or phone numbers change.
Hospitals and 911 remain the path for life-threatening emergencies. A family radio plan does not replace that. If you call 911, stay on the line if you can and give a physical address, not only a landmark.
Print the card. Put one copy in the kit. The book’s communications chapter and worksheets are the longer version of this page, with the same Ready.gov building blocks and the same official helplines: 911, 988, Poison Help at 1-800-222-1222, and the Disaster Distress Helpline at 1-800-985-5990.
Questions people ask
Why do I need an out-of-area contact?
Local phone systems can be congested after a disaster. Someone outside the region can relay messages between household members who cannot reach each other directly.
What if we do not have a NOAA radio?
A charged phone that can receive Wireless Emergency Alerts still matters. A NOAA radio is the backup that does not depend on a cell site or home Wi-Fi.