Phone

 
 

• During an emergency, keep telephone lines clear for emergency workers.

• Prior to an emergency, program your emergency contact numbers into your portable home phones and your cell phone. Include 9-1-1, the police department, fire station and hospital contact numbers as well as your family members into your cell phone so you don't have to think about it during and after an emergency.

• Have a family communications plan in place. Designate someone out of the area as a central contact, and make certain all family members know who to contact if they become separated.

• Have at least one corded phone in your home. Corded phones should still work even if the power goes out.

• Remember that if you have phone service through the Internet and you lose power, you will not be able to make or receive calls. Program your home phone service to forward phone calls to your cell phone during loss of power, or make arrangements for backup power via generator or other means.

• Keep your cell phone batteries charged and have an alternate plan to recharge the battery in case of power outages.

• Forward your home number to your cell phone number if you must evacuate. Since call forwarding is based out of a phone company's central office, you will get incoming calls from your landline phone, even if your local telephone service is disrupted at your home. (In the unlikely event the central office is isolated, call forwarding may not work).

« this page last modified 08/04/08 »