Free help for UK households
When the lights go out, be the house that's ready.
Plain guides, free printable plans and honest kit reviews for power cuts, floods, storms and snow. No fear, no jargon, nothing to buy.
What's happening near you?
Power cuts, flood warnings and your nearest BBC local radio frequency, for your postcode. Power cuts, flood warnings and your BBC local radio frequency.
Guides
Get ready for what UK weather actually does
Power cuts
What to do in the first hour, what to keep in the drawer, and how to look after a freezer. The first hour, the drawer, the freezer
Floods
Check your risk, sign up for warnings and make a flood plan before you need one. Your risk, warnings and a flood plan
Storms
Secure the garden, charge everything and know what an amber warning means for you. Secure, charge, and read the warnings
Snow and ice
Frozen pipes, cold homes and getting about safely when the roads close. Frozen pipes and cold homesAlso: HeatwavesWater supply cutsGas leaksLooking after a neighbourPets and power cuts
All guidesYour household plan
Six small steps. Light a window for each one.
Answer a few questions about your home and who lives there. We'll turn it into a one-page plan you can print and stick inside a cupboard door. A one-page plan for your home, to print and stick inside a cupboard door.
Start here
Do you know where these are in your home?
Most of being ready is knowing where things are before the lights go. Ten minutes with a torch now saves a panic later.
Take the ten-minute walk-round- Torch by the bed, not in a drawer
- Wind-up radio in the kitchen
- Stopcock under the sink: turn clockwise to shut off water
- Fuse box in the cupboard under the stairs
Free printables
Print it, fill it in, keep it by the door
Every guide is free to download. We'll email you the PDF.
Kit reviews
What's worth buying, and what isn't
We compare specs, manuals and thousands of owner reviews so you don't have to. We say when the cheap one is fine.
Every guide here, even when the internet isn't.
Cairn is our offline pack: the guides, printables, maps and local radio list on a small computer or old laptop at home, working with no signal at all. Our offline pack: guides, printables, maps and the radio list on a small computer at home.
The seasonal check
Four short emails a year, before winter, spring floods, summer heat and autumn storms. What to check, what's changed, and the new printables. Four short emails a year: what to check before each season, and the new printables.