Power failure / blackout

Without electricity from the socket, almost nothing works anymore. No electricity means

• no light
• no communication
• no monetary transactions
• no shopping
• no drinking water
• no cooling
• no heating
• no medication

First, you should check what the impact of the power outage is. Is it just you and your home that is affected or does the scope of the outage extend to your neighbors and your surroundings. To do this, you can ask your neighbors, for example, or it will already be apparent by looking at your street.

Especially if the power goes out at night and suddenly all the lights go out, this can be an unpleasant situation and perhaps also trigger an uneasy or frightening feeling in you. Very important here is - keep calm and act thoughtfully!

Please do not call the emergency number of the fire and rescue service or the police in the event of a power failure, as they cannot provide more comprehensive information about the current situation and the line should be left free for the real emergencies.

What you can do instead is to check the Internet to see if any reports have already been made.

Via the Mobile Warning System "MoWaS", information and warnings can be sent to various apps (e.g. NINA) by the Rosenheim Civil Protection.

In addition, in the event of a blackout, information and warnings can be made via loudspeaker announcements, flyers and radio announcements. For the latter, the city specifically recommends battery- or solar-powered radios, as well as car radios.

In the future, there will also be an area-wide siren warning system in the city of Rosenheim with different signal tones for different danger situations.

A blackout is a prolonged power, infrastructure and supply failure. Regional outages can often be repaired after hours, supraregional outages only after several days.

This must be distinguished from short-term technical disruptions (10 - 15 minutes) in the power supply.

Depending on the duration of the blackout, the effects vary. If it lasts up to 60 minutes, restrictions in public telecommunications and the collapse of mobile phone networks are to be expected. If it lasts up to eight hours, there is a threat of total communications failure. In such a case, the drinking water supply can be maintained via emergency generators at the well pumps. If the blackout lasts up to 72 hours, the failure of private fuel supplies and shortages of drinking water and food are expected. In the event of a blackout lasting even longer, the supply bottlenecks will be exacerbated.

Now that you have checked the extent of the blackout and reported it if necessary, there are a few things you can do. First of all, you should turn off any equipment that was running when the blackout began. By doing so, you will protect your devices. Most importantly, you should turn off devices like the stove or the iron. After all, if you forget about them after the power comes back, you may face dangerous consequences.

Also, do not interrupt the refrigeration, because you never know how long the power will be gone. To do this, keep the refrigerator and freezer closed so that no cold can escape and the food stays good longer.

Every citizen can prepare for a possible, prolonged blackout. Plan as you would for a 14-day camping vacation within your own four walls:

• Water: The goal of Stadtwerke Rosenheim is to maintain the drinking water supply for as long as possible. A daily emergency supply of 2.5 l/head should nevertheless be prepared.
• possibly a water filter system (self-sufficient without electricity)
• Food: durable food, such as jars / canned food (vegetables and fruits), cereals and legumes, pasta, rice, crispbread, sugar, durable milk ...
• Cash (the sum of a double week's shopping in small bills and coins - well secured!)
• Medicine: medicine cabinet and personal essential medicines (e.g. insulin)
• First aid kit
• Hygiene articles
• Candles, matches
• Radio (battery or solar powered) or crank radio
• Spare batteries
• camping stove, fuel paste
• if necessary supply for pets (water, food)
• if necessary wood for heating / fireplace, sleeping bags, blankets and warm clothes
• possibly always fueled car

Power failure can also mean that no telephone or cell phone works anymore and you cannot make an emergency call for the fire and rescue service or the police.

The city of Rosenheim has taken precautions for these cases and prepared contact points for citizens. Our fire departments in the city of Rosenheim are equipped to function even in the event of a power failure and to establish a connection to the Integrated Control Center. You can find the addresses of the volunteer fire departments on our flyer

• "Blackout - and then?" - Guidebook of the City of Rosenheim

• Precautions for power failure - Information of the Federal Office of Civil Protection and Disaster Assistance
• Homepage of the municipal utility Rosenheim