Power outages are an increasingly common phenomenon in the United States. I've lived through more than I can count here in the St Louis area, and also experienced them in The Philippines.

Fortunately, my electricity has always been restored within a few days, but some people went without it for a week or more.

And these were localized problems. The 2005 hurricanes stripped much of the Gulf area of the U.S. of its electrical infrastructure.

And worse could happen. A widespread, systemwide breakdown in the North America power grid. A nuclear power plant meltdown. A flu pandemic that disables most of the workers who maintain the grid. Deliberate action by terrorists.

Most local outages seem to happen in either summer (when the Midwest has many violent storms that blow trees and tree branches down, breaking power lines) or winter (when we sometimes have ice storms that break power lines by forming heavy ice on them).

If your outage is localized enough, just drive to a nearby motel or house of family or friends. It depends on your location. At my old apartment complex, my apartment building and most of the others always lost power in storms, but the building closest to the street was hooked up another way, and its lights always remained on. Frustrating.

In hot weather, if you can't sleep anywhere else, drive to an air-conditioned restaurant, movie theater or mall. Or hang around outside and have a party with your neighbors.

Obviously, it's a good idea to have flashlights and extra batteries someplace easy to reach. Flashlights are not easy to find in the dark, so keep them in an easy place.

Be extremely careful with candles. I've seen people burnt out of their houses in The Philippines, where brownouts are still common, especially in the province. They lit a candle for light, then went to sleep without blowing it out. Not a good idea. If you light candles, burn them out before you fall asleep.

Have a radio on hand for news. You can buy radios that are hand-cranked and which also come with cell phone chargers.

You can also buy flashlights that are powered by shaking them up and down. However, your wrist and arm will get very tired, fast.

Unplug all your electrical appliances to protect them from damage when the power comes back on. Keep one light on to alert you.

If you lose power in the winter, and it will be off for more than a few days and the temperature will get very cold, you must protect your pipes.

Your plumbing always has water in it, ready to start flowing when you turn on the faucet.

If that water freezes, it expands. This creates a lot of pressure, cracking on your pipes.

It can be fixed, when the power is back on, but it's very expensive.

To make sure you don't have an four figure plumbing bill later, turn off the water going into your house or apartment. Turn off the power supply to your hot water heater.

Open all the faucets of your house and let the water drain. Save it in bottles just in case.

Flush your toilets. Drain your hot water heater.

Your house could have pockets of pipes where water still remains. Check with a plumber about this, and what you'd have to do to protect them. Make sure you have a good pipe wrench handy.

If you still have to report to work in the morning, it's also a good idea to have a wind-up alarm clock. If you need an electric alarm to wake you up in time, you'll be late.

Hopefully you'll never need this advice, but it's better to be prepared.