Be prepared for power outages with these Emergency Lighting Options, which are great to have on hand during hurricane season. Make sure you have them before the storm.
For more hurricane tips, check out all of our hurricane preparedness posts.
There was this time when I was young, but old enough to babysit my brothers, and the power went out. I remember it happening a lot growing up, but I think that’s just how memories work.
It probably didn’t happen all that very often, to be honest, but in my mind, it did. It happened often enough, anyway, that I knew we needed to find some candles.
I found a box of birthday candles and a book of matches in a drawer in the kitchen. Perfect. I asked my brother to hold one in each hand and I lit them. We quickly realized just how fast birthday candles burn, so my solution was to point them upward.
My brother listened to me — and burned his fingers in the process.
After that, we probably just sat in darkness until my parents came home. Or not. Honestly, I don’t remember what happened after. But I still remember those burnt fingers (and I think my brother does too!).
So every year as hurricane season approaches, as I check our hurricane preparedness kit, I make sure it contains a candle and lighter. It has to in case the electricity goes out and we need light — and I’m old enough now to know that birthday candles are not gonna cut it.
This is just one of the many posts about hurricane prep in our How To Prepare For A Hurricane Guide. Click that link to find out more so you’re the most prepared if and when when the storm hits.
Emergency Lighting Options For Hurricane Preparedness
Affiliate links are included in this post and Drugstore Divas may make a small commission if you use them.
Candles
Let’s start with candles since I’ve already mentioned them. Don’t go with birthday candles. You want large jar candles, preferably ones that come with a long wick. You light it and then you can do other hurricane-related things — like playing board games with your family or reading a book — without making someone hold the candle.
If you love sustainability and the money in your wallet, like me, go with flameless LED candles. Those usually run on batteries or can be recharged via USB, so you can reuse them numerous times rather than just once like traditional candles.
Flashlights
Before the hurricane season starts, be sure to locate your flashlights. Ours is usually on top of the fridge, but sometimes, it ends up in the cabinet next to the fridge. I have no idea why. But when it’s dark and you need a flashlight, you don’t want to be fumbling around looking for it.
And, while you have the flashlight on your mind, be sure to grab batteries for it too. A flashlight isn’t going to help you if its batteries are dead.
Pocket Fan With Flashlight
I just bought a three-in-one pocket fan with flashlight. I actually bought two of them last week on clearance at Walmart and needed to use it on Sunday when our power went out for a few hours.
It has an LED flashlight, a three speed fan, and it’s a phone charger. It’s perfect in an emergency. And on vacation. I actually bought these so we can have a portable fan on our vacation next summer, but they really came in handy.
Battery-operated lantern
There is a town near us that hosts a weekly beach bingo. It’s fun … but it does start to get dark at night, so everyone brings battery-operated lanterns with them. We didn’t know this the first time we went, and, let me tell you: It’s hard to play bingo when you’re outside in the dark.
When my parents moved to North Carolina, we bought them a battery-operated lantern for beach bingo. And last year, when a hurricane came through and we needed lighting options, we borrowed it … just to be safe.
Solar lights
Usually, solar lights sit outdoors on your porch or walkway, absorb the light all day, and illuminate your path all night. But in a pinch, you can bring them indoors and they can light your home when the power goes out.
We have one on a shepherds hook that’s so easy to bring inside if we need to. The ones that are stuck in our dirty to illuminate our porch aren’t as easy to bring inside.
Solar Charger
Speaking of solar, another good thing to have is a solar-powered phone charger. We lost power for almost three days when Hurricane Florence ripped through the area a few years ago. For people who didn’t evacuate, that meant they couldn’t charge their phones for three days. And that’s scary.
A solar-powered phone charger changes all that.
Ours also has a flashlight on it, so you can use it during a power outage for that as well.
When my brother stayed home during a hurricane last year, I ordered one for him to make sure he had a way to change his phone and have light at night.
Use a generator
I’m pretty sure we will leave every time there’s a Category 3 or higher hurricane. We had a voluntary evacuation a few years ago, but seven miles up the road was mandatory evacuation for the same storm, so we left to be safe.
So many people who stayed picked up generators so they could run lights, air conditioning, and the fridge.
If you do decide to stay, you might want to get a portable generator. The only people who were really able to stay back here instead of evacuating had one.
You can get a gas-operated one (but be sure to stock up on gas before the storm hits) or a propane-operated one.
What emergency lighting options for hurricane preparedness do you have in your hurricane kit?