82,000 homes lost power in one night. The Government says your family must be able to last 3 days on its own.

Most British families wouldn't last one. And with Britain caught up in the war with Iran and the Defence Secretary warning of "increasingly sophisticated cyber attacks", the next blackout may not come with a storm warning.

Updated 5 November 2026 · 4 min read

It started with an announcement most people scrolled past.

On 22 October the Cabinet Office launched Be Ready, the first stage of a three-year campaign. Every household is being asked to be able to cope on its own for up to 3 days if the power, the water or the phones are cut by storms, flooding, power cuts or cyber attacks. The Defence Secretary spoke of the threat from "increasingly sophisticated cyber attacks".

Three days later, the storms arrived.

Sunday 25 October: the lights went out

• 82,000+UK homes had no electricity after storms Boelo and Austen passed through within 24 hours.
• 84 mphWinds in Argyll and Bute. A man was killed by a falling tree in south-west Scotland.
• BlockedFallen trees and cables closed roads and railways. The Met Office warned of danger to life and told people to stay indoors.

In Germany the same storm cut the power to 10,000 homes around Freiburg, and the mobile network went down with it. The town's main hospital had to take emergency cases only.

That's the part nobody thinks about. When the power goes, the phone masts can go too. No calls. No messages. No way to check the news, pay by card or reach anyone.

What 72 hours without power looks like in a British home in November

1. Minute 1The lights go. So do the wi-fi and a digital landline: they both run from a plug socket. The TV, the kettle, the doorbell: gone.
2. Straight awayThe heating stops. Most gas central heating needs electricity for its ignition, pump and controls. It's November. The radiators go cold and stay cold.
3. Within the hourThe phone mast on your street is running on a backup battery. The mobile networks fought Ofcom's plan for even one hour of battery at every mast, calling it too costly, and since June there's no fixed minimum. When it runs out: no calls, no texts, no data, even with a full phone.
4. Hour 4The food in the fridge is no longer safe to rely on. The Food Standards Agency's line is about 4 hours.
5. The first nightThe house is dark and freezing. The children sleep in their coats. You're rationing the torch, and the phone you need to reach the school is on 20%.
6. Day 2A half-full freezer has thawed (about 24 hours, says the FSA). Card machines and cash machines may not work: the Government's advice is to keep cash at home. The two bottles of water are gone. A family of four drinks 12 litres a day.
7. Day 3This is the day the Government is asking every family to be able to reach, on its own.

Then the shelves emptied

Bottled water, batteries, baked beans and soup sold out at some supermarkets, Ocado among them. Iceland sold 40% more tins in a single weekend. Robert Dyas sold 160% more radios. At Maplin, torch sales nearly quadrupled in three days.

Everyone went to the shops at the same moment. That's exactly when things run out, and it will happen again with the next warning.

And it's all happening while Britain is in a war

• Since FebAfter the US-Israeli strikes on Iran on 28 February, British forces have been shooting down Iranian drones and missiles in the Middle East, and a drone struck a British base in Cyprus.
• 1 NovIran declared the Royal Navy and the RAF "terrorist organisations" and MI6 a "hostile group". The Defence Secretary condemned it.
• 3 NovThe US carried out new strikes on Iranian targets.
• BillsThe war pushed up the energy price cap by 13% in July and 4% more in October, and analysts warn of another rise in January.

Be Ready isn't about any one threat. But it was launched in the middle of all this, and the Government is asking every home to be able to manage on its own. That should tell you something.

The question almost no parent can answer

Water and tins are the easy part. The part that keeps parents awake is this:

The power goes out. There's no signal. Your child is at school. Do they know where to go?

• 🏫Who collects them if you can't get there, and does the school know?
• 📍Where do you all meet if nobody can call anybody?
• 👵Who checks on Gran, and who takes the dog?
• 🎒What does your child know to do, in their own words?

If you can't answer all four right now, you're not alone. Most families have never talked it through. They find out what's missing when the lights go off, and by then they can't call anyone.

"Honestly, I had no idea what he'd do. That really scared me."

The power goes out, there's no signal, and my son's at school. That's the thought that hit me when I saw "3 days" on the news. I looked at him and thought: we wouldn't last one.

I'm not a prepper. I don't want a bunker or a £150 rucksack. Every list I found online went on forever and ended in a basket of gear. I just wanted a plan.

So one afternoon we sat down with Family Ready. It's an app on your phone. You tell it who's in your family and it builds your list: water, food, torches, the lot. And it tells you exactly what you're still missing.

Then the family plan: who picks him up, where we meet, who to call if the phones are down. We printed the cards and stuck them on the fridge, and now he knows it by heart.

And if it's a power cut, a flood warning, or you've got five minutes to leave, it shows you what to do, step by step. It's not about being scared. It's about knowing what to do.

Sources: GOV.UK (Cabinet Office, 22 Oct 2026) · beready.campaign.gov.uk · AFP/AP via Al Jazeera (26 Oct 2026) · LBC (27 Oct 2026) · Press Association / BBC Newsnight via Nation.Cymru (27 Oct 2026) · Citizens Advice and Which? (heating in a power cut) · Food Standards Agency (food in a power cut) · ISPreview and Comms Business (Ofcom and mast batteries, 2023-2026) · ITV News (2 Nov 2026) · PBS NewsHour (Nov 2026) · CNBC (27 May 2026)

Family Ready is independent. It isn't part of the Be Ready campaign and has no connection to the UK Government. The official checklist is free at beready.campaign.gov.uk.