Severe Weather

Severe weather is the event most likely to actually test a household, and it rarely arrives as a single problem. The power goes, the heat goes with it, the basement takes water, and the phone network congests at exactly the moment you need the warning to reach you.

The most useful preparation is rarely the most dramatic. Knowing how you will be woken by a warning issued at three in the morning matters more than any single piece of equipment, and a working sump pump backup quietly prevents more damage than most things you could buy instead.

Texas in February 2021 remains the clearest case study available, because the failure sequence was documented in detail afterwards rather than argued about. It is worth reading before deciding where your money goes.