What families in UK should do in case of ‘black sky event’ as Brits across UK warned

UK households have been asked to prepare themselves by ensuring they store emergency supplies in the home in the event of national infrastructure being cut off.

Resilience guidance issued by the Cabinet Office’s Be Ready campaign, launched on 22 October, advises basic supplies for three days are kept to hand in case of power cuts, flooding and other emergencies.

A ‘black sky event’ is the term experts use for a catastrophic, long-duration failure of the electricity grid and other critical infrastructure.

These events are not being predicted for the UK, however, if they did occur the fear is they would lead to knock-on effects which could have a significant impact on everyday and critical services people rely on.

These include internet, mobile phone networks, banking services, transportation and other services reliant on power.

Telecommunications expert Andrew White spoke to LADbible to explain what the impact means for UK families. He said “A ‘black sky event’ is typically characterised as a catastrophic, long-duration failure of critical national infrastructure, especially the electric grid, lasting weeks or months, triggered by extreme natural hazards or deliberate attacks.”

Mr White warned a black sky event could impact on road and rail networks and communications could fail. Electronic payment systems could also stop working.

He outlined how recovering from this type of event could be tough: “For example restarting a ‘dark’ electricity grid isn’t as simple as just ‘turning it back on’. Once the grid is restarted, all of the other services need to be ‘restarted’.”

To cope with three days of potential disruption, the government urged people to slowly build up their emergency supplies as part of their usual shopping habits, rather than panic buying, which led to shortages during the Covid-19 pandemic, when toilet paper, flour and hand sanitiser sometimes ran out.

In particular, a wind-up or battery powered radio capable to tuning in to FM frequencies has been recommended as a way for people to stay in touch with news services and messaging if mobile phone and internet services go down.

Mr White said a wind-up radio could be preferable to battery powered as it wouldn’t depend on batteries during a longer outage.

Bottled water, non-perishable food such as canned goods and torches are also being recommended.

Three days of bottled water for one person amounts to nine litres at three litres per day recommended for staying hydrated, with additional water for cooking and cleaning.

Families are also being asked to consider baby food, pet food, medication and other items important for their specific needs.

A store of cash including a mix of coins and notes should be kept in a safe place in case banking services are disrupted.

The government’s recommended supplies include:

• Battery or wind-up torch
• Charged power bank
• Battery or wind-up FM radio
• Spare batteries
• Three days' worth of bottled water
• Three days' worth of non-perishable food that does not need cooking
• Essential medication
• First aid kit
• Hand sanitiser and wet wipes
• Ready-to-feed baby formula, nappies and wipes, if needed
• Pet food and bottled water, if needed
• Blankets, sleeping bags and warm clothing
• Cash in a mixture of coins and notes
• Copies of important documents
• Printed emergency contact numbers