My essentials for navigating the storm season in B.C.

Someone better try to find Landorus soon because Thundurus on Tornadus seem to be causing havoc in British Columbia. (For those who don’t know, this is a Pokémon reference.) 

Last month, a bomb cyclone hit the province’s south coast, bombarding the area with strong winds in the evening. This led to environmental damage and as many as 300,000 BC Hydro customers without power at the peak of the storm.

Sadly, this event won’t be the end of the storm season with most of winter still yet to come. 

If only the province could dodge bomb cyclones like how Pokémon dodges Tornadus’s Bleakwind Storm attacks. 

However, we’re not Pokémon, so we’re going to have to plan out the essentials — at least what I, a perpetual shut-in, consider to be essential.

The most important thing I want to check off is making sure I have my devices fully charged if power ever goes out. Of course, I need food and drinks, but that’s obvious, and even then, I survived off of chips and ramen noodles for a shocking amount of time during the pandemic anyway. 

Back to the devices, though. I’m someone who’s often online and likes to be updated on everything. Whether it’s another possible storm coming to the province or the Canucks trading away their players again, I sure want to know.

As for which devices, I want to make sure my laptop, phone, and Nintendo Switch console are all fully charged, if not close to 100 per cent. I’d also try to make sure my power banks are fully charged, if possible. Since no one can ever really know how long a storm will go on or if power will be lost during that time, it’s better to be safe than sorry.

Trust me, as someone who got stuck in their place during the infamous B.C. snowstorm in late November 2022, having anything to keep you occupied kept me from sleeping in all day.

If possible, have a flashlight on hand to help you navigate your home in the dark, even if your phone has a built-in flashlight. Unless you’re somehow a Zubat and can find your way in the dark, it’s probably for the best to have some light. 

Since I’ve mentioned food and drinks, I might as well leave a few suggestions that may sound like the average meal for broke university students. There’s nothing like bags of chips and bottles of Gatorade to help fill up stomachs during a time when electricity might be out. 

In case anyone wants specific recommendations, original-flavoured chips from Lays — or the dollar store equivalent — and any of the blue-coloured Gatorade are my go-to picks. This obviously isn’t the fanciest or healthiest meal ever, but it’s nice to have food like that on hand. 

As for any extra items one could have as possible storm essentials, I would recommend a notebook or journal if you’re like me and want to document some small experiences. I sometimes use a notebook to write down some ideas for esports activities, but that’s besides the point. 

Anyway, while we can hope there’s no more storm activity this winter, this is the west coast, so we have to be realistic. I do always think it’s nice to see snow coming down, but that might just be me.