Our power has been knocked out for days in winter here. We had a fireplace so heat was never a big problem, and we stuck out in the snow whatever needed to be kept cool, so it wasn't really that big a deal. However, a couple of my friends live on farms, who's water systems rely on the use of power, that includes bathrooms. Not a very pretty image. As well, they were running out of food because the amount of snow prevented them from driving into town, and by the end were down to eating bread and drinking water made out of melted snow.