There's the loud thunderous boom and then silence.
The power goes out and all you can do is wait for it to return.
Except for Debi Fulwiler it didn't- not for another 17 hours.
"I just kept expecting it to come back on any minute," she said.
Fulwiler lives along lake Fort Phantom Hill which often loses power during heavy storms.
"My daughter kept calling me from fort worth and saying, 'have you checked your freezer, have you checked your freezer?'" she said.
The retired nurse knows to cover her refrigerated foods with extra ice.
"If the ice wasn't melting, the food was fine," said the longtime resident.
Her biggest concern- the meats which she keeps stored in her shed which was quickly heating up.
"If it thawed and it's not cooked then it could rot," said Fulwiler.
And that's where it can become a health hazard.
Food like meat, poultry and dairy products are the fastest to spoil.
It's important to keep refrigerators and freezers closed-so food can remain cold even without power.
"If people are opening those doors they're allowing that cold to come out that warm to go in and they are pushing that temperature up inside those units," said Martha Alice Spraberry, from the Texas Agrilife Extension Service.
Once meats have thawed out- you only have four hours before they spoil.
It may be seem an expensive waste to throw them out, but experts say it's worth the potential health hazard.
"If you were to eat it and it was unsafe, then you're looking at possibly a doctors visit a hospital stay, medications," said Spraberry.
That's why Fulwiler made sure to keep her refrigerator tightly shut- even after the power came back on.
She said, "Of course I got a text back from my daughter have you checked the food and I said not yet, because I knew the bags of ice are not thawed so I felt very comfortable that the food was safe."
The power goes out and all you can do is wait for it to return.
Except for Debi Fulwiler it didn't- not for another 17 hours.
"I just kept expecting it to come back on any minute," she said.
Fulwiler lives along lake Fort Phantom Hill which often loses power during heavy storms.
"My daughter kept calling me from fort worth and saying, 'have you checked your freezer, have you checked your freezer?'" she said.
The retired nurse knows to cover her refrigerated foods with extra ice.
"If the ice wasn't melting, the food was fine," said the longtime resident.
Her biggest concern- the meats which she keeps stored in her shed which was quickly heating up.
"If it thawed and it's not cooked then it could rot," said Fulwiler.
And that's where it can become a health hazard.
Food like meat, poultry and dairy products are the fastest to spoil.
It's important to keep refrigerators and freezers closed-so food can remain cold even without power.
"If people are opening those doors they're allowing that cold to come out that warm to go in and they are pushing that temperature up inside those units," said Martha Alice Spraberry, from the Texas Agrilife Extension Service.
Once meats have thawed out- you only have four hours before they spoil.
It may be seem an expensive waste to throw them out, but experts say it's worth the potential health hazard.
"If you were to eat it and it was unsafe, then you're looking at possibly a doctors visit a hospital stay, medications," said Spraberry.
That's why Fulwiler made sure to keep her refrigerator tightly shut- even after the power came back on.
She said, "Of course I got a text back from my daughter have you checked the food and I said not yet, because I knew the bags of ice are not thawed so I felt very comfortable that the food was safe."
