By noon today, 600,000 Pennsylvanians in the Philadelphia area and surrounding counties lost power due to ice and falling branches. PECO estimated that some customers could experience outages lasting until the weekend.

Here are safety tips for dealing with a power outage from the American Red Cross:

1. Stretch your resources if you don't have an idea when the power will come back on. Limit car travel and opening refrigerators and freezers to conserve your perishable products. The American Red Cross estimates that your food will keep cold for about four hours, so eat perishable items before non-perishable items. Your freezer will hold food for two days. If your power is out longer, use snow or ice if available in a cooler to keep your products fresh. 

2. Don't use grills, camp stoves or similar devices indoors. If you use them outdoors, make sure to stay away from doors, windows and vents to keep toxic carbon monoxide gas from entering your home. Don't use a stove or oven to heat indoors. 

3. If you have a generator, connect your electronics straight to it. Don't hook it up to your homes' wiring.

4. If you have a fireplace, make sure you use a screen to catch sparks to avoid fires. 

5. To avoid damaging equipment and electronics that you were using when the power went out, turn them off and unplug. (But leave a light on so you know when the power comes back on).