Second thing to to go get the auto batteries, cables, inverter, and extension cords and fire up a Diesel car.
Then I try to figure out if the trouble is beyond the confines of the compound. Then take another vehicle to get a guess as to the size of the outage.
We rarely get outages where I live—almost never...In fact last year we had a rather lengthy one (eh maybe 3.5 hours) and my neighbor did not even have a flashlight and it was getting towards dark...I offered them emergency lantern/candles, etc. but they declined...came on as dusk was transitioning to darkness.
I called power company and they were able to provide information as to duration and spread of the outage, and I have hand-crank radios should I need them.
I’ve a generator; but it becomes useless without a large supply of fuel on hand as well.
Propane will store a LOoooong time without turning to goo.