"The time to build the cellar is before the tornado hits." Don't wait for a winter emergency to decide what to do. Plan now and get things together before the power fails. Useful items include: extra blankets and towels, candles, flashlights and batteries, matches, battery powered radio, propane camp cooking stove, propane or kerosene heater, extra fuel, aluminum foil, extra food, hats and gloves, power inverter, marine battery or extra car battery, battery charger, buckets with tight-fitting lids, 2 liter bottles filled with water. If power failure is likely, keep your house warmer than usual to store heat in the structure of your home and its contents.
First, bundle up your body! Wear several loose layers of clothes. Don't forget a hat, even when you are indoors! If you must go outside, beware of wind and wet. Keep dry. Wet clothing loses its ability to insulate, and can suck heat right out of you. Stay out of the wind as much as possible. Make sure your head, hands, and feet are protected. Clean clothes keep you warm better than dirty clothes.
Don't try to heat the entire house in a winter emergency. Gather everybody into 1 or 2 rooms and don't forget your pets. The kitchen and an adjacent room are a good choice. Close doors and hang blankets over doorways. Use plastic sheets, blankets, quilts, aluminum foil & newspapers over windows. More window insulation is better than less! Look for leaks and drafts and use cloth, newspapers, caulk, or weatherstripping to close them. (However, don't seal the room so tight that no fresh air can get in. Even if it is cold, you need fresh air to stay alive.) Insulate floors with blankets, newspapers, and rugs. Neighbors can gather together in one house or apartment. Each human body radiates about the same heat as a 100 watt light bulb. We're all familiar with the way a crowded room gets warm, so put that to work for you to stay warm during a winter emergency. Safety first!. Ventilation and attention to safety details are required for open flame heaters such as kerosene or propane heaters.
http://www.justpeace.org/warmth.htmLots more tips on the above link.
Place the propane or kerosene heater in front of the ventilation opening (such as a window open 1/4 inch). If you place it away from the ventilation, the fumes will first fill the room before they exit from the window. Carbon monoxide and smoke detectors can save lives!
Never use charcoal briquets or Coleman fuel camp stoves inside a house or garage for cooking or keeping warm. People die every year from carbon monoxide poisoning when they fire up charcoal briquets inside the house to keep warm. There are no exceptions to this rule.
Never run an electrical generator inside a house or a garage. Always put it outside. Make sure it stays dry and let it cool down before re-fueling it.
Carbon monoxide poisoning is always a risk with open-flame heating indoors. If the room seems "stuffy" and you begin to feel headachy and lethargic and/or your vision gets blurry - get everyone out of the room and ventilate it with fresh air immediately. Pregnant women, children, and unborn babies are particularly at risk of carbon monoxide poisoning.
Beware of fire! Place a fire extinguisher where it can be quickly used. If you don't have a fire extinguisher, get a couple of large boxes of baking soda and a bucket of sand. Don't leave candles or open flame heaters burning unattended or while you are sleeping. Make sure candles are in secure holders that can't be knocked over. Keep them away from small children.
Don't keep a gas cook stove burning 24 hours a day for heat. They aren't designed for that. Turn the burners on to warm things up for a couple of hours and then turn them off. Wait a little while before you turn them back on. Turn the oven on, at a moderate temperature, for 3 or 4 hours and then turn it off for a while. Don't leave the oven door open to heat a room. That will burn out the thermostat and then the stove won't light and you will have NO HEAT. The warmth still moves through the room with the door closed. While the oven is on, make something good to eat to help you stay warm.
Store fuels like propane and kerosene safely outside of the house or apartment.