By Robert Haugh

The National Weather Service has issued a high wind warning effective last night through Wednesday morning.

The Santa Clara Police Department offers the following tips:

• Secure any loose objects around your home or property (e.g., lawn furniture, trash cans, etc.)
• Bring your pets inside, move them to a sheltered area and/or turn their enclosure away from the wind
• Be sure pets have properly fitting collars with up-to-date contact information
• Inspect your fence and use a padlock on your gate(s)
• Close all windows and doors, and make sure all screens are secured
• Be sure you have surge protectors for household electronics
• Fill up any containers with fresh water in case of a power outage
• Make sure you have a supply of non-perishable food items on hand
• Check batteries in flashlights and radios
• If you have a generator, ensure it is properly secured and fueled up

Here are more tips from Silicon Valley Power:

• Visit the USDA food safety site or go to USDA.gov, look for “Food Safety,” print out the safety guidelines and tape them inside a food cupboard.
• Have a cooler, and keep ice packs and/or containers of water stored in your freezer. During an outage, the ice packs can protect your food in the cooler, or they can be moved from the freezer to your refrigerator to help keep it cool.
• Plan ahead and know where dry ice and block ice can be purchased.
• Keep canned food on hand along with a hand-operated can opener.
• Have flashlights and fresh batteries readily available to use during a power outage.
• Emergency lights that turn on when the power goes off can be useful and can be found at any hardware store or online.
• Plug electronic equipment into surge protectors to protect against a surge when power is restored.
• Have a battery-operated radio and fresh batteries or hand-cranked radio available.