http://www.thecanadianencyclopedia.c...=A1ARTA0009646
Winter urban survival without power is tricky. Lot of people died or got sick from innapropriate heating devices.
Maintaining your house in winter with no power is also important. Draining all your pipes and toilets of water to prevent pipe bursting, Dumping anti-freeze where the water can't be properly purged.
Security was also a must, since during the night, there was no alarms or lights working. The police was patrolling the streets, but there was some accounts of looting. Especially where there was evacuations.
My aunt was in the "black triangle". The most affected zone of the cricis. She managed to survive in her house for 1 week. Using her fireplace and consuming her rations. She ended up moving to our place, wich had it's power restaured 48h after the first day. (we lived near a hospital and old people building, wich result in very efficient power grid maintenance)