You’ve provided some reasons why it scares you in your details. I don’t think my local area has experienced majorly cold weather since the last ice age, so I’m sure that we won’t be experiencing any frighteningly frigid temps for the next 5,000+ weeks. Even though I live in So Cal, I have clothing and camping equipment that can probably keep me warm in temps down to -100º. If you have such equipment and clothing, and your structure stays intact, you should do fine even if your heat fails. Does your residence have a sloped roof? If it’s 100 years old, my guess is that it does. Do you have a garage with vehicle-heating equipment?