Hurricane Florence

[Blueskies123]

Lessons from living thru multiple disasterous hurricanes:
1) Two days out everything will be sold out. You should stock up and prepare 4-5 days before.
2) No electricity=no gasoline. My generator drinkes 5 gallons in about 7 hours. If you do not have electricity for a week you need 7, 5 gallon jugs.
3) No electricity=stores cannot run credit cards so it is only cash. You need extra cash.
4) Sleeping is not easy

5) Your job will expect you to go to work as soon as possible.
6) The thought of cat4 or 5 hitting close to home will make you sick and nauseous.
7) No building codes require roofs to stand up to a strong cat 4 or 5.

 

[JoeWras]

Yes Blueskies123. Agree totally...

Lessons from living thru multiple disasterous hurricanes:
1) Two days out everything will be sold out. You should stock up and prepare 4-5 days before.
Agree. It is 4 days out and shelves are already cleared. Took a run to get something else and checked. Many people in the water isle just looking forlorn.

2) No electricity=no gasoline. My generator drinkes 5 gallons in about 7 hours. If you do not have electricity for a week you need 7, 5 gallon jugs.
We are on muni water. It has a good record of holding up. Well water people must be extremely vigilant! And even the muni can partially go down.

3) No electricity=stores cannot run credit cards so it is only cash. You need extra cash.
Yes.

4) Sleeping is not easy
It sucks!

5) Your job will expect you to go to work as soon as possible.
What job? My ER timing was good.

6) The thought of cat4 or 5 hitting close to home will make you sick and nauseous.
I already am. Met a lady with 5 gal gas cans at the pumps this morning. She's in full blown panic. She filled them and couldn't lift them. I gave her a hand. It is getting nutty out there.

7) No building codes require roofs to stand up to a strong cat 4 or 5.
Inland, the problem is trees even if hit with the equivalent of a cat 1 by inland time. Roofs don't stand up well to massive tree falls. Thoughts of this are where the nausea starts.

 

[marko]

We're in Bermuda right now. Had a nice day on a rented boat.

Looks like the storm is going to swing south of us on Tuesday night...we're pretty sure it'll be a miss for us, but my cousin in Wilmington looks like he'll be in the bulls-eye.

 

[JoeWras]

No water anywhere. A common theme in the Carolinas. I'm sure a picture like this will be on the national news.

 

[Another Reader]

No water anywhere. A common theme in the Carolinas. I'm sure a picture like this will be on the national news.

What do the alcohol aisles look like?

 

[JoeWras]

What do the alcohol aisles look like?

Soft drinks and beer wine are down, but not decimated.

People on well water have a right to be concerned. There's a good chance power will be out for 2 weeks for many should the forecast verify. Homes supplied by wells tend to be on the end of the grid. Tree removal and electric grid repair will be last there. It can get messy. Absolutely need a generator in many homes if you ask me.

... We don't have one. It may be a sweaty weekend...

 

[bigcmagor]

... We don't have one. It may be a sweaty weekend...

We waited until our power was restored to travel to our Florida snowbird home after Irma last year. Apparently we were among the earliest homes to have power restored. Culvers was the only restaurant open and we went there for a sandwich since our fridge was emptied out by a helpful neighbor after the power was knocked out.

The restaurant was packed with every seat taken. No one was eating though. It was the only public place around with functioning air conditioning and had become a shelter of sorts. I'll never forget the look on people's faces. While I've never seen a person suffering from shell shock, they looked like what I imagine that looks like.

I agree with the generator advice along with a window air conditioner held in reserve for temporary installation to assist with sleep.

 

[Teacher Terry]

Wow that sounds horrible. I hope everyone is ok.

 

[corn18]

Florence looks terrifying! How do you decide whether to ride it out or evacuate? When I was stationed in Beaufort, SC at the Marine base, we would evacuate the Hornets 3 days out. My wife loves telling the story of how we all ran off to New Orleans and left the wives home with the kids to ride out the hurricanes. Looking back, that wasn't very nice.

 

[Aerides]

If you aren't protected (home wise) for high storm ratings, and even if you are, getting out is smart. We have all hurricane-impact windows and doors, but won't stay for a storm if there's going to be a direct hit from a 3 or higher.

As far as the no-power-after thing, for a lesser storm that I stay put for? I'll do what I've done in the past. Pick up the worst of the mess the next day, then drive as far as I have to, to a decent hotel and wait there.

 

[Dawg52]

Florence looks terrifying! How do you decide whether to ride it out or evacuate?
.

When Katrina hit the MS coast a cousin of mine didn't evacuate and he never lost power. His home is only 15 miles NE of Biloxi. I live 165 miles N of the coastline and the power in my neighborhood was off a week. Go figure.

I would get out if I lived close to the coast. But I'm a wuss.

 

[JoeWras]

Florence looks terrifying! How do you decide whether to ride it out or evacuate? When I was stationed in Beaufort, SC at the Marine base, we would evacuate the Hornets 3 days out. My wife loves telling the story of how we all ran off to New Orleans and left the wives home with the kids to ride out the hurricanes. Looking back, that wasn't very nice.

Rule 0: if the authorities require evacuation, DO IT.
Rule 1: water kills more than anything. Beach means surge, evacuate. Sound means surge, evacuate. Low lying places inland mean floods, evacuate.
Rule 2: sustained hurricane force winds, especially cat 2 or higher, means structural damage. Evacuate.
Rule 3: restricted services possible (i.e. barrier island, rural end of grid), evacuate.

Those are my rules only. If this thing verifies, we are going to have surge and wind in NC unlike anything seen for 60 years. I think that has to factor into evacuation. Making it last time may not mean you make it this time.

Here well inland, we expect sustained tropical force winds. Worst yet, the rainfall may be epic and will be truly dangerous. We live on very, very high land.

For the wind, the biggest threat is tree falls. This kills power and hurts buildings.

The reason I don't plan evacuating is I think it will be difficult to come back due to road damage from floods. I will sweat it out and be near home versus getting stuck away for 10 days while food rots in house, or rain comes in through the holes poked in the roof. And like Aerides says, when we can get out and have picked up or repaired what we could (and thrown the food away), then maybe drive to another state to a hotel if the roads allow it.

 

[HadEnuff]

I'm nowhere near the trouble, but my stomach turns thinking about all of those who are.
Please be as safe as you can be.

 

[sengsational]

I'm in the piedmont of NC, so well inland. I just got done with my hurricane prep: went to the store and bought beer (there was a complete and full selection). Flew my quad copter over the gutters (no leaves clogging the downspouts). The little generator ran about 6 months ago and it just barely large enough to keep the fridge going. I have 3 gallons of RO water in the pressure tank by default (but the city water has never been off since 1981, when I moved here, so that's not much of a worry).

But come to think of it, I probably should fill-up the tank on the car. << EDIT: Done

 

[W2R]

Sincerely hoping for the best for all of those in Hurricane Florence's path.

 

[street]

I hope all goes well for all you on the east coast.

I have no idea what it would be like in a hurricane area. I live in snow storm country and are completely different but still a lot of danger to be concerned with a snow storm as well.

We have snow storms every winter nothing to be with out power for days. A lot of issues being with out power in freezing country. LOL

 

[tfudtuckerpucker]

Here's another interesting way to view the global wind patterns, including Flo/Isaac/Helene

https://earth.nullschool.net/#current/wind/isobaric/1000hPa/orthographic=307.30,20.02,357
It looks pretty angry if you zoom in https://earth.nullschool.net/#current/wind/isobaric/1000hPa/orthographic=298.90,25.90,3000/loc=-61.790,27.114

 

[socca]

Here's another interesting way to view the global wind patterns, including Flo/Isaac/Helene Earth global wind patterns

Great link - thanks. Double-clicking on the map zooms in.

It will be interesting to see how much (if any) the NHC's predicted eye path for Florence changes over the next 2 days. The tools available last year weren't able to exactly predict the timing of Irma's sharp right turn north, with a huge difference in the outcome. Right now, Wilmington, NC is in the crosshairs. I know what that feels like.

 

[Out of Steam]

In suburban Washington, DC. Picked up one can of gasoline Sunday, will get a second and fill the cars tomorrow (Tuesday). We tend to use the generator sparingly.

Staying home in the morning to clean the gutters. Daughter will pick up extra food and supplies during the day tomorrow.

 

[H2ODude]

I think most modern gas ovens will not function by manually lighting. Gas valve is only opened if the power demand of the heater/igniter coil meets specs. I've had to replace mine twice. Should be able to spark the burners though. One of best choices I ever made was when replaced gas grill had a gas line run to it. No more running out of propane mid steak cook.

 

[JoeWras]

Natural gas grill is good, unless a tree falls on it. I have a natural gas grill, but also a small portable backup, just in case.

One reason we still have an old fashioned hot water heater is the simplicity of not needing electric. It isn't so important for hurricanes, but rather ice storm power outs.

 

[ncbill]

I think most modern gas ovens will not function by manually lighting. Gas valve is only opened if the power demand of the heater/igniter coil meets specs. I've had to replace mine twice. Should be able to spark the burners though. One of best choices I ever made was when replaced gas grill had a gas line run to it. No more running out of propane mid steak cook.

You can still buy, today, modern gas ranges that use batteries (either a single 9V or multiple AA batteries) to spark both the burners & the oven.

For the oven, a pilot light stays on while the oven is on.

No clock, of course.

 

[beowulf]

Natural gas grill is good, unless a tree falls on it. I have a natural gas grill, but also a small portable backup, just in case.

One reason we still have an old fashioned hot water heater is the simplicity of not needing electric. It isn't so important for hurricanes, but rather ice storm power outs.

What is an old fashioned HW heater? You burn wood to heat the water?

 

[GalaxyBoy]

Here in the Blue Ridge of Virginia we're well inland but it's aiming right for us as a tropical depression. Unfortunately, we are expected to have a cold front stalled on top of us bringing days of rain even before Florence, meaning we're going to have quite saturated ground. Kroger was already sold out of water today. DW reported a five case limit was posted at another store, so guess how much water everybody had in their carts?

Sometimes it's good to live on the side of a mountain, as long as trees don't fall and I have enough supplies to get by for a few days.

 

[socca]

So ... when does Florence shift to a NW heading from its current WNW heading? I've been watching the satellite videos with much interest.

If Florence maintains its current heading all the way to CONUS the eye would come ashore around Savannah - quite a bit south of its current predicted arrival location.