Hurricane Florence

[JoeWras]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Popeye https://www.nhc.noaa.gov/storm_graph...e_and_wind.png Latest forecast track. Carolinas be on guard! They discuss chance that it could stall after landfall. That would not be good.

A stall could be catastrophic. NC is still recovering from Matthew. Matt who? A tropical storm in 2016 that got little national attention except for a short time. Miles of roads washed out, and Princeville (the whole town) flooded again. Disaster funds were diverted to other problems in the country (Harvey and Irma) and only now are some victims getting those funds to do things like buy out homes or raise them. Another flood now would be seriously bad.

[Dash man]

I’m in PA just west of Philly. We’ve been hit by two storms in recent years. I’m glad my Generac whole house generator was just serviced! Our ground is already saturated with recent rains, so this could be interesting.

[Philliefan33]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Dash man I’m in PA just west of Philly. We’ve been hit by two storms in recent years. I’m glad my Generac whole house generator was just serviced! Our ground is already saturated with recent rains, so this could be interesting.

We are close by, just north of Philly. Unfortunately we are away for a few days visiting the ADK region, planning to get home late Wednesday. If there is need for storm preparations we probably won’t have much time to get it done.

From the current landfall forecast it looks like the biggest issue will be rain, not wind. As long as we keep power we will be fine. But if we lose power there’s a chance we will have to bail the sump hole in the basement to keep the basement dry. We did that when Sandy hit.

[Dash man]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Philliefan33 We are close by, just north of Philly. Unfortunately we are away for a few days visiting the ADK region, planning to get home late Wednesday. If there is need for storm preparations we probably won’t have much time to get it done. From the current landfall forecast it looks like the biggest issue will be rain, not wind. As long as we keep power we will be fine. But if we lose power there’s a chance we will have to bail the sump hole in the basement to keep the basement dry. We did that when Sandy hit.

We have two sump pumps, one with a battery backup. A gasoline generator saved us during the last two big storms. Now with a whole house natural gas generator we’re more comfortable in case of a prolonged outage. I hated storing gasoline before. It saved us once when we were in Florida and my DFIL was here by himself.

[f35phixer]

ARRRGH, I95 south is going to be dicy Friday evening!!! I need to get to Brunswick !!!!!!!!! GUess i might be taking a more westly route..........


Going to use the I95 exit guide with live traffic as we leave ~ 4 from Md....

[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]

Quote:

Originally Posted by JoeWras 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]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Another Reader 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]

Quote:

Originally Posted by JoeWras ... 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]

Quote:

Originally Posted by corn18 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]

Quote:

Originally Posted by 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.

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.