Hurricane Irma

[audreyh1]

Power finally back on for various relatives in GA. One location in Atlanta had to wait until late this evening.

Big sighs of relief!

 

[Texas Proud]

One of the things that I have noticed with Irma is that any coverage of Harvey has stopped... zip, nada, nothing....


I talked to a friend and asked about the flooding in his area... he said the roads are still closed and flooded... so that means the neighborhoods over there are still flooded...


It is always about timing...

 

[omni550]

Power was restored yesterday afternoon at my condo in Estero, FL.

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Am starting to receive reports from "boots on the ground' residents returning to N. Naples. Destruction, tree loss and damage much greater than expected/reported. Cell communications are erratic/sporadic.

Reports from manager at my sister's new condo community in N. Naples -- no flooding of interiors (a concern as lake levels were overflowing banks), however water intrusion thru roof vents causing dry wall damage in some 2nd floor units. I'm guessing the Cat. 3-4 hurricane winds blowing water horizontally breeched the vents which are designed for 'normal' rain events.

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Communications from the Keys and SWFL is still a bit sketchy at times. As I watched TV coverage yesterday of Trump & Co. handing out sandwiches in a storm-ravaged section of Naples, the feed kept breaking up. Similarly, post-storm coverage from reporters in the lower Keys -- some had to use satellite phones for their audio.

omni

 

[simple girl]

Reports from manager at my sister's new condo community in N. Naples -- no flooding of interiors (a concern as lake levels were overflowing banks), however water intrusion thru roof vents causing dry wall damage in some 2nd floor units. I'm guessing the Cat. 3-4 hurricane winds blowing water horizontally breeched the vents which are designed for 'normal' rain events.

Yikes. Hope your unit is not affected!

 

[Dash man]

Power to our Hillsboro Beach condo was restored yesterday. Damage to the building was minimal and the underground garage did not flood. Pretty happy about that!

 

[Amethyst]

Harvey is still in the news here. WaPo had a feature about possible state/federal buyout for Meyerland homeowners - flooded out 3x in 3 years.

One of the things that I have noticed with Irma is that any coverage of Harvey has stopped... zip, nada, nothing....


I talked to a friend and asked about the flooding in his area... he said the roads are still closed and flooded... so that means the neighborhoods over there are still flooded...


It is always about timing...

 

[Fermion]

When we were gone for a few weeks during winter I was worried about power outages.

I programmed a microcontroller with thermister to measure the temperature every 10 minutes and log it in flash. Had it run off a coin cell battery.

I then stuck this contraption on top of a cup of frozen water and it didn't sink, so I knew our food was ok.

 

[LRDave]

When we were gone for a few weeks during winter I was worried about power outages.

I programmed a microcontroller with thermister to measure the temperature every 10 minutes and log it in flash. Had it run off a coin cell battery.

I then stuck this contraption on top of a cup of frozen water and it didn't sink, so I knew our food was ok.

Well played!

 

[RunningBum]

One of the things that I have noticed with Irma is that any coverage of Harvey has stopped... zip, nada, nothing....


I talked to a friend and asked about the flooding in his area... he said the roads are still closed and flooded... so that means the neighborhoods over there are still flooded...


It is always about timing...

I thought you or someone else said that most houses were built above the road so that in lesser rains, roads may flood but houses would stay dry. So hopefully most of those houses are no longer flooded, but that doesn't mean they are habitable.

Harvey's effect will linger for a long, long time, so you can't really expect it to stay on the news every night. As long as aid and relief efforts still come, I don't think it matters whether it's on the news anymore. Irma will fade in short order as well. Long term, I think Harvey will remain a bigger story as (I think) the flooding caused a lot more lasting damage.

People only want to hear about hurricanes for so long, then they want to move on. Not too many people know about what Hurricane Camille did in Nelson County, Virginia in 1969. After crushing the gulf coast, the storm came inland and then went east, and stalled in the mountains, dumping 25+" of rain in places, much of it over just 4 hours. The winds knocked down trees first, then the water dammed up and then released, causing a massive flood and mudslide that killed ~135 people, 1% of the county's population.

I'm told it was barely a blip in the national news, if mentioned at all. Part of the reason is that communication was poor to begin with in Appalachia, and the storm destroyed what little there was, so the extent of damage wasn't known for some time. But the main reason is that the national media figured their audiences were fatigued from hearing about Camille, so they weren't going to cover much more, even with the new destruction. "Roar of the Heavens" by Stefan Bechtel is a great account of Camille in both Virginia and the Gulf Coast, written years later.

 

[Texas Proud]

I thought you or someone else said that most houses were built above the road so that in lesser rains, roads may flood but houses would stay dry. So hopefully most of those houses are no longer flooded, but that doesn't mean they are habitable.

Harvey's effect will linger for a long, long time, so you can't really expect it to stay on the news every night. As long as aid and relief efforts still come, I don't think it matters whether it's on the news anymore. Irma will fade in short order as well. Long term, I think Harvey will remain a bigger story as (I think) the flooding caused a lot more lasting damage.

People only want to hear about hurricanes for so long, then they want to move on. Not too many people know about what Hurricane Camille did in Nelson County, Virginia in 1969. After crushing the gulf coast, the storm came inland and then went east, and stalled in the mountains, dumping 25+" of rain in places, much of it over just 4 hours. The winds knocked down trees first, then the water dammed up and then released, causing a massive flood and mudslide that killed ~135 people, 1% of the county's population.

I'm told it was barely a blip in the national news, if mentioned at all. Part of the reason is that communication was poor to begin with in Appalachia, and the storm destroyed what little there was, so the extent of damage wasn't known for some time. But the main reason is that the national media figured their audiences were fatigued from hearing about Camille, so they weren't going to cover much more, even with the new destruction. "Roar of the Heavens" by Stefan Bechtel is a great account of Camille in both Virginia and the Gulf Coast, written years later.

I know there are roads that are higher that are still underwater... I believe there are neighborhoods near the reservoirs that have some water... maybe only in the street now....

I guess this should go into the Harvey post... but here is an animation of the flood of part of Houston... you can see that Hwy 6 north is still flooded... but someone told me it is supposed to be clear by Monday... it is the one that is built up...

https://www.dvidshub.net/video/548079/usace-harvey-timeline

 

[Blue Collar Guy]

I stand by my post#341 on this thread about power taking 3 weeks for the last 10 % of the people. I worked in a huge disaster(not a natural one). Everyone is gung ho the first week, then the photo ops stop, fatigue sets in, the extra resources have to go home to do their own jobs, less people crying about not having what they need thus apathy.... Well you get the idea.

 

[rayinpenn]

Brother PaulinKeyWest texted me yesterday "I'm ok, minimal damage". Spoke to him today for 5 minutes his power is back on "house is cooling down". Cell service is limited.

Key West with the power back on already... way ahead of schedule.

 

[foxfirev5]

Brother PaulinKeyWest texted me yesterday "I'm ok, minimal damage". Spoke to him today for 5 minutes his power is back on "house is cooling down". Cell service is limited.

Key West with the power back on already... way ahead of schedule.

Great news. There are a lot of people waiting not so patiently to get back there. Many of my buds down there have nothing resembling an emergency fund. Employment is critical. However they can't get back so it's a fierce downward spiral. Most won't evacuate the next time. Regardless of the forecast.

 

[Texas Proud]

Brother PaulinKeyWest texted me yesterday "I'm ok, minimal damage". Spoke to him today for 5 minutes his power is back on "house is cooling down". Cell service is limited.

Key West with the power back on already... way ahead of schedule.

From what they said, Key West was on the 'good' side and did not get hit anywhere near as hard as the Keys on the east side of the hurricane....

 

[omni550]

Has anyone heard an update?

There were 2 guys in the Keys (I believe they were in the Upper Keys, closest to the mainland) interviewed individually on TV prior to the storm. Each swore that he was going to ride out the storm on his boat..dunno if that meant staying at the dock/marina or if they had plans to go out to sea.

Has anyone heard an update on either guy?

omni

 

[foxfirev5]

Residents of the lower keys are being allowed back in tomorrow at 7 AM. Bring your own provisions.

 

[Khan]

Boil water advisory ended yesterday.
Street next to ours still without electricity.
I still hurt all over and have after storm depression.
I'm getting too old for this stuff.

 

[Khan]

Boil water advisory ended yesterday.
Street next to ours still without electricity.
I still hurt all over and have after storm depression.
I'm getting too old for this stuff.

Local, from Wednesday.
Good to see.

 

[simple girl]

View attachment 26856

Local, from Wednesday.
Good to see.

Oh my goodness!

I hope you are feeling better soon Khan. You've been through quite an ordeal.

 

[Blue Collar Guy]

800,000 Still with no power.

 

[Moemg]

I got power on early Tuesday but just a few blocks away are still with out power .Khan I also had storm stress that exhausted me for a few days .Take care of yourself and take extra naps .

 

[simple girl]

I got power on early Tuesday but just a few blocks away are still with out power .Khan I also had storm stress that exhausted me for a few days .Take care of yourself and take extra naps .

You know, I was exhausted, too, for several days. I slept SO hard, and still felt tired when I woke up! Had to have been the stress. Surprised me how it affected me.

 

[Moemg]

We should sue CNN they helped cause the stress then we will take the money and go on a world cruise .

 

[simple girl]

We should sue CNN they helped cause the stress then we will take the money and go on a world cruise .

Now you're talkin'!

 

[audreyh1]

I was super stressed too. I was so worried about my Dad's place in GA, and the storm looked so big. I watched the track closely hoping it would move further away. I knew they would get tropical storm winds, not hurricane winds. But I was worried about old trees, etc. And sure enough, three went down, and they were without power for almost 4 days. And I think they only got 35mph winds but there must have been some gusts to 60.

Lots of down trees and power outages in their area.

I didn't watch any TV news either. Just online weather maps, forecasts, and reports.