Hurricane Florence Is Coming!

[Kaneohegirlinaz]

https://abc11.com/weather/florence-...ricane-as-it-heads-for-the-carolinas/4181843/

Are all of our DC members in the path of Hurricane Florence safe?

Please check in, thank you

 

[caseydog]

We are heading into the worst part of hurricane season. Katrina, Rita, and Ike all happened in the fall. My family lives in Houston, and I spent my teenage years on the Gulf coast.

My parents and sister live North of 1-10. so they are told NOT to evacuate if a hurricane hits Houston, so that people South of I-10 can get out. With close to 7 million people living in the Houston metropolitan area, they have to get the most vulnerable people out first.

My parents have a backup generator, and my sister is an RN, so she has to go to the hospital to work, where they also have backup power.

Ike dropped a big (beautiful) oak tree on my parent's roof. The damage to the house wasn't that bad, but the loss of the tree was sad. The yard looks empty without it.

Ike was a real disaster. I was supposed to meet my best friend and his family for a fun weekend at their Crystal Beach house, but Ike happened. I spent the weekend helping them basically clean out the mostly destroyed house. Picture below -- the house in the background is what was left of their house, with a slab and piers in the foreground. I don't know how the chair got there, but there WAS a house on top of those piers.

Ike killed 214 people!!! So, if you are in the path of Florence, and they tell you to evacuate, DO IT!!!

CD

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[Cooking Goddess]

Wow, cd, they're really out there in the low lands, aren't they? Do they live in Galveston? (Sound of Glen Campbell in my ear...)

We co-owned Himself's parents' home along with his sister when their Dad died. It was in Cape Coral, FL, up for sale the summer of 2004. The house had sold and the bank work was in progress when Charley decided to make house calls. I called my SIL the day the title was supposed to transfer as the news media was covering the storm getting ready to hit the Fort Myers area. She said "the ink is dry - the house is theirs". A real relief. Charley ended up making landfall further up the coast, in Port Charlotte, but it still did a lot of damage and left a lot of water behind in its wake.

 

[caseydog]

Wow, cd, they're really out there in the low lands, aren't they? Do they live in Galveston? (Sound of Glen Campbell in my ear...)

We co-owned Himself's parents' home along with his sister when their Dad died. It was in Cape Coral, FL, up for sale the summer of 2004. The house had sold and the bank work was in progress when Charley decided to make house calls. I called my SIL the day the title was supposed to transfer as the news media was covering the storm getting ready to hit the Fort Myers area. She said "the ink is dry - the house is theirs". A real relief. Charley ended up making landfall further up the coast, in Port Charlotte, but it still did a lot of damage and left a lot of water behind in its wake.

Crystal Beach is in Galveston county, but is not part of Galveston. Most people who watched the news thought Galveston took the worst hit from Ike, because that was a place people had heard of. Galveston did take a hit, but it was not the on the East side of the storm, which is where the worst stuff happens. Bolivar Peninsula, where crystal Beach is, was basically wiped off the map.

I have a lot of friends down on the coast, and another friend who had a house on Bolivar Peninsula lost everything. I asked him if he found anything, and he said they found a lamp that they think was theirs. A lamp.

Good news, the peninsula has rebuilt, and it is beautiful. Building codes there are super strict, and the new homes are painted in all kinds of amazing colors. It is like Key West on the Texas Gulf Coast.

About a year after Ike, we had a teardrop camper gathering at a friend's house at Crystal Beach, and it was amazing how the people of that town refused to surrender, and built the town back.

CD

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[JustJoel]

I’m so glad I never settled anywhere that is a target for hurricanes and/or tornadoes (to be truthful, tornadoes frighten me more than hurricanes, maybe because I’ve actually experienced the latter, except that where I was, it was called a typhoon).
Please be prepared if you live in an area that’s hurricane prone! There are three storms behind Florence, and they look like they might turn into devastating hurricanes. Be prepared and safe, please!

 

[cjmmytunes]

We are not in the path for direct landfall, but we will be feeling some of the effects of this storm. Going to get more water and batteries this AM, and arrange or an appointment for Mom to be moved up to Wednesday. My sister and her husband may come in and stay with us, depends on the category when it gets closer. She lives in Kill Devil Hills. More worried about DD and her family, they live near Morehead City, which looks like it will be either Ground Zero or pretty close to it.


GG, are you and DH prepared?

 

[GotGarlic]

I'd say we're 90 percent prepared. Over the weekend, we got groceries, water, wine, pet food, gas for the generator and propane for the grill. DH strapped down the beehives - I'm going to suggest he strap them to the fence, too. This week, we'll refill prescriptions, bring in loose outdoor stuff and test the generator.

Cindy, if I was your sister, I'd get out of the Outer Banks no matter what the category is. You know they'll lose power and probably water and the roads are likely to be impassable for many days. That's a minimum. My cousin lives in Wilmington. I have no doubt she's bugging out.

 

[GotGarlic]

Almost forgot - I'm also going to fill up the bathtub. If we lose water, we'll be able to flush the toilet with a bucket from the tub. DH laughed at me when I did that before Hurricane Isabel in 2003, but we were without water for five days.

 

[GotGarlic]

Btw, I follow the National Hurricane Center on Facebook and Twitter and DH was a weatherman on the USS John F. Kennedy when he was in the Navy (and he created and taught a high school meteorology class). He is better able than most to evaluate weather data. So we're monitoring it closely. Thanks for your concern.

 

[CakePoet]

A dear American friend has manage to not be home with Katrina, Ike, Rita and few before and same this time, she is in Europe and will be home in 1 month time, her apartment is in the path of Florence so it most likely screwed. She has lost 4 houses to Hurricanes but she always manage to have the things that matter most to her some where else then hurricane area. Her family china from 1880, has been on loan every time before and at Katrina it was with her daughter in Las Vegas and that is where it stays from now on.

 

[GotGarlic]

Here we go. The Outer Banks of North Carolina are being evacuated starting today.

 

[Andy M.]

Here in the NE, we aren't expected to be impacted by Florence. To all who may be, we wish the best for you. Keeps safe.

 

[cjmmytunes]

Cindy, if I was your sister, I'd get out of the Outer Banks no matter what the category is. You know they'll lose power and probably water and the roads are likely to be impassable for many days. That's a minimum. My cousin lives in Wilmington. I have no doubt she's bugging out.

Update: Sister & husband are going to his sister's house near Charlotte. Will get lots of rain and maybe lose power there, but not anywhere near what would happen on OBX. DD & family coming up here to stay with us. Anything is better than her being near Wilmington. Her boss is even giving everyone traveling money.

 

[dragnlaw]

Thinking of all of you... be safe.

 

[Mad Cook]

I'd say we're 90 percent prepared. Over the weekend, we got groceries, water, wine, pet food, gas for the generator and propane for the grill. DH strapped down the beehives - I'm going to suggest he strap them to the fence, too. This week, we'll refill prescriptions, bring in loose outdoor stuff and test the generator.

Cindy, if I was your sister, I'd get out of the Outer Banks no matter what the category is. You know they'll lose power and probably water and the roads are likely to be impassable for many days. That's a minimum. My cousin lives in Wilmington. I have no doubt she's bugging out.

I noticed the wine on the list of essentials. Glad you've still got your priorities straight

 

[Mad Cook]

Three things occur to me:-


1) If the navy are taking 30 ships out to sea to protect them from the hurricane, they could take an awful lot of elderly and other frail people and a fair number of children with them


2) [Moderator edit - political commentary]


3) Looking at the photos and TV coverage it begs the question of why the local authorities allow the building of such flimsy houses in an area they will know be in the path of hurricanes? Don't you have building regulations in the US? No point in being the land of the free if you stand to lose your home every time the hurricane comes your way.

 

[tenspeed]

We have some friends who just moved to an island outside of Charleston. They were scheduled to arrive late last week. They are 5 feet above sea level, and have one of those houses where the garage is on the first floor and everything else is one level up. I'm assuming they evacuated. A fine Southern welcome for Yankees from Noo Yawk.

 

[medtran49]

Good luck everybody in the path!


For whoever said they'd rather a tornado, hurricanes spawn tornadoes. The tornadoes are what causes some of the worst damage the powers that be have supposedly decided.



Mad Cook, for a long period of time, during which a lot of growth took place, the U.S. had not suffered a significant major hurricane event, with damages from the last 1960s through 1980s in the 1 to under 3 billion dollars, around 7 billion in 1989. I know billions of dollars sound like a lot, but you have to realize that hurricanes cover HUGE areas. When Andrew (which was so big it basically covered all of Florida and then some) hit South Florida in 1992, damages were over 26 billion dollars. You can bet your bippy that the housing codes got changed. For a long time, Dade County (hardest hit area) building codes were the toughest in the nation. Unfortunately, you have to factor in all the homes that were built prior to the new building codes, and there are a lot of them, especially in areas that are major resort destinations.

 

[tenspeed]

It's not just the winds, but flooding causes an enormous amount of damage, even well above sea level. One of the concerns about Florence is the amount of rain it will bring as it moves inland.

 

[GotGarlic]

Three things occur to me:-


1) If the navy are taking 30 ships out to sea to protect them from the hurricane, they could take an awful lot of elderly and other frail people and a fair number of children with them.

That would not be a good idea. The ships are leaving port so they won't be banged against the concrete piers and damaged, but they will be going out to sea where the hurricane is. (Not toward it, of course, but the swells travel a long way.) My husband was stationed on an aircraft carrier that left port during a hurricane. The ship was rolling in the water with waves coming up over the bow - and a carrier is the largest ship in the Navy. The small boys fare even worse.

Also, there are no facilities aboard Navy ships for berthing and caring for children and the elderly.

I'm sure they're preparing to do what they can to help afterward - bringing supplies, etc.