BS: Hurricane season ~ it's ON!!!!!

Subject: BS: Hurricane season ~ it's ON!!!!!
From: PoppaGator
Date: 07 Jul 05 - 11:58 AM

I live in New Orleans. Tropical Storm Cindy hit Tuesday night and moved through the area very quickly, leaving a lot of wind damage ~ plenty of fallen and/or uprooted trees taking down power lines. 200,000 homes were without power for 24 hours, and half of that number (100,000) are still blacked out after 48 hours. That's the worst power outage in this area since Betsy in 1965, and the storm was not even a full-fledged hurricane.

Even though measurable sustained winds were "only" tropical-storm strength, there were many brief surges of hugely accellerated LOUD winds all night long. Tornado warnings had been issued, and maybe that's what we experienced. I've lived here for over 30 years, and have never seen so many fallen limbs and trees. In fact, I saw trees with the bark blown off some upper limbs, something I'd never seen before, and some of our plants had all their leaves blown off, again an unprecedented sight.

The next storm, Dennis, is much bigger and more powerful and is expected to make landfall somewhere along the Gulf Coast Sunday night. It could happen here, or anywhere between the Texas-Louisiana border and Tallahassee FL. And it's still early in hurricane season!

Here's hoping we all survive until autumn!

Subject: RE: BS: Hurricane season ~ it's ON!!!!!
From: gnu
Date: 07 Jul 05 - 12:09 PM

Let's hope so. Gosh, we vary rarely get bad storms... only a few in my 45 years here in New Brunswick. My heart goes out to those who have to suffer through these.

Did you suffer any property damage?

Stay well.

Subject: RE: BS: Hurricane season ~ it's ON!!!!!
From: Wesley S
Date: 07 Jul 05 - 12:10 PM

I grew up in Florida so I "feel your pain". Nothing is scarier than Mother Nature run amuck. The smart thing to do - as you know - is to batten down the hatches and head for the hills. Good luck.

Subject: RE: BS: Hurricane season ~ it's ON!!!!!
From: CarolC
Date: 07 Jul 05 - 12:17 PM

Spent several hours yesterday waiting out tornado watches and warnings. A tornado was spotted about nine miles to the west of us, and a couple of others in two counties slightly to the north of us. Today I'm wondering in what part of Europe my son is right now and hoping he's not in London.

Monday, I'll be waiting out some more tornado watches and warnings, and wondering where I'll go if one is headed my way. That, plus whatever the regular hurricane winds bring our way.

I'm beginning to think maybe I should dig a small ditch in the back yard just in case I can't get to any other kind of shelter if a tornado hits. Otherwise, it could be a verrrrry long hurricane season.

Subject: RE: BS: Hurricane season ~ it's ON!!!!!
From: PoppaGator
Date: 07 Jul 05 - 12:26 PM

The folks in northwest Florida got battered last year. With this week's sudden "one-two punch," a lot of my neighbors in south Louisiana are expressing worry that this year might be our turn.

We never evacuated before last year, when we headed for Mississsippi for Hurricane Ivan (which turned out to be a "false alarm," at least for our area). The trip was a nightmare, and my wife swears she'll never leave town again; I agree. We live on the Gentilly Ridge, one of the highest areas in town (actually above sea level, unlike most of the city!), so we won't be underwater, although wind damage and prolonged loss of electricity and other utilities is always a possibility.

I suppose the threat of these storms is just the price of living in a "tropical paradise" where there's no such thing as winter. You makes yer choices and takes yer chances.

gnu ~ no damage to the house, but lots of huge downed limbs in the yard, one of which destroyed our herb garden. We have four trees over 100 feet high, a pine and three pecan trees, and these big storms always break off bits and pieces of them. Pecans are very brittle trees, and drop limbs at the slightest provocation, but I've never seen such large chunks of tree fall into the yard, or so many of them.

I'm gonna have to buy a chain saw before the weekend, and put it to use all day Saturday and Sunday ~ in past years, I've been able to clean up using a bow saw (hand-operated pruning saw), but the limbs are thicker and more numerous than ever before, and I'm not as young as I used to be.

Subject: RE: BS: Hurricane season ~ it's ON!!!!!
From: Wesley S
Date: 07 Jul 05 - 01:08 PM

My sister is an emergency room nurse. According to her they rarely see storm related injuries - but what they do see for weeks after the storm is a lot of injuries from chain saws and other cutting tools related to cleaning up. Just be careful with those pickin' fingers. You'll want to keep all of them.

Subject: RE: BS: Hurricane season ~ it's ON!!!!!
From: harpgirl
Date: 07 Jul 05 - 01:12 PM

I started watching Dennis last night. I'm not mentally ready for another hurricane season but I'm going to prepare. I wish my roof deductible was less than seven thousand. If I get hit harder this year I'll have to dip into my pitiful retirement to get roof repairs.
Hang in there Gulf Coasters. Oil up your chain saw bWL.

a weary harpy

Subject: RE: BS: Hurricane season ~ it's ON!!!!!
From: PoppaGator
Date: 07 Jul 05 - 01:12 PM

Point taken, Wes!

Maybe the safest thing to do would be just to leave those branches where they lay until they decompose in place ~ that's what happens in Nature...

Subject: RE: BS: Hurricane season ~ it's ON!!!!!
From: Bee-dubya-ell
Date: 07 Jul 05 - 01:56 PM

Early predictions put the bullseye for Dennis squarely on Pensacola. That's a 45 minute drive from where I live. Looks like it'll be Ivan II. We're getting an early start battening down. Plans are to wait for it to get about 24 hours away and slip over toward Tallahassee to our friend John's place very early in the morning when the highways won't yet be at a slow crawl. That's if it stays on its current course. If it goes either a bit east or a good bit west we'll stay at a local friend's place. Either way, we're not staying at home. We have a couple of trees that Ivan partially uprooted that will probably come the rest of the way down. I don't want to be in the house if they fall on it.

Let's see now... What's the drill? Secure blowables, guitars in van, computer in pickup truck, board up windows, move truck up the property to where no trees will fall on it, haul ass. I think that's got it.

Subject: RE: BS: Hurricane season ~ it's ON!!!!!
From: Stilly River Sage
Date: 07 Jul 05 - 03:22 PM

Where I'm situated in North Texas I don't get hurricanes proper very often. They are usually declared tropical storms once they're very far over land. Most often the hurricanes or tropcial storms from the gulf stumble into our typical weather coming out of the Northwest, and when they colide it gets noisy and messy. Tornadoes are a typical spinoff. I have on a couple of occasions been in the right place at the right time to see the interesting curved edge of the clouds when those large circular storms move toward and over the area.

SRS

Subject: RE: BS: Hurricane season ~ it's ON!!!!!
From: artbrooks
Date: 07 Jul 05 - 05:06 PM

My parents (in their 80s) live in P-cola, and are evacuating tomorrow.

Subject: RE: BS: Hurricane season ~ it's ON!!!!!
From: Donuel
Date: 07 Jul 05 - 05:11 PM

Tonight we are bracing for up to 5 inces of rain from the remnant of Cindy.

Subject: RE: BS: Hurricane season ~ it's ON!!!!!
From: harpgirl
Date: 07 Jul 05 - 05:18 PM

Here is the current projected path:Hurricane Dennis


I just don't want to deal with this again.....as I said elsewhere on mudcat, too much reality today. I'm gong to hide under the covers tonight.

I hope your house isn't blown apart, BWL. You and Susan are, of course welcome over here but I have live oaks all around my house even though both neighbors went on a cutting rampage this spring. Oh well

146 more days of this shit....

Subject: RE: BS: Hurricane season ~ it's ON!!!!!
From: gnu
Date: 07 Jul 05 - 05:22 PM

Yup. If you have never used a chainsaw, don't. Watch someone who has and who knows what they are doing. Kill you in a wink.

CC... dig a deep hole and batten it. Don't know what we'd do without you.

Dennis sounds like a nasty storm. Please take care guys.

Subject: RE: BS: Hurricane season ~ it's ON!!!!!
From: CarolC
Date: 07 Jul 05 - 05:33 PM

Thanks, gnu. How do you batten a hole?

Subject: RE: BS: Hurricane season ~ it's ON!!!!!
From: gnu
Date: 07 Jul 05 - 05:51 PM

Dig your hole down on the edges, place boards across it and shovel dirt on top of the boards. Of course, one end of the hole has to remain open, at least big enough for you to crawl into... and maybe big enough for washisname... BG.

Subject: RE: BS: Hurricane season ~ it's ON!!!!!
From: CarolC
Date: 07 Jul 05 - 06:10 PM

Great idea. Thanks!

Subject: RE: BS: Hurricane season ~ it's ON!!!!!
From: Bee-dubya-ell
Date: 07 Jul 05 - 09:38 PM

I don't believe this shit. Pensacola went from 1924 to 1995 without receiving a direct hit from a hurricane. Then Erin, in '95, was only a category one (less than 100 mph) storm. So now we're gonna get smacked by two category three's (around 130 mph) in less than ten months.

Brown County Indiana'd be a mighty good place to live if it didn't get so damned cold.

Subject: RE: BS: Hurricane season ~ it's ON!!!!!
From: Bobert
Date: 07 Jul 05 - 09:39 PM

Spent the afternoon cleanin' out ditches, pipes, cuttin' "doc", yankin' limbs, ect., in the hopes that I don't get any of my 3/10th miles drive way washed out...

Ouch, I'm sore...

But, hey, we need the rain big time... Less thas an inch over the last 5 weeks...

Bobert

Subject: RE: BS: Hurricane season ~ it's ON!!!!!
From: Bill D
Date: 07 Jul 05 - 11:46 PM

looks like you'll get a bit tonight, bobert...got any Gopher wood 'round those parts?

Subject: RE: BS: Hurricane season ~ it's ON!!!!!
From: dianavan
Date: 08 Jul 05 - 01:49 AM

I don't envy you the hurricanes. I've never been in a hurricane and never want to be. Don't like the looks of twisters either. Seems like every area has its particular force of nature to deal with. Here we worry about earthquakes and I've experienced a couple of those.

I guess you must build accordingly. What do you do, build cement walls around your compound? How do you deal with it? Do you all have cellars?

Hope you will all be safe and for goodness sake, Carol, get out of that trailer! Yes, dig a hole and batten down the hatches. A little straw might be nice. Hope your son is safe.

Subject: RE: BS: Hurricane season ~ it's ON!!!!!
From: Liz the Squeak
Date: 08 Jul 05 - 03:55 AM

Hope all goes well... Mother Nature, as I've said many times this year, is very restless this Millennium.....

Carol - if you do batten yourself down in a ditch, leave a drainpipe or big dryer hose or something out at an angle so you've got an airhole.... and tell people where you'll be!

Take care all, and check in regularly.

LTS

Subject: RE: BS: Hurricane season ~ it's ON!!!!!
From: Bobert
Date: 08 Jul 05 - 08:45 AM

What's gopher wood, Bill?

If we got it, you sho nuff can have some of it... That gopher wid it, too...

Ahhhh, when we get a little further toward having the house renovations done, We'll get you and Rita down.... There are a nummer of trees I'm gonna be cutting down and pullin' their stumps out... Maybe somethin' you can use...

As fir Cindy, looks like she blew thru overnight and we mighta got a couple inches of rain... Gonna walk the drive way in a while to see what needs attention...

Bobert

Subject: RE: BS: Hurricane season ~ it's ON!!!!!
From: Donuel
Date: 08 Jul 05 - 08:57 AM

My brother built hurricane proof homes in PR. They are poured concrete walls with inset steel roofs. So far all are just fine after 20 years which included Hugo Gilbert etc.. Only one is within sight of the ocean however.

I am betting that Chicago is going to feel the after effects of Hurricane Dennis. Its very rare for a tropical storm to get to the windy city.

Subject: RE: BS: Hurricane season ~ it's ON!!!!!
From: RangerSteve
Date: 08 Jul 05 - 08:57 AM

The remnants of either Cindy or Dennis is here in NJ. I don't see any puddles in my driveway yet, so it's not too bad. But it's still early in the morning and it's supposed to rain all day. There's also a flood warning, and with two major floods in the last year in the Delaware Valley, people are worried. Hopefully, it won't be that bad.

Subject: RE: BS: Hurricane season ~ it's ON!!!!!
From: dianavan
Date: 08 Jul 05 - 12:30 PM

I heard something funny that I will pass on to you.

Why did they name the hurricanes Cindy and Dennis. They shouldn't use such common names. They should use names the make you pay attention to impending disaster.

When someone says that Cindy and Dennis are coming. You automatically get out the nachos and chips and make sure there's cold beer in the fridge.

Subject: RE: BS: Hurricane season ~ it's ON!!!!!
From: PoppaGator
Date: 08 Jul 05 - 01:26 PM

Dianavan asked: Do you all have cellars?

Not in New Orleans, as a rule, since we're below sea level. Our house, like many around here, has a ground-level "basement," with the main first floor raised one full story above the slab. Because our house is one of the oldest in the area, our lot is a few inches lower than the street and the surrounding properties, and we get an inch of two of floodwater in our basement maybe about once every year or two. Not necessarily when there's a hurricane; we flood when rain comes down so fast that the pumping system can't keep up (3 inches per hour or more)

We don't generally get Great-Plains-type twisters that would require hiding underground. The recent "minor" storm Cindy was very unusual in that it seemed to spawn small local tornados, or at least isolated gusts of extremely high-speed winds. It came up suddenly, too, forming in the upper Gulf less than 24 hours offshore; it's more typical for storms to be identified way out in the ocean, a week or more before they approach the US coast.

RangerSteve, the storm whose remnants have already reached NJ has to be Cindy. Dennis is still out in the Gulf, and won't hit the mainland until Sunday night, plus or minus 8-12 hours. We don't know yet where it'll hit ~ mostly likely Pensacola, we're told, but these things are very unpredicatble.

Subject: RE: BS: Hurricane season ~ it's ON!!!!!
From: gnu
Date: 08 Jul 05 - 01:59 PM

Ya know, CC, the more I think about a foxhole, the less I like it. Who gives a crap about the wind while they're drowning. Can't you go to a safe place? No local disater shelters... like in a school or some other public building?

Of course, in an emergency, a hole is better than a mobile.

Subject: RE: BS: Hurricane season ~ it's ON!!!!!
From: CarolC
Date: 08 Jul 05 - 02:03 PM

Thanks dianavan.

Good thinking, LtS!

I haven't been in any tornadoes here as of yet (and hope I never am)... but from the damage I've seen in the news from some of them, they can not only destroy the kind of dwelling I'm in (a trailer), they can kill people with projectiles. Our walls aren't sufficient to stop those, and our "wee hoose" could become airborn rather easily.

What I have learned is that the tornadoes form on the eastern side of the hurricane. That seems to be the side we are on more times than not. I suspect that New Orleans tends to be on the west side of the storm most of the time.

Subject: RE: BS: Hurricane season ~ it's ON!!!!!
From: CarolC
Date: 08 Jul 05 - 02:16 PM

Didn't see your post, gnu.

We're on (relatively) high ground, so I'm not worried about flooding. The rains we get are torrential, so a lot of water does tend to accumulate on the ground, and drainage is not good because of the clay soil.

I don't think I would use a hole in the ground for the hurricane itself. I have been told that there is a church just a little way down the road that has been designated as a shelter for hurricanes. But if a tornado were to come up, I might not have time to get to the shelter, and it might not be open. Tornadoes are too unpredictable to plan for.

The instructions I have been reading for dealing with a tornado heading my way is to either:

A. Go to the basement and hide under a workbench or something like that...

(don't have a basement)

B. Go to a room inside the house with no windows, or a closet, and put a lot of blankets around me.

(don't have a room like that)

C. Find a ditch, lie down flat in it, and cover my head with my hands.

I can't find any ditches close enough to where I am to be of much help if a tornado shows up suddenly and I need to find cover.

I don't know if I'll be able to dig anything that would fit the two of us in this hard-packed clay soil. If I did, I would cover the opening to protect it from rain until such a time as we would need it. Once inside, we wouldn't be in there long enough for it to fill up with water.

I'm thinking about suggesting to JtS that we stay in a hotel nearby during the storm. We'll see.

Subject: RE: BS: Hurricane season ~ it's ON!!!!!
From: harpgirl
Date: 08 Jul 05 - 03:05 PM

nacho cheese, chips and cold beer are hurricane preparation staples, DV!!!!!

Subject: RE: BS: Hurricane season ~ it's ON!!!!!
From: Bill D
Date: 08 Jul 05 - 06:47 PM

bobert...Gopher wood is what Noah is supposed to have built the Ark from! Guess you don't need it...yet..*grin*. (I'll be interested to hear what you DO have, of course...Persimmon is high on the list)

PoppaGator...I do know about "below sea level"! I might still be in New Orleans if we had lived one block 'higher' in 1947, but when the Hurricane blew water over the seawall and put 2ft. of water IN the house (Metarie), my mother refused to look for another, so my father took a job in Kansas..right near the tornados!

Carol, Bee-dubya-ell, harpgirl....and any others...we'll be thinking dry thoughts at you the next few days....take care, and be safe.

Subject: RE: BS: Hurricane season ~ it's ON!!!!!
From: Bee-dubya-ell
Date: 08 Jul 05 - 07:22 PM

FREE BLUEBERRIES!!!

That's right, folks! FREE blueberries! Right here on my property! Lots of 'em! Damned near the size of watermelons! And all ya have to do is come pick 'em! But you've gotta do it before Hurricane
friggin' Dennis gets here Sunday afternoon and blows all the berries and most of the leaves off of the bushes.

And, for all you carnivores, there's CHEAP MEAT! Yes, in my recent trip to the local grocer's most of the meat in the case was marked down dirt cheap, but nobody was buyin' it! Who the heck wants meat at any price when there's not gonna be any electricity flowin' through the refrigerator? But if some of you folks who probably won't be without electricity for a week or more could drive down here, scarf up a bunch of cut-rate beef and pork, take it home, stick it in your freezer you'd save a bundle!

Subject: RE: BS: Hurricane season ~ it's ON!!!!!
From: gnu
Date: 08 Jul 05 - 07:28 PM

How much a pound fer a nice porterhouse?

Subject: RE: BS: Hurricane season ~ it's ON!!!!!
From: Bill D
Date: 08 Jul 05 - 07:36 PM

they don't have charcoal in Fla? when our electricity was out for 3-5 days after one of last years hurricanes, there were MANY neighborhood BBQ parties.

Subject: RE: BS: Hurricane season ~ it's ON!!!!!
From: PoppaGator
Date: 08 Jul 05 - 07:37 PM

Dang, Bruce, buy yourself a bunch of marked-down filets soon as you can, stick 'em in your freezer, and don't open the door until the storm has passed. Even if you do go without power for a couple of days, they'll be OK as long as they get well frozen before the lights go out. And since landfall is still 48 hours away, close as we can tell, they should have plenty of time to get nice and cold.

That's what I'd do, anyway.

Who knows, you might get lucky and see the storm hit west of Escambia Bay, leaving you in the clear (or at least only moderately inconvenienced).

Subject: RE: BS: Hurricane season ~ it's ON!!!!!
From: Bee-dubya-ell
Date: 08 Jul 05 - 07:52 PM

Well, actually we're hoping it goes a little bit to the east, like over around Panama City. That'd put us on the eastern side of the storm which is preferable to the western side. When Opal hit Fort Walton Beach (an hour east of Pensacola) in '95 it was only like a tropical storm for us. Ivan, last September, hit at the Alabama/Florida line and we got totally screwed even though the eye was twice as far from where we live as was Opal's.

If it's still coming straight at us or west of us by midnight Saturday, we're outta here. If it's headed more to the east, we'll ride it out.

And, by the way, if anyone really wants any of those blueberries or cut-rate steaks, be sure to get here with at least half a tank of gasoline, 'cause there won't be any for a hundred miles for the next few days.

Subject: RE: BS: Hurricane season ~ it's ON!!!!!
From: harpgirl
Date: 08 Jul 05 - 11:38 PM

At my gig tonight there was a lady who lost everything, including her house in Pensacola. She was living in a FEMA trailer which they had evacuated and she and her daughter and grandkids were going to Valdosta, Georgia. She thought the FEMA trailer would get wiped out as well. I counted my blessings!

Subject: RE: BS: Hurricane season ~ it's ON!!!!!
From: CarolC
Date: 08 Jul 05 - 11:49 PM

JtS was down in southern Alabama today. He got stuck in an awful lot of evacuation traffic. He said if we want to try to stay in a hotel during the storm, we'll need to go all the way to Tennessee to find a hotel that's not completely booked up.

But we have a friend about 20 minutes from here who just recently bought a house that is made entirely of stone, cinderblocks and cement (except for the roof). We might go spend a day or two visiting him.

Subject: RE: BS: Hurricane season ~ it's ON!!!!!
From: harpgirl
Date: 08 Jul 05 - 11:54 PM

come to my house...bring an accordian and a chainsaw....hehehehehe

Subject: RE: BS: Hurricane season ~ it's ON!!!!!
From: artbrooks
Date: 09 Jul 05 - 12:12 AM

My folks have evacuated to Tallahassee. Ivan "missed" them...only caused $30,000 worth of damage. Fingers and toes crossed, folks.

Subject: RE: BS: Hurricane season ~ it's ON!!!!!
From: CarolC
Date: 09 Jul 05 - 12:26 AM

I like the acoustics in our friend's new house for accordion playng. Very echoey. You should come up and watch our friend tear his hair out while I play.

Subject: RE: BS: Hurricane season ~ it's ON!!!!!
From: harpgirl
Date: 09 Jul 05 - 08:53 AM

artbrooks, if you want me to do anything for your folks while they are here, PM me. I gladly do social work for old folks
harpy

Subject: RE: BS: Hurricane season ~ it's ON!!!!!
From: artbrooks
Date: 09 Jul 05 - 09:22 AM

Thanks, Abby...they're staying with a friend, so should be ok, but I appreciate your offer.

Subject: RE: BS: Hurricane season ~ it's ON!!!!!
From: harpgirl
Date: 09 Jul 05 - 01:57 PM

I went out in the yard to loll in the hammock and my son woke me up pointing to the sky. I rushed inside ahead of rain, thunder, and lightening. Rain for the rest of the weekend, I'm afraid. But the hurricane is not supposed to make a direct hit here. Poor BWL

Subject: RE: BS: Hurricane season ~ it's ON!!!!!
From: Stilly River Sage
Date: 09 Jul 05 - 02:03 PM

I'll try this again--

I wonder what BWL did with his Mexican pot?

;-D

Subject: RE: BS: Hurricane season ~ it's ON!!!!!
From: CarolC
Date: 09 Jul 05 - 02:11 PM

From the way the map is projecting landfall as I look at it right now, it looks like Bee-dubya might be on the east side of the storm. And it looks like we might just be out of range of it. That is, if these projections turn out to be correct.

Subject: RE: BS: Hurricane season ~ it's ON!!!!!
From: gnu
Date: 09 Jul 05 - 02:12 PM

"again"???? Oooookay.... I stilly don't understand.

Subject: RE: BS: Hurricane season ~ it's ON!!!!!
From: Bill D
Date: 09 Jul 05 - 02:46 PM

last year, Blackcatter (where is he now?) posted some links to help follow things...

the one to WFTV seems to have as much info as any place...complete with storm tracking pop-ups.

Subject: RE: BS: Hurricane season ~ it's ON!!!!!
From: Bill D
Date: 09 Jul 05 - 02:52 PM

here is last year's thread with much info..especially Lou's Weather Watch, a VERY intense look at the various images and paths.