Preparing for Hurricane Season 2020

[Volhiker78]

We stock up our water jugs when storms approach. Have never evacuated in the 8 years we have lived in Florida but I wouldn't hesitate to do so if ordered to.  If we have to evacuate, I'd probably first take us to my office which is on higher ground and has a large interior area. Also, power rarely goes out.  I need to get boss' permission to do so during Covid times but I've been to my office a few times since March and no one is there. 

[apl68]

Looks like Cristobal hasn't hit the Gulf coast as badly as it could have.  There have still been flooding, tornadoes, and a couple of young boys killed.

Up here we're having a morning of heavy rains.  No flooding or power outages locally that I'm aware of.

[mythbuster]

It's been a heavy rain weekend here from bands of Cristobal. The one creek on the edge of town that always floods has flooded again. There was a movement after Irma to try and buy out the houses along that one creek and convert it to conservation land. But of course, the people who live there are just the type who would fight that level of government interference in a loud and ugly way. So now when that creek floods, even the local news doesn't pay it too much attention.

[hmaria1609]

*bumping an old thread*

Tropical Storm Isaias is heading up the eastern seaboard--lots of rain and flooding predicted for the DC area:
https://wtop.com/weather-news/2020/08/tropical-storm-isaias-expected-to-bring-heavy-rain-flood-threat-to-dc-region/
Stay safe and dry!

[RatGuy]

Named Storm off Mexico. 

Current (probably unreliable) 5 day forecast shows that it could be somewhere between Houston and Mobile.  (The entire coastline of the  state of LA).

I was living in Mississippi when The Weather Channel referred to Hurricane Isaac's probable landfall as "That land mass between New Orleans and Mobile." Oh, you mean Mississippi?

I was in Baton Rouge when Katrina hit, and that land mass between New Orleans and Mobile when both Gustav and Isaac hit. After that, the family moved away from the Gulf Coast and into a tornado zone.

[ab_grp]

I don't live in a hurricane or tropical storm zone any more (fire zone, though), but my mom still lives there, and I always worry about her.  My daughter and my ex both used to live nearby, but both have moved away, and my brother is not too far but unreliable and doesn't have a car anyway.  Mom is not great about preparations.  She does not charge anything.  But, at least she had most of the trees I grew up with cut down after the high winds of Irene and Sandy drove her nuts.  That area typically has power outages whenever there is enough wind to bring branches down (let alone trees) because the infrastructure is lacking and there are too many big old trees.  We've had plenty of losses for 4 or so days and 10 for Sandy.  She keeps saying she will get a generator.  She is not near enough to any waterways to have to worry about flooding (though the town will), but she too often gets water coming in after it flows down from her neighbor's yard into hers when there is a good amount of rain.  Anyway, I will be monitoring things as usual and hope all in the path stay safe and take care.

[clean]

In the last 2 weeks, family members have been through both Hannah and I(whatever).  Fortunately, the worst that anyone had to deal with was an electrical outage for about an hour.  (Far enough from Hannah to have some wind, but South Texas had a practice run with Harvey 2 years ago (or was it 3?) so they have new roofs and updated power lines.

My parents dealt with izzy this weekend.  It was far enough off shore that they did not even get a lot of rain!

Hopefully, my friends in SC will not feel her wrath!

For me?  I am very well stocked. I have almost a full case of TP! (That most precious of commodities in today's world!!!)

[dismalist]

What are those large drops of water doing on my windows and how did they get there?

[clean]

It looks like next week will be busy for the Gulf Coast!  One storm (not yet named) is looking to come in between Texas and LA, while the other, a day later will come in between FL and LA.  I dont remember seeing 2 storms come in so close in space and time!  If these are stronger storms, it will mean a very large swath of the South will be without electricity for a while.  When the area is going to be so large, those electric company emergency pacts (where they send their crews to the disaster area) wont do much good when so many of the companies are hurt at the same time.

[apl68]

It looks like next week will be busy for the Gulf Coast!  One storm (not yet named) is looking to come in between Texas and LA, while the other, a day later will come in between FL and LA.  I dont remember seeing 2 storms come in so close in space and time!  If these are stronger storms, it will mean a very large swath of the South will be without electricity for a while.  When the area is going to be so large, those electric company emergency pacts (where they send their crews to the disaster area) wont do much good when so many of the companies are hurt at the same time.

No wonder we've got so much rain in the extended forecast here inland!  Hopefully the storms will turn out not to be powerful enough to cause truly vast outages.

[downer]

You did see the updated predictions that we will get twice as many hurricanes this year as normal, right? I heard we can expect 5 major hurricanes to hit the mainland.

I will be somewhat surprised if this semester even completes at all. Maybe we will just stop half way through.

[mythbuster]

The next 4 names on the official list are Laura, Marco, Nana, and Omar. For some reason that group just has a bad ring about it to me.  I'll be wishing for these to all dissipate.

[AvidReader]

We have just moved to hurricane land, and I see that two are headed straight towards us. I have found the governor's official list (water, medicine, glasses, blankets, etc). Spouse is an essential worker, so we are unlikely to leave however bad it gets. Is there anything that we should know/prepare that isn't on the published list? Hurricanes are completely new to me.

(Mythbuster: Laura, Marco, Nana, & Omar should be the stars of a unique heist movie.)

AR

[polly_mer]

We're downwind of so many wildfires at this point that we're under air quality advisories and the sun hasn't really been out for a full day for more than a week.

Nothing is close enough to us to even discuss evacuation, but the air tastes bad even inside.

[clean]

Try this:

https://www.cdc.gov/cpr/zombie/educate-checklist.htm

I grew up in Florida. I have lived in a Hurricane zone most of my life.  IF you have ever been camping, then you have most of what you need.  Remember, you only need it, if/when you need it.

Most of the things you should already have, or at least keep stocked in your house.

You said that you are in the 'duel area' so that limits you to being between (more or less)  Houston to New Orleans.  You note that your spouse is an essential worker.  The good news is that You are not! Make reservations, especially if you have kids for somewhere safe. 

When it is about 5 days out I make 3 different hotel reservations.  Many places (LaQuinta is my preference) will allow you to cancel the reservation until 6 pm on the day of the reservation.  I make one reservation to the South (or West), one to the North (or East) and one inland.  IF the storm is looking to hit my city from the South(or West)  I go North (or East).  IF it will come in North (East) of me, then I go south.  IF uncertain, then I can go inland. 

Do not fall for buying bottled water.  Simply start storing water while it is free from the tap!  (Reuse the bottles you already have).
Fill the tub with water.  You can flush your toilet by taking a small bucket (like a mop bucket's amount ) of water and quickly pouring it into the toilet.  (Try it once!!)

Make sure that you have plenty of unrefrigerated food.  (and be sure you have a manual can opener). 

get batteries and flash lights.  Get a radio that runs on batteries (or the hand cranked kind).

IF you think that you will be out of power a while, get a propane powered camp stove.  (Get matches or a lighter).  (But if you need these, you may have been better off evacuating!!)

Start now to fill your freezer with ice.  You can use those bottles of water to start filling up the empty space.  But dont put them all in there at one time!  It takes a lot of time and energy to freeze a bunch of water.  (I have fulled cups from Circle K with water and frozen them. They will break when the water expands, but seldom leak when freezing, and then you will have a 32 or 44 ounce block of ice! 

IF you are out of power for a while, you can move those frozen bottles from the freezer to the top of your fridge to keep it cooler.  (and as they melt they provide cold drinking water!!)

I have a small generator (an expensive, Honda generator that is designed to run quiet and produces a pure sine wave current so I wont burn up electronics)and capacity to store 20 gallons of gas.  (enough for 3 full days). In addition, I have a small window AC.  IF the power is out for a long time, the AC can be powered by the generator at night.  The last think you want is to be out of power, after a storm fighting the skeeters and the heat.    BUT this is a luxury.

I have 3 foot locker sized boxes that house my hurricane supplies.  I rotate the batteries and any food items stored in there every June 1. 

IF you have youngins, get games that they can play.  Get a battery powered lantern (again, in the camping supplies area). 

You will want to Board up IF you are in the zone likely to get hurricane force winds.  Do not bother taping your windows.  Your windows are not the kind that will shatter unless they are like 30 years old! 

As Tuesday seems to be the day of interest, begin to empty your fridge now (and fill the empty space with water bottles to keep the fridge cool.  At least cook what you can cook now. That way you will only have to reheat it, and not worry about cooking. 


In summary, I will tell you that Plan A is to leave!  I would not have made a good pioneer.  I have grown too accustomed to electricity. Plan A is to just leave. My neighbors can have whatever remains of my supplies that they can find!  I can make my way back when the electricity has resumed, when the lines for food and ice have subsided and I can get gas. 

I dont evacuate for tropical storms, or weak Cat 1 Storms, but remember that the storm intensity is not well modeled and storms can and DO strengthen quickly.  (My brother thought that Hurricane Harvey (google it) would be a tropical storm, but it strengthened to a Cat 3 just before coming ashore near Corpus Christi (when it was too late to take action!).


Good luck!  At this point, the current forecasts show that Marco will not be much more than a tropical storm by landfall, and that Laura will not be too strong.  It will suck if they come ashore at the same location a day or 2 apart!  But if that extremely rare (unheard of) event, buy a lottery ticket on the way out of town!!

But get busy NOW to get what you think you will  need. The stores are ALREADY packed!  Trust me !!