Hurricane Irene

[Swerd]

I can't believe there isn't a hurricane thread yet. Unlike the "Earthquake in NJ", Irene really will be there by Sunday. As of now, its going ashore at Cape Lookout, NC. The NC Outer Banks will get damaged.

I'm northwest of DC, and I think I'm only going to get some rain and wind. On the Maryland, Delaware & NJ coast, it will get pretty busy.

As long as you have electricity, there are two fun hurricane tracking web sites:

National Weather Service - straight forward

Hurricane Tracker (at Weather.com) - more fun to play with, you can zoom in and drag the map around

Hope everyone rides through the storm OK!

 

[Adam]

Looks like my brother near Boston might need to fire up his generator.

I'll second the good wishes - best of luck everyone! I hope that everyone stays safe.

 

[majorloser]

I can't believe there isn't a hurricane thread yet.

That's usually my job, but it passed Florida up this time.

 

[jeffsg4mac]

Does not look like it is going to be much by the time it gets up here. Being reported that it is loosing strength fast and barely a cat 1.

 

[Rickster71]

That's usually my job, but it passed Florida up this time.

It's as if you don't even care about NJ.

 

[Rickster71]

I can't believe there isn't a hurricane thread yet.

The Earth Quake thread sort of evolved into a hurricane thread.
Good idea to have it's own thread.

 

[Swerd]

That's usually my job, but it passed Florida up this time.

Florida dodged it for a change. No earthquake, no hurricane (both good ), but no space program .

Does not look like it is going to be much by the time it gets up here. Being reported that it is loosing strength fast and barely a cat 1.

Its not the wind, its the storm surge that does the serious damage. New Hampshire doesn't seem to have coast threatened by Irene .

 

[Swerd]

It's as if you don't even care about NJ.

I saw the governor of NJ on the evening news last night. That dude is scary looking , kinda like a slightly polished up Tony Soprano. You'd think Irene would run out to sea just to avoid him.

 

[majorloser]

I saw the governor of NJ on the evening news last night. That dude is scary looking , kinda like a slightly polished up Tony Soprano. You'd think Irene would run out to sea just to avoid him.

It's as if you don't even care about NJ.

Like I said in the other thread, not even God cares about New Jersey.

 

[majorloser]

The New Jersey Storm Chaser Crew

They're out there now fist pumping on the beach to chase the storm away...

 

[sawzalot]

Here is my post from last night, it was in the Earthquake thread but belongs here now:

Friday 7 am - 7 pm.
I just finished up installing over 50 ( turns out we did more like 70 but who's counting) sheets of 1/2 inch ply over various beach front homes and two homes being renovated , all throughout Cape May. I already secured my own property as best as I could under the circumstances, 350 gallons of water in reserve, 50 gallons of drinking water in a safe cool place, two boat coolers filled to the brim with ice ,two propane tanks full , candles, dry goods, canned goods, flashlights, and one generator between two neighbors, knucklehead across the road has a genny but couldn't afford gas so I made him an offer and thats how it will be I will supply 70.00 worth of gas and keep my fridge cold as needed. I will try to keep ya posted, peace, sawz.

Put the Grundens in the foyer as well , these things (irene) sure do bring the rain.

 

[sawzalot]

Saturday Morning 6:45 am,I ran around checking on some of my repeat customers homes , stowed away my alcoholic neighbors belongings as he could care less about 75 mph projectiles, checked my parents house (they went to the Pocono's with my brother for the weekend, Thank God ) had to lash down some yard furniture at their home but mostly small stuff as we secured their house throughout the week in anticipation of this storm headed this way,after which I decided to head back home and get to hunkering down for the rest of the weekend.
There was really a strange hue to the sky this morning and just a slight slow steady drizzle of the warmest rain water I have ever felt.
the wind was a warm breeze as well.
Now as the morning goes on the rain picked up as did the wind steady hard rain right now with about 20 mph winds at a constant, occasional gusts to which I can only guess to be about 30 mph.

I am 600 to 700 yards from the bay at the mouth of the delaware bay and the atlantic ocean, a point if you will or a peninisula,we are bracing ourselves and getting a bit anxious, our town is desolate , abandoned like, truly erie by all definitions of the word, as long as we have power I will post up details.

 

[majorloser]

Sorry Sawz, without an extensive list of alcoholic beverages at your disposal, you're not properly prepared for a hurricane.


Seriously though, conserve that gas for the generator. Florida found out the hard way about gasoline. When the power goes out so does the gas pumps at the stations. Getting gas can become a nightmare. It wasn't until after the 2004 hurricane season did the state require stations to have backup power. I went 14 days without power once. Not really that bad, but not fun either.

Only run the generator only long enough to refreeze the refridgerator or run a microwave for a quick meal. An average 5kW generator will use about 5 gallons of gas in 8 to 10 hours.

 

[majorloser]

Oh, one more VERY important note.

Lock that generator down with a heavy chain!!!!

Many generators got stolen in the middle of the night while people where sleeping with the generators running outside.

 

[BoredSysAdmin]

I personally think - by the time it reaches here it'll be nothing but strong winds and tons of rain. As always there will be fallen trees (hopefully not on my car) some minor power losses...etc... but nature may have other plans...
We did some emergency preparations, far cry from sawzalot ones, but then again - damage even in worst case scenario is not expected to be as bad as more southern areas on the hurricane path

 

[majorloser]

I know I'm gonna come across as one of those "right wing nut jobs" (I am from Florida), but when the power goes off for few days humans turn to their true animal nature. Also, major storms have the ability to bring out all the thieves and swindlers.

DON'T TRUST ANYBODY

Protect yourself and property. If they are not reputable and licensed, don't buy anything from them or use the services they may be offering. There are far too many people who travel around following hurricanes looking to make a quick buck.

 

[tcarcio]

I know I'm gonna come across as one of those "right wing nut jobs" (I am from Florida), but when the power goes off for few days humans turn to their true animal nature. Also, major storms have the ability to bring out all the thieves and swindlers.

I know I might come off as one of those "left wing lunatics" [I am in Mass] but when the power goes off I will expect the government to take care of everything for me..

 

[jeffsg4mac]

I know I might come off as one of those "left wing lunatics" [I am in Mass] but when the power goes off I will expect the government to take care of everything for me..

Yeah they have been doing a bang up job so far huh?

 

[majorloser]

One last piece of advice...

Be careful letting a neighbor plug into your generator. I made the mistake of letting my neighbor run an extension cord over to my generator. Said he wanted to keep his refridgerator cold. After awhile I notice my generator is really starting to bog down and really sucking down the gas. All I was powering was just my refridgerator and a 12" fan. So I go over to my neighbors house and it ends up he's plugged a bunch of power strips and dozens extension cords into the 100 footer coming off of my generator. He's got power cords running all over his house running lights in every room, fans, refridgerator, etc.

From now on, I'm the a-hole guy next door who has a generator that won't be shared.

 

[tcarcio]

Be careful letting a neighbor plug into your generator. I made the mistake of letting my neighbor run an extension cord over to my generator. Said he wanted to keep his refridgerator cold. After awhile I notice my generator is really starting to bog down and really sucking down the gas. All I was powering was just my refridgerator and a 12" fan. So I go over to my neighbors house and it ends up he's plugged a bunch of power strips and dozens extension cords into the 100 footer coming off of my generator. He's got power cords running all over his house running lights in every room, fans, refridgerator, etc.

From now on, I'm the a-hole guy next door who has a generator that won't be shared.

You tried to help someone and they just take advantage. Talk about biteing the hand that feeds you....