Severe Weather

[Uncle Al]

To all of our skirted brethren in the S.E. U.S.A.

Be vigilant watching weather reports. My son & his family
live north west of Orlando. They are getting sand bags and
waiting to see if/when schools close. My daughter in law is
a teacher. Then they may evacuate the area. The Governor
of Florida hasn't issued 'mandatory' evacuation for central
and northern Florida - yet.

The Red Cross has a central dispatch center set up in Orlando.
It may have to move as well.

My son & family are ready to load up the dogs & kids to go
northward. I saw a pic of I-75, going from Tampa to Tallahassee
with traffic at a standstill.

The National News weather person said that storm surge can go
up to 20 feet. Some of the Turks & Caicos Islands have an elevation
of 12-15 feet above sea level. These Islands could be wiped clean.
The Florida Keys are around 6-8 foot elevation, with similar results.

Please be safe As the Governor of Florida said -
"We can replace your home but we can't replace you".

Uncle Al

[Fred in Skirts]

Well it looks like I will be having an unwanted visitor come Monday. Irma is expected to hit the CSRA (Central Savannah River Area) by early Monday Morning as it turns inland and comes up the Savannah River. The weatherman said we can expect 65 to 70 MPH winds and 4 to 8 inches of rain. Gas has already become scarce due to Texas storm. I will go to the store tomorrow to get milk as I am very low, bread and water as well. If I lose electricity I lose water.

Fred

[crfriend]

My son & family are ready to load up the dogs & kids to go northward. I saw a pic of I-75, going from Tampa to Tallahassee with traffic at a standstill.

I'm waiting for a large event like this to hit and wipe out a large section of dead-stop traffic on a motorway. I suspect that something like that would have to happen before the "planners" really understood how potentially futile "mass evacuations" are in practise. I've got friends on a barrier island in Florida (Satellite Beach, to be exact) and they state that the multiple causeways leading inland are just enough to get most everybody off the islands; one on the mainland, everything wedges up horribly.

"Mass evacuations" are a hangover from the Cold War days when the masters thought it'd be possible to evacuate major cities in the 30 minutes it takes a missile to travel here from elsewhere. It ain't gonna happen guys.

The National News weather person said that storm surge can go up to 20 feet. Some of the Turks & Caicos Islands have an elevation of 12-15 feet above sea level. These Islands could be wiped clean. The Florida Keys are around 6-8 foot elevation, with similar results.

Of note is that storm surge needs something to push against to appreciably raise the level. Small islands don't present enough of an obstacle and typically get nothing like major bodies of land do in major storms. Sure, there's some, and water always gets blown in, but the main threats to islanders are the wind and the erosion from the torrential rains. Not to mention the collapse of the local technology for a period of time.

[crfriend]

Gas has already become scarce due to Texas storm.

That's just one more reason we need to get refining capacity elsewhere in the US rather than concentrating it in one area of Texas.

If I lose electricity I lose water.

Bottled water is always a good idea, but even though it may sound disgusting, if one is expecting that the local water supply will be unavailable one can fill a bathtub with water before "The Event" and so long as you have capacity to boil (assuming that you never clean the tub) you've got quite a few gallons on hand. Recall, also, precisely how hard it's going to be raining...

Best of luck all of you in Irma's path. Some of the extremely high-resolution from NOAA's newest GOES platform (GOES-16, aka GOES-R) is stunning and horrifying to look at -- this machine is capable of getting one-minute resolution of details a small as a nautical mile over a hurricane-sized region of the spheroid. (It's still in calibration and test, so you don't see this imagery on the evening news, but search for "GOES-16 imagery" and you'll get a good taste.)

[Fred in Skirts]

From the looks of the weather forecasters it is going to turn inland at Savannah Ga. and come up the river. That will put me right in the thick of it. But that is not until Monday.

I have propane gas for heating and cooking. If power goes out no heating /air conditioning but still able to cook. It was one thing I demanded when I bought the double wide. A gas range with gas oven. For those of you in Florida try to stay safe, these storms are nothing to play with. I have some friends that live near Sanford and they are moving west to the panhandle to get out of the path.

Fred

[Gusto10]

Wish you all the best and that the storm ill not be so severe as predicted.

[Sinned]

I wish that the worst doesn't happen to you all and that you come out of it lightly. Over here we get off lightly and only hit a severe storm once or twice every 50 years or so. The worst was in 1987 which incidentally was downplayed by the weather forecasters to their embarrassment. Sure we get bad weather but there's an island to the west of us that shelters us somewhat from storms coming east which is why it is called the Emerald Isle and the big, big land mass to the east for weather coming west. We get floods in York but they are mainly confined to a narrow band adjacent to the river and the properties there are well used to coping and have procedures in place. There are some advantages to living where we do.

[mugman]

I have a cousin who has a second home at Florida Keys. I'm not frequently in touch with him so I don't know where he's currently living. If he's back over here he'll be at least safe. I hope everyone here in the path of Irma, and all others, come through this safely. I'm truly thankful that I live somewhere far less prone to these unthinkable conditions. Good luck to everyone.

[moonshadow]

Fred, you've crossed my mind a few times over the last few days on account if Irma.

It looks like it will be tracking towards the Midwest area once it gets up to our latitude, we shouldn't get too much off of it, maybe some light rain and breezy.

Just so you know, if it comes down to it, you're always welcome up this way until it blows over. In any event, do be careful down that way. I suppose despite me being off next week, it doesn't seem like a good week for me to go down to South Carolina...

Stay safe! Bamaskirting, Dillon, ... if you still are following this boards, this goes for you too!

[Fred in Skirts]

First of all Moon thanks for the offer of a safe haven. Right now I am sitting at the computer looking out of the window and watching the trees sway and bend in the 15 to 25 MPH winds and heavy rain. There are gust up to 35 or 40 MPH. This looks like all we are going to get, thank God.

I have lived through some big hurricanes in my life The biggest one I remember from my childhood was Hazel when I was living in Pennsylvania, we lost power for nearly two weeks. The next big one was (name forgotten) in 1961 when I was stationed in Mississippi in Boloxi. I was quartered in strong steel and concrete barracks so no problem. I also was in several other storms that were not as bad. For this one I am just glad I wasn't in Florida.

So to all of our skirted family no matter where you are I hope you are safe and have come through the storm with no injuries. Please check in as soon as is possible we are worried about you.

Fred