Here Comes Irene: Flood Prep & Rain Expectations

[Astronuc]

The eye, or what's left of it, is suppose to graze us on Sunday evening. But were already getting some good rains today.

It look likes we're in for three days of rain. That usually means a fair amount of flooding in our area.

Good thing we got a basement flood protection system.

 

[Jimmy Snyder]

Irene, goodnight Irene, I'll see you in my dreams.

The latest forecast has Irene making a path directly through the sliding door in my den and out the front door on its way to Maine. I bought two gallons of water and filled the car with gas. I have a flashlight and fresh batteries. The laptop and cell phone run on batteries so I'll have that for communication. What am I forgetting?

 

[Pengwuino]

To Run.

 

[Astronuc]

The latest forecast has Irene making a path directly through the sliding door in my den and out the front door on its way to Maine. I bought two gallons of water and filled the car with gas. I have a flashlight and fresh batteries. The laptop and cell phone run on batteries so I'll have that for communication. What am I forgetting?

Everything else requires electricity.

I thought of that song, too.

 

[Evo]

The latest forecast has Irene making a path directly through the sliding door in my den and out the front door on its way to Maine. I bought two gallons of water and filled the car with gas. I have a flashlight and fresh batteries. The laptop and cell phone run on batteries so I'll have that for communication. What am I forgetting?

Did you stock up on your favorite foods, tape the windows, don't forget car adaptors for cell phones. They even sell briefcase size generators at Target to run small appliances and computers. I take it they are just large rechargeable battery packs, but not a bad idea.

For some reason every time we had a hurricane down in Houston, they said to fill the bathtubs with water, but I don't ever remember the water shutting off, I guess if a pumping station went down it might matter.

Candles, you must have candles! A chafing dish with sterno is fun if the power goes out. Talk about a romantic dinner!

 

[Jimmy Snyder]

Thanks Evo.

Q: Did you stock up on your favorite foods?
A: Yes, What do you figure, 20,000 calories a day? Actually, We have lots of canned goods. I have no idea how we'll cook them though.

Q: Tape the windows?
A: No, but I'm thinking about it.

Q: Don't forget car adaptors for cell phones.
A: Thanks for reminding me of that, I do have one.

Q: Generator?
A: No, and that means that anything in the fridge will go bad quickly. The people at Sears told me that they no longer sell generators, and now they've got customers clamoring for them.

Q: Candles?
A: Yes, my wife uses tea candles by the hundreds so we're well stocked.

 

[Evo]

Thanks Evo.

Q: Did you stock up on your favorite foods?
A: Yes, What do you figure, 20,000 calories a day? Actually, We have lots of canned goods. I have no idea how we'll cook them though.

Q: Tape the windows?
A: No, but I'm thinking about it.

Q: Don't forget car adaptors for cell phones.
A: Thanks for reminding me of that, I do have one.

Q: Generator?
A: No, and that means that anything in the fridge will go bad quickly. The people at Sears told me that they no longer sell generators, and now they've got customers clamoring for them.

Q: Candles?
A: Yes, my wife uses tea candles by the hundreds so we're well stocked.

You're all set, now just hope that the electricity doesn't go out for long and the kids get bored.

Oh, do you have a lot of trees? A chain saw is a good thing to have. And if a power line goes down in your yard, DO NOT GO OUTSIDE!

http://latimesblogs.latimes.com/lanow/2011/01/3-killed-in-backyard-electrocution-identified.html

 

[HeLiXe]

Battery operated fans, a couple more gallons of water, duct tape (not really necessary...some people used to use it to tape windows... but everyone buys it when a hurricane is coming). Do you have enough ice?

 

[Pengwuino]

If they don't sell gas generators, maybe a wind powered generator?

giggle.

 

[HeLiXe]

lol that was funny Penguwino.

 

[Insanity]

Q: Did you stock up on your favorite foods?
A: Yes, What do you figure, 20,000 calories a day? Actually, We have lots of canned goods. I have no idea how we'll cook them though.

Sterno burners, don't get hot enough to really cook with, but useful to heat things with. You can barely boil water with if you wait long enough. They're fairly cheap too.

Q: Tape the windows?
A: No, but I'm thinking about it.

Packing tape would work, at least if the windows blow, it may help keep shards from flying about. Getting it off any windows that don't may be tricky, but probably worth the safety step.

Q: Candles?
A: Yes, my wife uses tea candles by the hundreds so we're well stocked.

A lighter, zippo and matches. Candles are great, until you realize you can't light them.

 

[Evo]

Our electricity here would go out every time it snowed. I had a couple of those big 3 wick candles, and got the little metal grate out of the toaster oven, put it over the candle, and cooked with it. It can actually boil water and "fry" stuff. I also rigged the fireplace as a stove. A couple of bricks and a barbecue grate and voila! but for small things, the candle did the job. Also, candles do a good job of warming a room. I put the girls in my room and had dozens of candles going, not bad.

For light, if you have mirrors, place the candles on them, the reflected light adds so much. Even sheets of aluminum foil will help. If you are walking through a dark room, pointing the flashlight up at the ceiling will illuminate the room better than pointing it down at the floor.

Yes, I've been without electricty a LOT.

 

[Lacy33]

it's about time someone posted about ... OMG! we're going to DIE!
"The worst storm of our lifetime."

 

[Insanity]

I keep several lamps that can use either liquid paraffin or oil. Reading by lamplight is nifty.

 

[Lacy33]

Well NOW we hear that NYU and the VA hospital will be evacuated and those are where we were going in the event of an event and we are event family. Open to suggestions.

 

[OmCheeto]

The eye, or what's left of it, is suppose to graze us on Sunday evening. But were already getting some good rains today.

It look likes we're in for three days of rain. That usually means a fair amount of flooding in our area.

Good thing we got a basement flood protection system.

Should be an interesting Sunday chat then.

I've only been through one notahurricane in my life. It was down in Cabo. Impressed the hell out of me. Went from 3 to 2 to 1 and then sub-hurricane by the time it hit.

But 70 mph winds wizzing by your hot tub is pretty impressive, with the palm tree's spewing coconut's horizontally, rain falling horizontally, and, um, well, everything was pretty much moving 90 degrees out of sync with where it should have been.

My sister took a video that night. Might make a good U-tube for you to watch.

If you survive...

Hold on Astro.

 

[HeLiXe]

I just wrote a post and got one of those bad gateway messages -_-

I was saying that one of the most annoying things after a bad hurricane is no water. It is good to have enough drinking water for at least three days. Usually the water is restored before the power, especially if the power lines are above ground. It is ideal to have at least a week worth of drinking water just in case there is a boil water order when the water is restored and you have nothing to boil water with (those little camping gas burners come in handy). Having tubs filled with water is really good for utility (flushing toilets, washing hands, etc.). And if the storm is a cat4 when it hits and your windows are not hurricane windows, it is best to stay away from them and weather the storm in a room with no windows. Sometimes the storm can pass ok with no damage to the windows, but it is much better to be safe than sorry :)

 

[DoggerDan]

Good thing we got a basement flood protection system.

The sound of that reminds me of either a mop or a very dry sheepdog who likes rolling around on wet floors.

 

[wuliheron]

Well NOW we hear that NYU and the VA hospital will be evacuated and those are where we were going in the event of an event and we are event family. Open to suggestions.

When in trouble,
When in doubt,
Run in circles,
Scream and Shout!

 

[wuliheron]

The latest forecast has Irene making a path directly through the sliding door in my den and out the front door on its way to Maine. I bought two gallons of water and filled the car with gas. I have a flashlight and fresh batteries. The laptop and cell phone run on batteries so I'll have that for communication. What am I forgetting?

Life vest.

 

[turbo]

Lobstermen are hauling out barges of their traps and seeking safe for harbor their boats. There are some regulations regarding when you can pull traps, but I understand those have been waived to allow the fishermen to recover as much gear as possible. Also, you don't want traps ripped from their buoys to remain on the bottom, trapping more lobsters and damaging the population. Inland, we probably will have nothing to deal with but heavy rain IF the remnants of Irene hits.

The morning after the remnants of Bob rolled through here, some friends and I headed north to fly-fish a short catch-and-release river that features some big brookies. Glad we brought the chain-saw and bow-saw. We had to resort to them frequently just to get the roads passable. Early morning, and the road crews had not yet gotten around to clearing trees off the roads.

 

[jtbell]

Good luck, all you people up in the Northeast. I feel a bit guilty that all we're going to see here in northwestern South Carolina is maybe a couple of bands of light clouds.

The closest we've come in the time I've been here was Hugo in '89 which came ashore near Charleston and passed about 60 miles to the east of us, about 150 miles in from the coast. All the streets were carpeted with small tree branches, but there was no major damage.

 

[turbo]

The latest forecast has Irene making a path directly through the sliding door in my den and out the front door on its way to Maine. I bought two gallons of water and filled the car with gas. I have a flashlight and fresh batteries. The laptop and cell phone run on batteries so I'll have that for communication. What am I forgetting?

Do you have enough wood for a cooking fire and some hot-dogs?

 

[Jimmy Snyder]

Do you have enough wood for a cooking fire and some hot-dogs?

Yes, my house has a working fireplace and I have plenty of wood that I cut up from fallen branches on my property so I'm good. We even have a few hot dogs, but I am relying on food that doesn't need to be refrigerated.

 

[turbo]

A lighter, zippo and matches. Candles are great, until you realize you can't light them.

Light-anywhere matches are a must! The ones that only light on the striker-strip on the side of the box may be useless if your'e in an adverse situation. Get strike-anywhere matches and store some in a nice sealed plastic container where you can get at them when you need them. You can light them up on about any solid rough surface.

In HS I had a friend who used to lug a bunch of them around in his pants pocket, and that was NOT a good idea. He said something sassy to his GF, and she slapped him on the leg. That's when his pants burst into flames. He didn't get burned too badly, but nobody let him forget stripping to his tighty-whities in the hall, panicking and hollering all the time.

 

[turbo]

but I am relying on food that doesn't need to be refrigerated.

Got Twinkies?

 

[Jimmy Snyder]

Got Twinkies?

Good idea. It's got a shelf life of 100 years.

 

[turbo]

Good idea. It's got a shelf life of 100 years.

I think they are rated at 17 years, but that should get you through the weekend and a couple of days with intermittent power.

 

[Astronuc]

We just received the tropical storm warning - already. IRENE is about 870 miles SSW of us.

Counties sound of us got a hurricane warning.

 

[Lacy33]

When in trouble,
When in doubt,
Run in circles,
Scream and Shout!

OK, did that. Next?

 

[turbo]

OK, did that. Next?

Have a beer! Rinse and repeat.

 

[Evo]

So, what's the forecast, still heading for you?

 

[Jimmy Snyder]

So, what's the forecast, still heading for you?

No change in the forecast. The eye will pass over my house at around 11:00 am, Sunday. It will be category 1 or 2 by then. Big deal, I've got a category 5 wife.

Now they say that if we get 3 to 5 inches of rain, then we can expect flash floods. The forecast is for a foot of rain and although my house has never flooded, there is a crick that passes through town and does flood from time to time.

 

[turbo]

No change in the forecast. The eye will pass over my house at around 11:00 am, Sunday. It will be category 1 or 2 by then. Big deal, I've got a category 5 wife.

Please ask her to *itch-slap Irene before she comes to Maine. Lots of fishermen are curtailing operations and hauling up boats. 30-foot waves are nothing to sneeze at when you have small rocky harbors with steep gradients in their bottoms. You could lose a life-time's investment in no time.

 

[Lacy33]

Have a beer! Rinse and repeat.

Decent advice! {snort} arrr! And the stubborn daughter out on the island? {rinse} {glug}

 

[wuliheron]

Decent advice! {snort} arrr! And the stubborn daughter out on the island? {rinse} {glug}

Tell her to put on a life vest, drink a beer, and run in circles.

I live in the Norfolk Va area where we can expect severe flooding at the very least, but my thoughts are with the people in North Carolina. Hurricanes, tornadoes, flooding, you name it they always get hit the worst.

 

[Astronuc]

All the states from NC to ME are affected. Coastal areas should expect high waves.
http://news.yahoo.com/state-state-look-dangers-prep-irene-012629732.html

 

[G01]

I'm glad I'm out of Boston this week. New England is supposed to get hit hard. Right now, I'm in PA. We're still going to get some massive rain, but I think I'm far enough west to miss the brunt of the storm.

Good luck to everyone in it's path. Keep safe!

 

[DaveC426913]

It'll never be closer than 1000 miles from us way up here.

But can't be too cautious.

So today I'm going to bugger off some 3500 miles across the pond - and stay there for two weeks. I'll watch you on the news. If they get western news there...

Overreaction?

 

[Lacy33]

Tell her to put on a life vest, drink a beer, and run in circles.

I live in the Norfolk Va area where we can expect severe flooding at the very least, but my thoughts are with the people in North Carolina. Hurricanes, tornadoes, flooding, you name it they always get hit the worst.

Thanks. She just called and is headed to Dave's. She is looking forward to raiding the bar, fridge, and she will feed your fish Dave.

 

[FlexGunship]

All the states from NC to ME are affected. Coastal areas should expect high waves.
http://news.yahoo.com/state-state-look-dangers-prep-irene-012629732.html

I'm about 20 miles inland in NH. I suspect it will be another dud. I'm more worried about my mom, brother, and sister in NC. They're a good distance inland, but still in that red area on most diagrams. I can't seem to convince them to hit up a hotel for a few nights.

Oh well. I'm sure they'll be fine. My sister assured me that she would chain herself to the toilet. Maybe she's following the "Have a beer. Rinse and repeat" advice from above and the toilet is just a precaution.

 

[wuliheron]

I'm about 20 miles inland in NH. I suspect it will be another dud. I'm more worried about my mom, brother, and sister in NC. They're a good distance inland, but still in that red area on most diagrams. I can't seem to convince them to hit up a hotel for a few nights.

Oh well. I'm sure they'll be fine. My sister assured me that she would chain herself to the toilet. Maybe she's following the "Have a beer. Rinse and repeat" advice from above and the toilet is just a precaution.

She may regret being chained to the toilet if it floods and the thing starts backing up...

 

[Ivan Seeking]

The media has been running lists for emergency kits. One item that has been notably absent from the lists is, toilet paper.

 

[FlexGunship]

The media has been running lists for emergency kits. One item that has been notably absent from the lists is, toilet paper.

Ivan, buddy... it's a hurricane. If you need toilet paper, you walk outside, remove your pants, and point yourself into the wind. If you're not clean after that, then toilet paper isn't what you needed.

 

[Ivan Seeking]

Ivan, buddy... it's a hurricane. If you need toilet paper, you walk outside, remove your pants, and point yourself into the wind. If you're not clean after that, then toilet paper isn't what you needed.

Heh, the Irene baday, eh?

You were a scout weren't you? Gotta have toilet paper. Never get caught in a pinch without it!

 

[FlexGunship]

Never get caught in a pinch without it!

(Source: http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/FacePalm)

 

[turbo]

Heh, the Irene baday, eh?

You were a scout weren't you? Gotta have toilet paper. Never get caught in a pinch without it!

TP is good! If you have a home-made sparker made of lighter flints and a piece of hacksaw blade, you can start a fire even with minimal kindling.

 

[Ivan Seeking]

Something else they often leave out is food and water for your pets.

 

[turbo]

Something else they often leave out is food and water for your pets.

If your pets are sufficiently feral, they will eat you, and in the aftermath of a hurricane, there will generally be plenty of water around.

 

[FlexGunship]

Something else they often leave out is food and water for your pets.

It's a hurricane, water should be in ample supply. And, well, if you have two pets, they can be food for each other; now we've reduced the problem to one of simple recursion.