2022 Atlantic Hurricane Season Running Thread

Impassable, says NBC

 

For the Californians and other folks who aren't hurricane savvy, getting prepared for a hurricane is more like a wildfire than a tornado or earthquake.

These are huge lumbering beasts that rarely move along at more than 15 mph, so you USUALLY get a pretty good indication early on about the probable track and potential damage with enough advance warning. If it's a Cat 1 or not expected to make direct landfall near you, it's better to shelter in place. You might lose power for an extended period of time and have minor damage, but unless you're beachfront, you should be able to ride it out.

Caveat: If you live in a mobile home or RV, get the hell out ASAP.

But let's say you're in the path of Ian. Knowing its projected trajectory, I'd have looked into hotels in West Palm, Fort Lauderdale or Miami, where there's a lesser chance of being in the cone. That doesn't always work but there's usually time to figure out an escape.

Have a plan not only for your dwelling and property, but for what you'll need when you leave and what you'll need when you get back. Water. Food. Generator. Gasoline. Plywood. Storm shutters. Clothes. Important papers. Anything you can't replace.

The quicker you can leave, the more options you'll have. If you wait too long, you won't find a hotel, gas station or get stuck in traffic with thousands of other evacuees. And think about back roads instead of the interstate. Everybody's GPS is going to send them on I-95 or I-75 or I-4 or the Turnpike. I directed Mom and Dad up US 1 to Florida State Route 20 to FSR 100 the last time in order to avoid an hours-long backup.

For example, my parents have been under a mandatory evacuation four times in the past 20 or so years, and three of the four times they found hotels available. Twice they went to Kissimmee because the hurricane skirted the Atlantic from south to north. Once they went to Naples, because the hurricane went southeast to northwest. And once they came up here to northeast Georgia because the damn thing couldn't make up its mind.

For all the talk about 150 mph winds, it's more about the water. Most newer dwellings on the Gulf or Atlantic have roofs rated to at least a Cat 2. Even then, a hurricane needs debris or some additional force to knock down a concrete block building. It's the tidal surge that packs the punch, and even then, it's usually confined to low-lying areas near the coast. If you're more than a mile or two inland, chances of catastrophic saltwater flooding are pretty rare. Andrew was just so big, it tore roofs off Homestead homes dozens of miles inland. (And that might be the case with Ian.)

Heavy rain brings localized flooding as well. Hugo tore up Charleston and Charlotte, but also created major flooding in the mountains of Georgia, North Carolina, Virginia and West Virginia that led to additional damage and deaths.

However, the second-worst thing is tornadoes that spin off the main cyclone. They can occur in places nowhere close to the center of circulation. For example, Andrew did massive damage to south Florida, but it also spun off 61 tornadoes in Louisiana, Mississippi, Alabama, Georgia and the mid-Atlantic.

They're just a fact of living in Florida or along the coast. We all grew up knowing how to use the tracking maps that were printed in newspapers every summer. There was something exhilarating about waiting for the latest coordinates so you could put another pin in the map, pre-Internet tracking apps and NHC websites.

You shouldn't ever take them for granted. And most of all, err on the side of caution. Property can be replaced. People can't.

 

Street shark!!!

 

That is definitely a keeper. Hell, that's a good list for us stupid southerners when an Alberta Clipper hits us in February.

 

Then you get organizations with no business being in a hurricane zone that decide to drop in totally unprepared. Looking at you WKRN in Nashville.

 

So will the reporter get in trouble for outing her station on Twitter?

 

Hurricane Ian Ziering?

 

for a post that long you have to mention the fed at least once