HURRICANE IRENE

Hurricane Dolly came right over our house in 2008... the winds clocked 180º while the eye passed by over a 24 hour period. WAY more damage on the back side. It was a strong Cat 2. 22 inches of rain in that same 24 hour period, followed by 10 days of no power... meaning no water or sewage, either (since both rely on a pump). You couldn't drive anywhere in the area without getting a flat tire because of all the roofing nails pulled out with the shingles. Downed trees and debris further clogged all the roads. We were long gone, but told our neighbors where to get our generator, porta-potty, propane shower, etc. Hurricane shutters were down, everything that could be a "missile" had long since been put away. It's not so much the wind, but what is carried IN that wind... if the house is breached, there is going to be significant damage.

We had Wild Blue out of the water and 30 miles inland. (She's stored even further inland this summer.)

I'm with Tom on this one: nothing you can do if you stay there. Stuff can be replaced. If it has a name, I'm outta there. Of course, that's from the perspective of having a house on the "high" part of an island... at 7' above sea level. Do the prep, batten things down, and get out of the path.

Good luck, east coast friends.

Jim B.
 
When Hugo slammed Charleston in 89? it spawned 200 plus small and very deadly tornadoes up to 100 miles in land. I have pictures in a album, sorry pre-digital, of a 45ft boat 10 miles in land from the water front. Also a very large, 30ft tall, channel marker in the middle of a intersection 5 miles from the water. It killed 50 people.

Here are the basic facts from Hugo.

Hugo was the costliest hurricane on record to hit the U.S. up until 1989. It strengthened into a category 5 hurricane well east of the Lesser Antilles as the pressure dropped to 918 millibars with maximum sustained winds of 160 mph. It weakened some before reaching the islands, then re strengthened near Puerto Rico. Near the island of Culebra, a ship reported a gust to 170 mph. Hurricane Hugo stayed east of the Bahamas and made landfall near Sullivan's Island, South Carolina. A Hurricane Hunter aircraft measured a wind of 161 mph at 12,000 feet just before landfall. Charleston, SC had a wind gust to 108 mph and Charlotte, NC a gust to 99 mph.
 
I heard on NPR this AM that one of the heads of a small local group in NC was providing the following advice for those who stayed behind - Write your name, address, SS# and names of next of kin on a 3x5 card and put it into your left shoe. That doesn't sound to me like the kind of advice one wants to take so I'd suggest evacuating. :shock:
 
NORMous, first the best of wishes for you and any property. I have only been thru about 7 hurricanes, but thru 4 eyes, including a Cat 3. If there is a chance of a Cat 3 at landfall then I would evacuate. Those who did not on our street during Ivan (gusts to 135 knots, at air base nearby) were very sorry. They spent a night of "hell"--and there is NO rescue until the storm is over. Some had to climb up on top of 4 foot counters, and still had their feet in the water, as the back of their houses fell in and trees fell on the roofs. Lesser houses collapsed.

We board up for any storm--flying debris can break a window even with 75 knots of wind. (Aluminum shutters, bolted in place, certified for 150 knots of wind and debris impact).

The other lesson from Ivan, was that some of the bays had higher storm surge than the actual coastline. There seems to be some resonance in these bay systems and as the waves pile in, it pushes the water even further up. Our house is 12 feet at the floor, and wavelets were pushing mud and debris onto our back porch and into the garage, which are about 12" lower than the house.

Also boats need to be tied to the trailer, and the trailer anchored to the ground. (we move the boats inland, and use the mobile home screw anchors to secure the trailers to the ground)
 
Three weeks after Hurricane Charley in Pt Charlotte, FL which took a direct hit, we arrived to access the damage to our retirement home. The damage was severe, most electrical power was down, storm debris was everywhere for miles, the storm surge water level was near the top of the seawall, neighbors homes were totally destroyed, thousands of folks were displaced, no traffic lights, ....on and on. It made a believer out of me to be safe.
I rather be a live chicken than a dead duck

Also, my neighbor was the neighborhood greeter with a shotgun and the best greeting ever " What the H-ll are you doing here" He occasionally shot it off upwards b/c he is a man of few words but a lifetime of action
God Bless him
 
weirdest thing I saw in Hugo was live coverage of a couple returning home. It was the morning after the storm and a news crew ran into a couple walking to their home to take stock of the damage. As they turned on to their street they could see that the house, a 1400 sq ft rambler prefab, was in the middle of the street. The enter home was moved 200 ft. As they opened the door ready for the big mess they gasped. The camera man was right behind them. Nothing in the house was moved. Not a picture or a dish. Not even the candle sticks on the dinning room table. It was amazing and I would not have believed it if I had not seen it live.
 
We were on vacation after Hugo and I took several pics of trees snapped off north of Charlestown. They were nearly all at the same level I guesstimate about 20' off the ground. It was very errie looking b/c I thought the wind would have blown them over which commonly occurs in the Midwest. There were lots of storm damage, too (debris, cars, boats, parts of home) along US 17. We really felt sorry for all of the folks in the area
 
Checking in from Oriental...

C-Gypsy is happily sitting on her trailer at Mobile East Marine.

Pam & I bought groceries that do not need to be cooked, as electricity in Oriental is questionable during any storm. We also bought a couple cases of bottled water and some beer.

We put the van on the Rt. 55 bridge to prepare for high water. Isabel flooded Oriental with almost 9 feet of water in 2003.

For those familiar with Oriental... M&M's is staying open until their normal closing time this evening. The Tiki Bar was planning to open at 4:00 this afternoon, but it's raining too hard for me to walk over and verify that!

Stay safe everyone.

Al
 
rogerbum":26stm6b2 said:
BrentB":26stm6b2 said:
Charlie

Just become a dealer!
Click to expand...

Yep - Tyboo or Da Nag should change his pin on the brat map until he sells the 2nd TomCat.
:lol:
Click to expand...

I DON'T WANNA BE A DEALER!! :cry :crook

We all know how the dealers are doing. Not very well!! :roll: Both Cats are now at RW's Sport Shop with about 25 other boats and campers. Hope none of them move. Looking at 80Mph winds with gusts higher.

Charlie
 
checking in from Washington NC

5:30 PM here in Washington. We have had a little rain and not much wind to speak of yet. Munchkin is on the trailer beside the house. All the necessary precautions have been taken care of. Pizza, salad and a nice glass of wine will finish the evening.


Everyone stay safe


Ernie and Erma
 
thataway":r5j8tieb said:
(Some deletions)

The other lesson from Ivan, was that some of the bays had higher storm surge than the actual coastline. There seems to be some resonance in these bay systems and as the waves pile in, it pushes the water even further up.
Click to expand...

Bob-

It probably works like the Bay of Fundy and other situations where a bay, estuary, or river narrows as it receeds from the coastline.

The waveform of the tide enters at the wider opening, then is compressed together as it goes up the narrowing waterway. This compresses the waveform into a taller wave, heightening the effect of the tidal wave or waves, becoming a tidal bore in some cases. The tidal surge from a hurricane should work no different.

Additionally, there could also be some apparent heightening due to the outward rush of runoff water from the rain preceding the landfall.

All of you out there in Irene's path take care, be safe, and good luck!

Joe. :teeth :thup
 
After watching local 5:30 AM news this morning we decided to bail out of Ocean View. While our house is not on the water at 11:00 AM Governor made evacuation mandatory as we are within 3/4 mile of water so our early departure decision was a good idea.

We left around 7:30 AM, made mandatory stop at Dunkin Donuts and drove to our daughter's in Arlington VA in near record time. 1 year old grandson just came home from day care so he and our golden retrievers are enjoying each other.

Hopefully we can go back to OV on Sunday afternoon or Monday morning and find no damage.

Bill Uffelman
Ocean View DE for the summer
 
Whew...boarding up all 32 shutters is now complete and i'm cleaned up. My General Contractor stopped by to hanker and help me toss up the remaining 10 - much appreciated. Irene has been downgraded, I need to check more carefully on the MB (pressure). The outer bands (with no rain) arrived about 1.5 hrs ago. The outer bands w/ rain arrived about 45 minutes ago. It's now a steady moderate rainfall. The heavy>severe downfall looks to be about another 4-5 hours out. It looks to appear landfall here @ Beaufort Inlet will be ~5am.

To Al:
M&M's staying open. I love that place. Just awesome great people and good food. Stay safe up there across the river.

To Bob:
Good advice. I was (and will continue to think of leaving), while tracking the MB and wind speeds. Right now, it's been downgraded and I'm in a "guarded" state. I'll ride this out at Cat 2/Cat 1. Snug as a bug. If it's "any" consolation at all, I know this house very well. And, oddly enough, this house (built in 1931) was built by a Master Boat Builder and it has some pretty amazing structural features and some amazing wood - both exterior and interior.

V/R
Norm
P.S. It's been an interesting week for me. My current customer is DTRA (Ft.Belvoir). I was in the server room downstairs standing on a raised-panel floor when the 5.8 quake hit. It was like standing on ice and having the patch of ice move back and forth beneath you. I've been through quite a number of quakes (California, Chile, Peru, Bolivia and even Illinois [where I was raised]); so, this 5.8 wasn't anything serious, other than with my background in the sciences I began thinking - huh - I'm in Washington, D.C. - while I was in the building thinking of what it might be - since that is not a currently active area of plate movement or deep fault lines. None-the-less, an interesting week with an Earthquake and a hurricane both in the same week. OMG, the world is ending!! My next door neighbor was surfing 4-5 hours this morning...to each their own.
 
Hey Everyone:

In Sea Isle City NJ awaiting Irene- boat pulled last night @ midnight- earlier much discourtesy at the ramp-house prepared and will report impact of Storm- would appreciate details from folks South of NJ as it happens.

Thanks

Ken
 
In Solomons, MD (Patuxent River) pulled Skimmer onto her trailer and parked her on high, dry, and hopefully safe ground.

High clouds ahead of Irene gave us a sunset worthy of Arizona.

A friend in NC told me that when Jim Cantore shows upon your beach with a TWC crew , it's time to buy batteries and bottled water and kiss your a** goodbye.

Hunkered down till Monday.
 
Winds maybe ~75-80mph gusting to 100mph right now. Power out for three hours, & just came back on. RoadRunner & Time Warner T.V. cable gone. Verizon Satellite WiFi is working on laptop fine.
 
Irene still down by Norfolk but in Sea Isle City,Nj heavy rain, winds about 25miles an hour and approaching a high tide at 7:45 pm. No flooding but the beach is getting beat up- still riding it out but in NJ do not know if inland is any better then a barrier island.

Ken
 
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