The latest “Key Messages” from the 11am advisory update from @NHC_Atlantic. Tropical Storm #Florence is expected to gather strength and become a major hurricane as it approaches the eastern seaboard of the US. Still too early to forecast direct impacts across central #NCwx. pic.twitter.com/pCJp0ofb38
— NWS Raleigh (@NWSRaleigh) September 8, 2018
Florence looks likely to be a big storm that will have a very good chance of coming ashore somewhere along the Southeast US coast in the middle of the week.
Couple of notes:
- Don’t panic
- Begin reviewing your hurricane plan
- Clean up your yard today as you need to do that anyways
- Check in with friends or family
- Use the wonderful resources at Ready.gov to go over your plan
- Check the news once today for a weather update
- Always carry a towel
Be smart, be safe.
JPL
David, It appears that you will have a long todo list today. I see that John has gone back to bed since his vacation plans might have to be changed.
Amir Khalid
Points one and seven are always good advice, and I know that from The Hitchhiker’s Guide To The Galaxy.
OzarkHillbilly
After heavy rains all night (woke me at 1am) Gordon is now taking a breather. Can’t see my rain gauge so I don’t know how much of the projected 4-6 inches we got. Should start up again pretty soon. We’re under a flood warning. Seems appropriate to remind all to not drive thru water over the roadways, especially if it is moving..
low-tech cyclist
Tropical storm Florence looks like it’s taking a dead aim on…Florence.
Florence, SC, that is.
Would that qualify as ironic?
Litlebritdifrnt
I hope everyone stays safe. DH is fretting a little about the welfare of his students and family who may be in harms way in NC. Columbus County (where he taught) always gets hammered by flooding. There was talk after the last major storm that it might not even be viable to rebuild Fair Bluff as the damage was so immense but they did it anyway. I was always one of those “better to be safe than sorry” type of people. Always had gas for the generator, charcoal for the BBQ, loads of canned food etc. Made sure cars had gas, had cash, meds and pet food in case the stores were closed. It is not like any of the prep is going to “go to waste” so to speak. Take care everyone in the crosshairs and please check in when you are able.
debbie
@OzarkHillbilly:
Same here, with flood warnings through Monday night. We’re expected to get the full monthly amount just this weekend. Can’t wait to see how many clowns get stuck trying to drive through flooded roads.
OzarkHillbilly
@debbie: Some years back a friend of mine got caught in a flash flood on a low lying road in Webster Groves (a suburb of STL). She didn’t think it was that bad. Than the water picked up her car and started carrying it downstream. Was rescued by virtue of blind luck. Still lost her car.
MomSense
I just want Florence to take out Mar a Lago, only Mar a Lago.
Le Comte de Monte Cristo, fka Edmund Dantes
To me, it looks likes it’s headed to the old white entitlement hellmouth of Hilton Head. I’m assuming that FEMA response to squealing old Trumpers will be at least marginally competent, and that the benefits will marginally extend to the impoverished black residents on the island.
Sister Rail Gun of Warm Humanitarianism
There’s a reason I don’t defrost my freezer until after hurricane season, no matter how badly it needs it. There’s also a reason I maintain a gym membership that I rarely use; the gym I actually do train at doesn’t have showers.
This is probably my last hurricane season without a generator.
Fran was the first hurricane for most of my neighbors, and they found it traumatic. Panic is in the air here. Me, I’m wondering if we’ll get new t-shirt designs or if they’ll just reprint the old “50-Foot Woman towering over I-440” design.
Also, I think I’ll get a couple of extra Thundershirts.
cynthia ackerman
@JPL:
So, add mustard to the list?
debbie
@OzarkHillbilly:
Yikes, that would be terrifying!
@Le Comte de Monte Cristo, fka Edmund Dantes:
If that’s where the storm hits, it needs to be renamed Hurricane Kamala!
SiubhanDuinne
That’s funny.
rikyrah
Everyone stay safe ?? ?
cmorenc
We have a house at Sunset Beach, NC (right on the state line with SC, and more particulary dead-center on the current forecast wind probabilities track). Depending on the forecast track as of Monday afternoon, I may have to make a quifk trip down there to mount the hurricane shutters over the windows, since we are going out of town to Colorado for 10 days Thursday to visit older daughter & grandson. Sunset Beach is where the right-front eyewall of cat-4 Hurricane Hazel made landfall in 1954, with 18-foot storm surge atop coinciding with high tide – but the island was uninhabited back then (but the nearby fishing village of Calabash was, which was where the surge height was measured). I will not be able to enjoy watching Florence strike the coast from Colorado unless I have the house prepped with shutters – one of the major catastrphic damage vectors (other than water) is if a window gets breached by wind/debris, because the gusty winds will literally huff and puff a house into coming apart by the frame-stretching induced by rapid fluctuations in pressure.
Ramalama
@Sister Rail Gun of Warm Humanitarianism: The burning question I have for you now is — do you carry both gym membership cards with you at all times?
Yarrow
Based on plenty of personal experience with hurricanes, I’d actually recommend checking your hurricane supplies first and getting to the stores this weekend while there is still food on the shelves, batteries to be found, and the lines are crazy. Make sure all vehicles have full tanks and fill your extra gas cans as well. Unless you have major yard clean up to do, like taking down a tree or something, you can bring in porch furniture and bird feeders closer to the time.
Also, this week is a good week to start eating down food in your freezer. If you are far enough inland that you’re not going to evacuate you can still lose power for a good bit of time and you’ll lose all that food in the freezer. For the first few days you and your neighbors will bbq everything in all the freezers but you won’t be able eat it everything in your freezers and you’ll still lose food. If you start eating it now you’ll waste less of it.
Cermet
For those with gasoline powered generators, if you use one after the storm when power is out: remember, the fumes are deadly and such devices, when used, must not exhaust within any place such that enables the fumes to enter the living place – so connected garages are a big no; as are living spaces – yes, hard to believe, but every so often, someone uses these devices within their homes with deadly results.
Also, the main house breaker must be off – linemen could be killed if you energize the house to pole power lines and they try to fix them not realizing there hot.
Potable water is one item you can’t have enough – so filling a clean 5 gal container is a good idea; they sell specific containers for that purpose. Getting ice before needing it (if you are fairly certain you are in the path) and storing in the cooler is a good idea.
Always be sure you and loved ones have enough meds filled to handle the storm and a week or so after until power is fixed/roads cleared.
chopper
one worry is, a lot of the area in the crosshairs has had some serious rainfall this summer. the ground is pretty saturated already.
Yarrow
@chopper: If that’s the case then flooding may be a bigger issue. Be prepared to evacuate. Flood waters can come up so quickly and you may not have a lot of time. Get the valuables ready to go. Know how you’ll leave and any road that even sometimes floods will not be an option. Make sure all cellphones are charged and you have battery backup chargers.
Roger Moore
Stay alert. Trust no one. Keep your laser handy.
Anotherlurker
As a Superstorm Sandy “survivor”, I also recommend that you go over your flood insurance policy with a fine tooth comb. Make note of what they cover and what they don’t. Check your deductibles.
If your property sustains any severe damage, please, please, please retain the services of an independent adjuster! There are big problems with company adjusters unsing fraudulent adjusting software. It is insurance company policy to lowball, lowball, lowball and then deny any and all claims.
Remember, FEMA is NOT your friend. They are good at handing out water and sammiches, after the storm, but beyond that, they work for the insurance companies. Your damages to your life are of little concern to them.
Assume everything they tell you is a lie. Double, triple, quadruple check everything they tell you.
For further information google: “Fraudulent engineering practices Superstorm Sandy” or some such combination of words.
Also, if you and your community sustain severe damage, I mean Sandy or Maria levels of damage, be aware of emotional damage in the form of PTSD. I ignored the signs until it was too late. As a result, my recovery was disastrous and my life was destroyed for the next 5 years 10 months.
Cermet
@Anotherlurker: All excellent and timely pieces of advice; sorry for what happen to you.
kindness
The Hitchhiker’s Guide reference is a bonus! Nice.
Gin & Tonic
@Cermet:
We always fill the upstairs bathtub before a big storm.
Yutsano
A friend of mine just moved from Seattle to Savannah. I’m both teasing him and checking up on him.
raven
@Yutsano: Tybee will take care of him! I-16 can be configured so all traffic goes West in an emergency.
dopey-o
@Cermet: @Cermet: Clean and fill your bath tub(s) with water.even if you dont need 100 gallons to cook / drink, water to flush toilets or sponge-bathe will only bolster your sanity.
Yutsano
@raven: His apartment is actually in between Tybee and the city. It’s tempting to come visit him (there will be a heads up if/when I do so) just for that. But he’s a young dumb Marine, so he’ll probably be fine.
Sister Rail Gun of Warm Humanitarianism
@Cermet: If your freezer isn’t full, pack it full of ice bags and/or water jugs. Leaving room in the jugs for the expansion, of course. It’ll give you a few extra hours for the freezer and extra potable water if the power failure outlasts the ice.
If you still have perishables in the refrigerator the day before landfall, move water jugs from the freezer to the fridge and put more in the freezer.
B.B.A.
@Anotherlurker: My Sandy experience was being evacuated from my apartment well outside the flood zone because a construction crane on a nearby building broke and the fire department deemed it unsafe for anyone to stay in the area.
raven
@Yutsano: Thunderbolt! It’s a great place to visit. Tybee isn’t all that spectacular of a beach, you want to avoid it all together on weekends but there is a lot to see and do.
Sab
I love this blog. Pre-storm everyone tells you be prepared. Nobody much tells you how. This blogs front pagers do, and if they dont the comments will.
SWMBO
For those with pets. Make sure your water supply includes them. A small sandbox filled with kitty litter if they aren’t going outside during the storm. Garbage bags to line the toilet if you run low on water. The old trick of freezing a small cup of water and putting a quarter on top of the ice. If it’s frozen at the bottom after, your freezer has thawed and refrozen. Nothing in there after is edible.
Sayne
Beer. Make sure you have beer.
tybee
@Yutsano: i’m out on the islands east of savannah but, currently, wilmington NC looks like ground zero.
but i will be stocking up on water and non-ethanol petrol on the morrow.
tybee
@raven: it’s little tybee that has the beaches you want to see.
canoe, kayak, whatever, but go to little tybee.
tybee
@Yutsano: “His apartment is actually in between Tybee and the city. ”
he can’t be too far away from me. :)