Stream of Consciousness/General Conversation Thread

[Seanpcola]

I'm completely ready to go for hurricane season here at the house. I have to be because if one does come I don't have time to do much other than prep at work. I always get stuck till the last second securing and bolting down everything.

Also, after that disaster in '04 with Ivan I have absolutely no intention of scrounging for fuel, water, food or medical supplies. I intend to stay home and drink beer.

 

[Viking1204]

I always wait until they forecast the first storm to come in our direction 5 days out and then I go fill up the 3 five gallon gas cans I have and fill up the boat. Boats are great place to store gas when you think about it. Mine holds 60 gallons and I have a safe place to store it in the event of a storm. If it actually hits than I have 60 gallons in reserve for when I empty my first 15 gallons running the generator. So far I've never run through the 15 gallons where I currently live, we have underground power and live not too far from a power substation and it was back in 24 hours after Dennis had submerged the underground power transformer that sits in my yard, pretty amazing!

 

[BamaFan]

Come on offshore what better job to wake up with an ocean view while getting paid. It does suck most of the time lol

 

[Snow Bird]

I just make sure the Motor Home is full of gas. (75 gal) That way I can leave 3 or 4 days before the storm gets here or just stick it out, 40 or 45 gal of fresh water in the tank. I always have about 3 weeks of food on hand anyway. So much food because I still remember getting snowed in for a week at a time. Old habits die hard.

 

[Viking1204]

3 or 4 days out they don't have a really firm grip on where a storm will land. I know my work only gives a couple of days off ahead of time to bug out, really depends on when the Air Force evacuates the base. In most cases I'll stay in town at a friends house on high ground.

 

[Crazydoc68]

Yeah, my plan is shelter in place until it's called to leave. Always have extra fuel and food/water on hand. Cars are always kept above half a tank and we can run out to top off if the need arises.

Bring on a good storm!

Doc

 

[MAXman]

Don't say that. They're miserable. They're hot and people loose they're minds and stand each other in lowes parking lots over plywood.

Then people drive around looking at damage and the gas stations ration fuel and the poor slobs who have to drive to work(guys like me) get shafted with hour long waits and pumps wih yellow bags.

Plus, god bless em, but the national gaurd starts handing out mre's(and the same people that cry about welfare babies suddenly have to pick up food for "7" family's to stock up for hunting season) and again the lines, again the waiting....

They beat the hell out of mud slides, blizzards and forest fires but storms are not fun.

 

[fl57caveman]

Yeah, my plan is shelter in place until it's called to leave. Always have extra fuel and food/water on hand. Cars are always kept above half a tank and we can run out to top off if the need arises.

Bring on a good storm!

Doc

no thanks doc...if i never go thru another hurricane again, i will be more than happy...

 

[Famine]

I have always evacuated with the exception of Erin - even with that weak sister we lost power where I lived in Gulf Breeze for two weeks. When Ivan dumped 5' of salt water in my house I said 'no mas' and sold out to move north off Kingsfield. Previous owners sheltered in place with Ivan (sure be the mess I ran into heading north on 29 with Opal) and only lost a single tab on the roof. I added a whole house generator (natural gas) to avoid having to find fuel and still only be able to supply power for lights, fans, fridge and freezer. I found sleeping without A/C in the summer to be damn near impossible. Have a good supply of bottle water and food on hand, fill bathtubs with water to flush with if needed and unless we get hit with a Cat IV or V (Dennis put my old GBs neighbors roof in my old backyard from a tornado) I am staying.

 

[Viking1204]

What MAXman said, screw the hurricanes. I don't mind a good tropical storm that gives us a breezy stormy day with minima power outages but screw hurricanes that knock power out for days during the peak of summer heat.

 

[Stagman]

Born and raised in Baldwin County since 1980 and I have never evacuated, we always shelter in place. If you evacuate it might be a while before the roads get cleared enough to get back home.

 

[Seanpcola]

Been living here for all my 57 years. Evacuated twice. First was Opal in '95. Made it to Macon, GA just in time for a storm to hit there that was worse. Got settled in a motel room just as the power went out for 15 hours. Called my next door neighbor who stayed home. Everything was peachy back here.

Tried to refuse to evacuate before Ivan hit. Wife demanded it so off we go. Came back to 6' of seawater in my house.

Moved to Beulah. You can find my house, just look for the highest elevation in the area. And it's two story. I also might put a hatch on the roof with an escape pod.

 

[Viking1204]

In 1995 when Opal was sitting offshore at 155 mph the military ordered us to evacuate so we did. Opal did a number on Fort Walton Beach and Destin but my house was unscathed. Of course it was North of 98 and sat 20' above sea level. Power was out for several days and that sucked.

When Ivan hit we lived South of 98 in a house that sat 17' above sea level. No water damage from Ivan but we did get a new roof out of it. Other than the roof no other damage. Again several days without power sucked.

Next we moved to another house South of 98 closer to the water and the lot is 5' above sea level but the house is elevated and certified at 10' above sea level. This is where we live now and is a house we had put a down payment on and signed to have custom built a month before Ivan hit. After Ivan we contemplated not going through with the build but we would have lost a lot of money so we moved forward with it. The house was finished and we moved into it in May of 2005. 2 months later Dennis hit and put 2' of sea water in my garage. Garage has cement walls 5' high and we had moved all our moving boxes into the house and relocated our cars to higher ground so no damage really other than a couple of shingles.

Now I'm 10 years older and ready to move to higher ground again. I know it's only a matter of time before a storm strong enough to flood that house will hit and I don't want to be there when that happens. I don't think I could live with my wife if a hurricane destroyed our custom built home and things we have collected over 25 years of living together. She would blame me since I'm the one that wanted to move closer to the water 10 years ago. My plan is to move to a newer home more inland on higher ground so that in future I don't have to worry about the rising water. With Global Warming it's only a matter of time before a storm bigger than Katrina hits us and when that happens I pray I'm living on higher ground!

 

[Seanpcola]

I agree about the crazy coming out Maxman. I saw fights break out at Lowes over the last 2x4, people tense as hell, thugs thinking the LEO'S are occupied elsewhere so they have free reign. Even saw a woman stabbed to death at the Hardee's on Navy Blvd a few days after Ivan.

I've got a generator and also a couple of spare window AC units. I can deal with the heat all day but when it's time to sleep I do what it takes to make my bedroom frosty.

As for water I have a 4" commercial well on my property with an electric pump and a backup manual permanently installed. The water coming out of it tests better than the ECUA crap out of the faucets. I can hand pump if the power goes off or tie the generator in to the motor driven one. If we do get another infrastructure breakdown and anyone on here gets desperate for water just let me know. I am hooked up on augua.

 

[JohnAL]

I know what you mean Viking. In 2004 we were living in SW Florida when Charley, Jeanne, and Frances came through. We were in a house on a slab, certified at 7' elevation, across the street from Tampa Bay. All we lost out of all of it were a few shingle tabs and no water damage but I think that year took ten years off of my life. I am quite happy now with our 175' elevation and 38 air miles inland and no ghetto crowd to worry about. I can launch my boat in the Gulf or be at the beach in less than an hour so that suits me.

 

[MAXman]

I won't drink tap water. My wife refused since forever, and went so far as to feed the dog bottles spring water. I once said forget that and have him a bowl of tap water instead.

16lbs of dog produced 10 gallons of Diareah and vomit in 24 hours. And he drinks out of mud puddles.

 

[Seanpcola]

My first wife refused to let any of us drink water from the faucet at our first house, including the dogs. We bought that house in 1979 and she still lives there. At this point she, I and our kids have been very healthy but we have had a lot of neighbors on that street get cancer and even the pets seem to die prematurely.

 

[Seanpcola]

I do have a good Ivan story.

We lived on Bayou Grande when it hit. The water side of the house had a full length sunroom with all sliding glass doors the full length and one side. When the surge hit it blew out all the glass and sucker the house almost empty, just like flushing a toilet.

When we arrived back after the water receded we walked into the sunroom and the floor was completely carpeted in porn mags and VCR tapes. Wife thought they were mine. I countered that there was no way in hell I could have hidden such a vast quantity of skin mags. I don't mean Playboy, I mean the kind that comes in plastic sleeves that you can't see through. I dug through them and found one unopened with the mailing address. They belonged to my next door neighbor. He was 94 YO in 2004. Wife said "Thats disgusting!". I replied " He is THE MAN! Hope I still want to at least look if I reach his age".

I went over to check on him. He rode the storm out on top of his refrigerator! First thing he said to me was "Damnedest storm I've ever seen! That thing took 10 years off my life................".

Talk about one tough hard core old bird. His nickname was the Colonel because he was one, retired. Every day I lived next to him I would get up in the morning, grab coffee and watch him and his dogs jump off the dock and go swimming, no matter how cold it was.

 

[Famine]

I had neighbor that rode it out as well. His wife and kids were smarter - they evacuated. About the time water started flooding the first floor he called GB for police - they said sorry - ride it out.

Had an employee that lived near the Blackwater River, just north of I10 on the east side of the river. He figured he was safe due to the distance to the pass....lost power, then the water started rising in his house - got on the island in the kitchen and opened a hole in the ceiling, passed his wife and cats to the attic and climbed in - knowing that if water rose that high he had no way to punch a hole thru the roof and would be trapped. He never really fully recovered mentally from that experience.

Good did come of it - neighbors going out of their way to help fellow neighbors and watching each others property for looters.

 

[Viking1204]

That is a great Story Sean! Off course stories like yours only add to my desire to move to higher ground. Having Dennis put 2 feet of water in my garage only 3 feet short of getting into my house really got me to thinking. Then I saw what Katrina did and ever since then I've been planning to sell my house. The only problem is the housing crash happened shortly after I built my house and houses all around me went into foreclosure. Now finally it looks like all the foreclosures are gone and things are starting to pick up again so I'll be getting the house back on the market. The good thing is I can say my house took a direct hit from the East side of Dennis and didn't flood so anybody new to the area shouldn't be too concerned with that. Funny how the things you think are important change as you get older! 10 years ago I wanted to be closer to the water and now I want to be at least 20' above Sea Level!