Hurricane Irma Prep - Are You Ready?

[DEEPNHOCK]

My local (SE GA) TV station also has a Facebook page, and they started talking about getting ready and making plans.
My first thought was... (A) You should ALREADY have a plan. And (B) You should already be ready.

Having ridden out many storms in Florida and Georgia.... You can't get ready soon enough.
And today's problem in the SE is gasoline. Went to my three favorite no alcohol gasoline places.. All 3 have no pure gas.
Pipeline being shut down in Houston has all stations running E-10.

But... I topped off all our equipment this morning, and then went to town to re-fill the gas cans...Off road diesel, too.

Finished off a small fence building project behind the workshop.
Done for the upcoming Deep-N-Hock Open House on the 23rd, so it was really a 'clean your room' type project.
Glad to have the back tidied up, so I'll say it was hurricane prep.

Test ran both generators. Put everything on the trickle chargers...
Even filled some of the extra gallon jugs, and put them in the shop fridge...

[Chris Pile]

Let's hope Irma decides to continue her ocean cruise and heads for the north Atlantic.

[jts359]

We are watching its path , after Sandy hit us pretty hard 5 years ago I watch the storms a little more carefully , We took our boat 30 miles south this weekend and rode our bikes to a town called Holgate , They really got nailed by Sandy , anyway there is a wall of sand about 25ft high where beaches used to be , you could see the stratification of the earths crust in that wall ,it was weird , I doubled the lines on the boat today and if it gets closer I will do more preventive measures up to pulling it from the water, Ed

[JRoberts]

I finding myself wanting the hurricane in question to go in a direction that misses us....then I stop an think if that happens somebody else gets nailed. Let's all hunker down, prepare ourselves and hold on.

[shifter4]

Here on the Mid Fla. East coast , we still have some left over Matthew damage from 11 months ago. Not a huge amount , but still here .
We are also having a vigorous building binge ( mini-Bubble? )happening , so it has been difficult for many people to find a contractor to do repairs from
Hurricane Matthew .


Now we have Irma coming .
I spent much of yesterday doing prep , and all day today too . Tomorrow I'll finish what I can , and try to make decisions about what to do . I live within sight of the Intracoastal Waterway and can hear the ocean surf at night and in the AM on many days . I also have ancient overhanging Live Oaks , so a nervous time indeed . I do have about 15' of elevation , and my 80 yr old house sits up on concrete piers , so there's that....... I was 7 days last year w/o power , and expect at least that again .
Not a lot of choices about running off somewhere , if millions hit the road in a short time span , and fuel is short already .
Just got off the phone with my stepson , an FHP officer , and he is on the West coast , so we are trying to plan out for whichever way each of us may have to go , depending on which
coast the storm comes up . They have a baby , and a grandma there , but he will be on duty of course . Nervous time ...

[Swifster]

OK, I'm on the 3rd floor of an apartment building on the West Coast of Florida (Bradenton). If Irma even winks at us, I'm heading for Atlanta. Most of my Studebaker stuff is in storage in Michigan. I'm packing a duffle bag tonight, some odds and ends tomorrow that are considered unreplaceable and my cats whenever it's time to leave. Everything else is replaceable.

[JRoberts]

Some parts of North Carolina still have damage from Matthew to contend with as well.

[64studeavanti]

Tom,
I live just North of you in Sundance (5 miles north of Parish) on 301. We plan on getting this house secure due to possible flooding and heading to another house we own in Valrico where we weathered the hurricanes in 2004, 2005.

Please don't wait too long to decide to leave
The Keys are under mandatory evacuation beginning tomorrow - so I95 will be a parking lot and the surplus will spill over to I75. If you decide to go, i would leave by Thursday morning at the latest.

Good luck with whatever choice you make.

[DEEPNHOCK]

For the people that decide to travel to safer ground. Please be careful.
Not everybody is skilled at getting out of harms way.
The hurricane Harvey lesson seems to happen over and over again.
If it looks bad. Get out. Get out early.
If you are going to hunker down. Prep for no services and utilities.
Some of my worst post hurricane moments in Florida were from storms that were nowhere near my property.
But when the electrical grid goes down, and your entire local service crew is a few hundred miles away helping others.
You WILL be without power for days on end.
And if you are without power, chances are you will be without water. If you can't flush...You can't stay.

We are 60+ miles from the coast (about 40 miles from downtown Savannah).. We got scraped by the NW quadrant of Matthew.
Had some 58 mph winds that screwed up the tree's, and my neighbor's roof shingles ended up by my house (He's 1/4 mile away)..
So we were lucky. But our power was out for almost 6 days. Have two generators. One went out on a loaner circuit to the neighbors.
Our house became the laundry and shower mecca for quite a few friends.
Preparation sure does help. If you get wiped out...Well, you get wiped out.. But just being without power is such a pita.
On the positive side... It does draw your neighborhood together.

[Buzzard]

And we are still dealing with wildfire threats here in British Columbia. My US Army 10 WD Firetruck is full (3500 gallons) and right now I can't see across our valley due to thick smoke. Friends near by (40 minutes away) are evacuated and others are on alert(15 minutes notice to get out). Summer 2017 has been hell for many of us. We get occasional wind gusts of 30-50 MPH. I can't imagine what 185 is like.
Good Luck to all of you staying prepared and safe.
Bill

[DEEPNHOCK]

Hang in there....

And we are still dealing with wildfire threats here in British Columbia. My US Army 10 WD Firetruck is full (3500 gallons) and right now I can't see across our valley due to thick smoke. Friends near by (40 minutes away) are evacuated and others are on alert(15 minutes notice to get out). Summer 2017 has been hell for many of us. We get occasional wind gusts of 30-50 MPH. I can't imagine what 185 is like.
Good Luck to all of you staying prepared and safe.
Bill

[DEEPNHOCK]

Crap-ola..... Not looking good at all...

(copy)
Savannah is now in the official forecast cone for Hurricane #Irma. South Florida could take a direct hit from a Cat 4 or 5. Timing the north turn will be CRITICAL to determining impacts for Georgia and South Carolina.


Keep in mind, Irma could track all the way on the left side of that cone, all the right on the right side, or somewhere in the middle and this will greatly affect what we ultimately see or don't see from this storm.

[sweetolbob]

Best wishes and be safe to all you folks on both sides of the continent. We are luckily isolated enough to not usually see the devastating storms/fires that ravage other parts of the country. We are usually only down for a day or two when wet snow and wind bring down power lines. Last spring I invested in a 7500 watt dual fuel (gas/Propane) generator to replace the gas only one that was consuming it's alternator. That gives me the use of gas stations that remain open and the large propane tank that sets behind the polebarn.

Again best, Bob

[Commander Eddie]

Fire here in Oregon/Washington and water in the south and southeast. If we could just get them together and cancel each other out we would be fine. I am tired of breathing smoke here in the Portland area.

[345 DeSoto]

Our Cherokee has a generator, five empty 5 gallon gas cans, water, canned goods, chain saw/tools, flashlights/batteries, clothing, and guns packed and ready to head South on Friday...if necessary.