To Our Brothers In The Path Of Florence

[FromMyColdDeadHand]

Eco-disaster movies have ruined natural disasters.

https://www.cnn.com/specials/live-video-3

The wind is loud, but waves are fairly underwhelming.

[Averageman]

Sheppard Smith is on now.
The winds have died to Cat II, but he is joyously reporting that "Anything could happen and it's going to be a dooms day event."
The only way Shep could smile wider is if he walked in to an 8 man tent filled with 12 shirtless Boy Scouts inside and a Twister mat and ten gallons of Wesson oil.

[Sam]

Whatever happens, it will be Trump's fault. And the price gouging will happen.

Waterdog, you stay safe and I hope our mutual friend and her family does too. I think you guys are far inland enough that you will be ok, wet maybe, but ok.

[Ryno12]

Whatever happens, it will be Trump's fault.

Yep, already happening.

https://youtu.be/BgyL1rH0TXU

[SteyrAUG]

It's gonna be a Long Friday you guys. Might have downgraded to a Cat 2, but it's crawling at only 5 mph. Anyone on the coast or 100 miles inland NC/SC better have all their duck and cover plans in place. Also a Cat 2 can knock things out for a LONG time depending upon when the last time your power lines / poles and stations were upgraded.

We took Wilma as a Cat 1 after it had crossed the entire state of FL from the Gulf side and we were without power for three weeks. This might not be a killer storm, but it could be a real PITA.

Keep in mind most people get killed AFTER the hurricane. Top two contenders are standing water that has a downed energized line in it. And if you are flooded that line could be three houses away in a neighbors back yard. The other one is falling debris when people try to clear broken trees or damaged areas of their home and something big and heavy falls on them.

If you just went through a 12-24 hour serious storm event, you are going to be tired and fatigued. So keep that in mind when you inspect your property for damage, do only what is absolutely necessary immediately. If you are on your third day with little or no sleep keep that in mind before you start running chainsaws, swinging machetes, pulling down broken branches or climbing ladders. Try not to do too much by yourself and keep in mind it might be days before ambulances can actually get to you if you get hurt.

If you can leave it in your yard for a week, do it. Down branches make good firewood anyway and smoke deters mosquitoes at night. When we were without power we ran a basic fire pit every night to get rid of collected wood debris and to also create a light to keep an eye on things. Try not to burn down your house when doing so. On the upside front yard fire pits meant all the kids on the street making smores which helped them deal with the after effects of the storm. Something as simple as grilling a couple dozen hotdogs goes a long way for everyone's mental well being.

Good luck guys.

[GH41]

It's gonna be a Long Friday you guys. Might have downgraded to a Cat 2, but it's crawling at only 5 mph. Anyone on the coast or 100 miles inland NC/SC better have all their duck and cover plans in place. Also a Cat 2 can knock things out for a LONG time depending upon when the last time your power lines / poles and stations were upgraded.

We took Wilma as a Cat 1 after it had crossed the entire state of FL from the Gulf side and we were without power for three weeks. This might not be a killer storm, but it could be a real PITA.

Keep in mind most people get killed AFTER the hurricane. Top two contenders are standing water that has a downed energized line in it. And if you are flooded that line could be three houses away in a neighbors back yard. The other one is falling debris when people try to clear broken trees or damaged areas of their home and something big and heavy falls on them.

If you just went through a 12-24 hour serious storm event, you are going to be tired and fatigued. So keep that in mind when you inspect your property for damage, do only what is absolutely necessary immediately. If you are on your third day with little or no sleep keep that in mind before you start running chainsaws, swinging machetes, pulling down broken branches or climbing ladders. Try not to do too much by yourself and keep in mind it might be days before ambulances can actually get to you if you get hurt.

If you can leave it in your yard for a week, do it. Down branches make good firewood anyway and smoke deters mosquitoes at night. When we were without power we ran a basic fire pit every night to get rid of collected wood debris and to also create a light to keep an eye on things. Try not to burn down your house when doing so. On the upside front yard fire pits meant all the kids on the street making smores which helped them deal with the after effects of the storm. Something as simple as grilling a couple dozen hotdogs goes a long way for everyone's mental well being.

Good luck guys.

I'll add a couple of things.. I wouldn't even think about firing up the chainsaw before knowing the road to the hospital was clear. Watch where you put your feet. Our local hospital almost ran out of antivenom twice and that was before they let the general population back on the island.

[The_War_Wagon]

Whatever happens, it will be Trump's fault.

Well since Trump 'OBVIOUSLY' caused it... ... I want to be the FIRST to THANK HIM, for knocking it down from a Category 4, to a Category 1!!!

You don't see OBAMA out there, doing anything to mitigate it - DO you?!

[AndyLate]

My son is in Okinawa, so my daughter in law drove from Camp Lejune to stay with us. She said it took 7 hours to get out of NC Wednesday night, then last night we drove down to Atlanta to meet them so my wife could drive her and our 3 month old grandaughter the last 200 miles to our house.

They stay in military housing, I hope they don't lose anything or too much at least.

Andy

[chuckman]

I am in Durham, dead center of the state. 3 1/2", 4" of rain from 0900 Friday until 0900 yesterday, followed by almost 12" of rain from 0900 until 0900 this morning, with significant flooding. I have family in Onslow, Carteret, Wayne counties, all took a beating, but all good.

[Watrdawg]

Here in Fayetteville. I never lost power, got lucky. Most of my friends here did. I would say we got at least 20" of rain. The Cape Fear river runs right through the outskirts of town and hasn't crested yet. Supposed to tomorrow sometime. Already a ton of flooding here and around us. Yesterday I had to get my son back to Charleston for school and we took quite a few back roads to get him below the flooding on I95. I left him at Florence SC and it was smooth sailing from there down for him. I have a friend in New Bern NC and they were torn up pretty bad. He was lucky and has 3 3" water pumps. He was able to keep any water from coming up into his house. He is a retriever trainer and drained his training ponds before hand. Regardless his area flooded and even with all of that being done he barely kept the water from getting into his house and the kennels. We will see what happens once all of these rivers around us crest tomorrow.