Hurricane Irma: Bug out or bug in?

[Thor]

If in IN...bug in...if in FL...bug out to IN. If you are not required to stay you should be leaving. Hubris can look a lot like Darwinism in the aftermath.

 

[MrsGungho]

Just saw a FB post from my nephew, he's heading north to Indy. left about a half hour ago.

Kill 2 birds with one stone, visit family and don't take chances in the storm.

 

[eldirector]

Talked to my sister last night. They were all battened down. Looks like Irma will skirt just a little north of St. Croix. Puerto Rico is going to get hit pretty hard, though. Been watching the live feed from the harbor. The storm surge has started (not expecting more than a few feet) and it is pretty windy. Nothing crazy just yet. She isn't too worried about flooding (they are uphill from the harbor), but the main road is right on the beach. They may get stuck at home anyway.

This storm is one of the most powerful ever recorded. 185+ MPH sustained. Category 5 starts at 157 MPH. Only 7 storms have ever been recorded with wind speeds over 180. Heard this morning that some weather stations are now off-line, as the storm actually damaged the equipment. Yikes.

 

[KittySlayer]

I watched Mathew get blown out of proportion last year, they said everyone would die blah blah blah.

I have to wonder what responsibility the forecasters feel for blowing so many of these events out of proportion with their forecast. It is as if they are trying to direct an action movie rather than use data to forecast the weather. So after dire prediction after dire prediction that turn out to be nothing more than rainstorms the Big One finally hits. Too few people evacuate because they got conditioned to seeing the weathermen as the Boy Who Cried Wolf. Do your job and give up on your acting career.

Hope the crowds are very low and they get to enjoy the parks.

My son will be working so wave to him. He and the daughter in law are Bugging In in Orlando. Young, invincible and just starting careers. Have had some interesting calls as he suddenly is looking to me for prepping advice. The son and my wife often just roll their eyes at the buckets of supplies and other preps I have on hand. Well at least until the power goes out and my wife still has a fan for the bedroom at night and hot coffee in the morning.

 

[4651feeder]

I have to wonder what responsibility the forecasters feel for blowing so many of these events out of proportion with their forecast. It is as if they are trying to direct an action movie rather than use data to forecast the weather. So after dire prediction after dire prediction that turn out to be nothing more than rainstorms the Big One finally hits. Too few people evacuate because they got conditioned to seeing the weathermen as the Boy Who Cried Wolf. Do your job and give up on your acting career....

We as a society have created that scenario with mindset that every misfortune, injury, & death coulda woulda shoulda been prevented. I can see it now if the local meterologist and TWC only reported the statistical facts of impending storms without embellishment of potential danger and then a storm with full potential did strike...can you imagine the uproar we'd see because the persons we've entrusted for this information failed to convey the potential severity?

 

[SMiller]

Another day of total panic here in Florida, being a .gov emergency services employee I am happy to hear the government has off Friday, I need another paid holiday as my 4 days off last week wasn't enough, work 2 days this week, get another 4 days off.

Looks like the hurricane is headed east, probably be another all talk no storm.

 

[ArcadiaGP]

Better change the name of the Virgin Islands.

They're about to get ****ed.

 

[Tactically Fat]

If they stay, is there anything they can actually do for the elders? There's saving someone, and there's being an extra casualty. It is a poo decision to make, but that's the real question at the end of the day.

That's been running through my head, too.

As in lifeguarding: Don't let them drown you, too.

Another day of total panic here in Florida, being a .gov emergency services employee I am happy to hear the government has off Friday, I need another paid holiday as my 4 days off last week wasn't enough, work 2 days this week, get another 4 days off.

Looks like the hurricane is headed east, probably be another all talk no storm.

I HOPE it doesn't hit FL. Or anywhere, for that matter .

 

[olhorseman]

My 96 yo mother and siblings in their late 70s live in Bradenton and as of now the worst of Irma should miss them. My SIL and BIL live north of Orlando and are trying to get north now, but traffic is at a stand still. Harvey has caused a gas shortage in the southeast which is goimg to cause a lot of people to run out of gas and be stranded when Irma hits.
We are 30 miles from the coast in southeast North Carolina and are staying put. We have generators ready and enough gas in cans for 7 days and can always siphon off more from equipment and vehicles.
Worst case scenario for us is a lot of rain from Irma and followed up with more rain from Jose. That would no doubt flood us out.

 

[eldirector]

St. Croix appears to have been spared. My sister still has cell service (and Facebook, of course), but they killed the power to the island when the storm really started. She said the wind was pretty crazy. Super loud. But, no real damage to the house. She'll get out and about some tomorrow. Still raining and windy, and will be for a few hours yet.

By all reports, St. Martin and islands to the north are an absolute mess. That's only about 20 miles. WAY too close.

I read that the storm was detected by seismometers.

 

[IndyTom]

I saw a lady on a bicycle ride by on the camera followed by some nasty wind-blown spray shortly thereafter.

Glad to hear they're okay.

 

[Trigger Time]

Another day of total panic here in Florida, being a .gov emergency services employee I am happy to hear the government has off Friday, I need another paid holiday as my 4 days off last week wasn't enough, work 2 days this week, get another 4 days off.

Looks like the hurricane is headed east, probably be another all talk no storm.

I thought you worked.with cattle? Anyways be safe

 

[bobzilla]

hurricane? Out. Always out. Family's safety trumps property every time. Then again, I wouldn't live on a coast because of this. I like the relative "safety" of the midwest.

 

[littletommy]

We were in Ponce Inlet Florida weekend before last, I love the area, I love the whole vibe of the area, been there many times. We were driving through a really nice little neighborhood, looking at the homes built just feet from the water, and actually had the conversation about how awesome it would be to live so close to a beach/marina BUT......we could just never invest in property that will eventually be in the path of a hurricane. It really sucks, I could see myself absolutely loving to live there, but there are enough risks NOT living in the hurricane zone.

 

[GIJEW]

I can't imagine not bugging out--early to avoid getting hit while in gridlock--if you live on the coast. To me it seems a little like staying in the path of a wildfire.

185mph winds qualify for tornado speed, I think, and this isn't a single cloud but a weather system that looks big in satellite photos. Along with the wind you get a storm surge of 10-15 feet depending on your location? That sounds like a small--but sustained--tsunami

Ok, maybe I could stand in for a hyperbolic "news" caster...but I'm serious

God help the people who get hit with this storm!

 

[patience0830]

I have a second cousin 25' above sea level in Boca Raton who is bugging in with an adult son and her significant other. Everything that can be blown away is put up or in the pool. I'm hoping they get a glancing blow, not have they eye go north along the east coast. They have a basement and all the windows boarded up.

 

[dwh79]

No hotel rooms in the south. I am prepping for infrastructure repair and looking for hotels to stage people at nearby so we can respond to do repairs and south of Florence, sc all the way to mid Alabama is sold out mostly. Hopefully I can cancel the rooms because the storm isn't that bad.

 

[K_W]

My friend is reconsidering staying, but now can't get out in time. My great aunt made it to Alabama.

 

[MrsGungho]

Nephew pulled into Indy around 7am this morning. Took him about 23 hours with a couple stops for power naps. Just glad he's home and safe.

 

[Tactically Fat]

Also have a college friend (And his family) in the Orlando area. They're planning on staying put. I don't know their address or I'd look up their place on the FEMA flood map. One of the little itty bitty islands down there was, apparently, wiped about 90% clean of all structures. ~1500 people or so population and, last I heard last night, no one knows what has become of them. Feared that many have perished. Navy people: I presume a goodly portion of the Atlantic Fleet will be dispatched as soon as it's safe in order to assist?