Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
A good point was brought up by a local on regards to staying on NPR/PRE today. Back in the day you did but have any choice but to stay because by the time you knew about the storm it was too late leave. Because of this most nastiness or long time residents have a set of skills and experience for weathering the storm. It's funny to see how composed my parents and father-in-law, who live in Craven and Carteret in Eastern Craven and Carteret counties are compared to people who live in the Triangle where I currently reside.
I am by no means a hurricane survivalist expert but I'll share a few things I've learned from 23 years of experience living on the coast.
1) Know your comfort level. Mine is a Cat 3 storm. Cat 4 and I'm out of town.
2) If you have a small boat, canoe, jon boat or skiff that might move around in a high wind while parked on its trailer put the boat plugs in and fill it with 8-10 inches of water. That will add several hundred pounds of weight that will keep it still and when the storm is over and you're ready to take the weight out you just pull the plugs and drain it.
3) Do laundry the day before the storm hits. Nothing worse than having no power for several days and no clean clothes.
4) Be prepared to be bored. A lot of people don't understand that the power company is going to shut the power off waaay before there's enough wind to knock down power lines. They do this to keep people from getting electrocuted but it means you'll probably be without power for more than a day even if no lines get damaged. Get yourself something to occupy your time with no power. I suggest beer.
5) You don't need to hoard bottled water. The power always goes out. The water rarely does. Most of the water on the coast is gravity fed, no electric pump needed to get it to your home.
6) Don't tape your windows. Board them if you think it's necessary but that big "X" made of tape isn't gonna stop glass from flying in your home and it's a royal pain to get off after the storm is gone unless you use a low adhesive tape which is just going to fly off in a high wind anyway.
7) The most important thing to have before a hurricane isn't batteries and bottled water, its cash and a full tank of gas. If your city or town is tore up why stay and eat beenie weenies and drink bottled water when you can drive to civilization and you can't get cash from an ATM or gas from a pump if there isn't any power.
8) Make lots of ice. I've been emptying my automatic ice maker every evening for the last four days so I have gobs of ice in the freezer and I've got my cooler sitting in the kitchen ready to go. I don't drink bottled water but I do drink milk and orange juice and I'll use the ice to keep those cold.
I am by no means a hurricane survivalist expert but I'll share a few things I've learned from 23 years of experience living on the coast.
1) Know your comfort level. Mine is a Cat 3 storm. Cat 4 and I'm out of town.
2) If you have a small boat, canoe, jon boat or skiff that might move around in a high wind while parked on its trailer put the boat plugs in and fill it with 8-10 inches of water. That will add several hundred pounds of weight that will keep it still and when the storm is over and you're ready to take the weight out you just pull the plugs and drain it.
3) Do laundry the day before the storm hits. Nothing worse than having no power for several days and no clean clothes.
4) Be prepared to be bored. A lot of people don't understand that the power company is going to shut the power off waaay before there's enough wind to knock down power lines. They do this to keep people from getting electrocuted but it means you'll probably be without power for more than a day even if no lines get damaged. Get yourself something to occupy your time with no power. I suggest beer.
5) You don't need to hoard bottled water. The power always goes out. The water rarely does. Most of the water on the coast is gravity fed, no electric pump needed to get it to your home.
6) Don't tape your windows. Board them if you think it's necessary but that big "X" made of tape isn't gonna stop glass from flying in your home and it's a royal pain to get off after the storm is gone unless you use a low adhesive tape which is just going to fly off in a high wind anyway.
7) The most important thing to have before a hurricane isn't batteries and bottled water, its cash and a full tank of gas. If your city or town is tore up why stay and eat beenie weenies and drink bottled water when you can drive to civilization and you can't get cash from an ATM or gas from a pump if there isn't any power.
8) Make lots of ice. I've been emptying my automatic ice maker every evening for the last four days so I have gobs of ice in the freezer and I've got my cooler sitting in the kitchen ready to go. I don't drink bottled water but I do drink milk and orange juice and I'll use the ice to keep those cold.
Good advice - I would add the following - since even though their cars are filled, and they have cash, people don't want to leave their homes and want to stay and clean up....
Be sure your cell phone is charged and have a car charger for it.
If you're a coffee drinker, make a pot of coffee and put it in a thermos or somewhere you can reheat it on a grill!
If you are on a well, it may be necessary to have plenty of water "hoarded" to drink and flush commodes!
Good luck to all in the path of the storm...may she be gentle with our coast of NC and points beyond!
I actually did leave, but only because my power went out for a while at 8:30 a.m. this morning, and it got hot in there fast, and I decided that sucked and I didn't want to deal with it for the whole weekend. It was an evacuation over air conditioning. I'd decided to stay until that happened. Hope all are and stay safe!
Unless someone knocks on the door and says get out, I'm staying. This is my first hurricane. It's weird seeing Harris Teeter and Bank Of America boarded up. My job was closed today and tomorrow. That's extremely unusual. We're open everyday. I am a bit nervous though.
I actually did leave, but only because my power went out for a while at 8:30 a.m. this morning, and it got hot in there fast, and I decided that sucked and I didn't want to deal with it for the whole weekend. It was an evacuation over air conditioning. I'd decided to stay until that happened. Hope all are and stay safe!
Smart move. I'm already getting texts from friends that have lost power. Gonna be a long weekend with no AC.
Smart move. I'm already getting texts from friends that have lost power. Gonna be a long weekend with no AC.
How are the conditions now? I think I would have been freaking out a bit had I stayed...am hoping the next door neighbor took in his lawn gargoyles. Hope you get through it ok.
How are the conditions now? I think I would have been freaking out a bit had I stayed...am hoping the next door neighbor took in his lawn gargoyles. Hope you get through it ok.
power out, road flooding, and road blockages.
currently its about 11:30pm and we've had gusts up to 50 and 60mph, but sustained windspeed has fluctuated between 15 and 30mph.
currently reading 3.73 inches of rain.
Please register to post and access all features of our very popular forum. It is free and quick. Over $68,000 in prizes has already been given out to active posters on our forum. Additional giveaways are planned.
Detailed information about all U.S. cities, counties, and zip codes on our site: City-data.com.
Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
