Hurricane Log

Friday, 8 AM

Woke up, checked latest tracking.

Oh Shit.

Hurricane Log

Friday, 13th, noon

The weather is generally beautiful and pleasant. We tried to make an early morning run to Home Depot to see if we could pick up some more plastic sheeting. Surprisingly, plywood and sheeting supplies were readily available, but the lines were wrapping around the store and we decided to make do with what we had.


Meanwhile, I opened a gallery for Charley.


The apartment is pretty well secured, with most important documents and belongings in plastic, the tub filled with water, cooler with ice, and pretty much all rechargeable gizmos and gadgets have been charged.


Everything seems normal on the surface, there is practically no wind, but as Vince pointed out, there are no birds. It's eerily silent.

Hurricane Log

Friday, 13th, 13:25

It's still nice and calm, but the rains have started. Meanwhile, Charley has turned into a Category 4 and has turned further east. So, right now, it looks like we in fact are not going to take a direct hit. This is good, because as long as we aren't within the 30 or so miles that have the insane winds we should be fine. I'm not worried about flooding where I live, but I wasn't at all comfortable with the building taking on 130 mile/hour winds. Now it seems we only have to deal with the rains and tropical storm strength winds, which we've tackled before.

Hurricane Log

Friday, 13th, 15:15

Charlye is well a Category 4, and Steve Jerve is reporting that according to their radar it's borderlining a Category 5. It made a quick turn east, and everyone let out a sigh of relief. Now it wobbled back north, so who knows.


If there ever again is a hurricane, weak or otherwise, heading for this area, I'm going to pack everything up nice and tight and either get the heck out of dodge, or hide in the University's SVC building. I'm relatively confident that the apartment can handle a Category 1 or 2, but a direct hit of a 5 is going to level the thing, and the way this is changing every five minutes there's no way that anyone can react in time. The chances that the actual intense winds hit are very slight, but it's better to be safe than sorry.

Hurricane Log

Friday, 13th, 20:50

Well, the hurricane didn't hit Tampa. Watching the footage from Punta Gorda, I can only thank higher powers for it. There's a very real chance the building I live in would not have survived, considering that Charley pummeled houses with block construction! People are griping that they were told to evacuate needlessly--It's hard for me to grasp this stupidity. If the storm had hit Tampa, this would be a total disaster area, and the loss of life would have likely been dramatic. When winds get to the level that fire stations are torn apart, EOC roofs are ripped off, and walls of buildings cave in there really is no point of trying to ride it out in your home. Not only that, this from a storm that was supposed to be a category 1 or 2 according to last nights estimates!


Next time, regardless of what zone I'm in, leaving the state is a definite option. I got to see what a hurricane does from a safe distance, and it was definitely sobering.


Hurricane supplies are also important, regardless. Certainly, it's possible to go and get vaious things once the first warning signs appear. However, there are so many things to get and take care of that there's no way to find enough time for it. So here's a partial list of stuff that anyone living in Florida needs to have. Not need to get, but needs to have in a closet, because by the time the need is apparent it may be too late.

• Plastic sheeting, preferrably 4 mil or better
  
• Duct Tape. Just with plastic sheeting, consider the maximum you think you'd need, then double it.
  
• Water-proof containers for valuables and important papers
  
• Batteries for anything that uses them
  
• Plenty of drinking water, or plenty of empty jugs to fill
  
• Radio
  
• Flash lights
  
• Food that can be prepared without power and water, or eaten raw to last for days
  
• Any necessary drugs
  
• A well-stocked first aid kit. The aspirin and band-aids are a joke; during a hurricane and for a good while afterwards there will be no ambulance or paramedic response. Even severe wounds and lacerations need to be cleaned and dressed in the field. First aid manual if necessary. Consider a Red Cross first aid class.
  
• Trash bags
  
• Spare tire for the car
  
• Contact information for friends, family and emergency organizations
  
• A packed suitcase with blankets, air matress or equivalent. Essentially everything you need to be comfortable if you need to evacuate on short notice into an empty shelter.
  
• Pictures or video of your vehicles, domicile and belongings, for insurance purposes
  
• If applicaple, screws, wood etc. for emergency repairs
  
• Money or traveleres cheques. ATMs may not work, or may be blown to smithereens.
  

Once the warning is issued or the threat appears real, do the following:

• Use a spare shover curtain or plastic sheeting to line a bath tub and fill it with water. Even if the hurricane doesn't destroy the water supply, water may be turned off as a precautionary measure. That's what Hillsborough did with Charley. This can then be used for all manner of non-potable uses, or for drinking water in a pinch, sterilized by boiling or bleach.
  
• Fill the tank of your vehicle. For Charley, all stations in North Tampa ran out of all grades of gasoline.
  
• Do all your preparations as soon as possible. You'll go repeatedly through a lot of hassle, but that one time it's needed, you may not have the time.
  
• Find a place to stay. Talk to friends/family/coworkers to make sure they will take you and that they're not bailing out of town themselves.
  

Other afterthoughts. I watched mostly ABC Action News 5, but also channel 8 and Fox 13. All of them did an amazingly good job covering the hurricane. Most suspended all ads and concentrated on giving radar data, EOC briefings and other relevant things. Considering the bad rap local US stations have, all of the local ones really were on the ball and were invaluable in keeping people appraised of what's happening, what it looks like, and where the storm is going.