Hurricane erika (home, live, law)

[FlaLadyB]

By now we are all watching and waiting to see what happens next.

IN THE MEANTIME.. NOW is a good time to:

get your prescriptions filled, get supplies of bottled water. Check out your battery supply or get new ones- C and D mostly. Get your gas tank filled and keep it there. Fill your propane tank for the grill and/or get the canisters for smaller ones. See if your flashlights work, and pull out anything that you might be using if you have no power. Lights (no candles) since you may have shutters up and it's dark inside.

If you have no power you have no refrigerator, no freezer, no coffee pot, no stove, no a/c ....you get the picture.

Best check out and get things that are not perishable NOW.....not once the news says IT'S HERE! and the stores are empty.

This won't be our first rodeo

[FlaLadyB]

btw...check and see if your shutters have the SCREWS you will need if you have to put them up!

[SeetheUSA]

Also, fill up a small cup or plastic medicine cup with water halfway. Put it in your freezer and let it freeze. When the water becomes frozen, place a penny on top of the ice and leave it in the freezer. If power goes out, you will know if and when food is compromised when the penny goes thru the ice.

Make sure you pick up everything around your home that could potentially become a missile during the storm.

[aridon]

Fill water bottles and freeze them. Can put them in the fridge and freezer after power goes out to keep stuff cold.

Anyway this is only going to be a tropical storm for us, assuming it even makes it here which is 50/50 right now, it's not a big deal for the most part. Don't stress out.

[fengxg]

Feel excited. Can't wait to see the storm. Am I weirdo or there are others agree with me?

[aridon]

Not really. Its been quite a bit of time since the last one came through so its likely that should we get one it will cause damage. Power outages suck in September and roof damage sucks even more. Slightly less suck is having to pick up all the debris in the area and deal with the news stations over covering the event. So no, I can't say I look forward to it.

Anyway this storm isn't going to hit us so you'll have to wait for the next one.

[fengxg]

Originally Posted by aridon

Not really. Its been quite a bit of time since the last one came through so its likely that should we get one it will cause damage. Power outages suck in September and roof damage sucks even more. Slightly less suck is having to pick up all the debris in the area and deal with the news stations over covering the event. So no, I can't say I look forward to it.

Anyway this storm isn't going to hit us so you'll have to wait for the next one.

Where do you get the information that it ain't hitting us? The weather channel shows we are at the middle of the predicted path.

[smarino]

What hurricane? It's a tropical storm that is not currently forecast to become a hurricane. Spreading misinformation is not helpful. Watch it closely, be prepared (and anyone who lives in coastal areas in this part of the earth should have that together all the time anyway) and that's the drill. It IS predicted to come to Florida, but a prediction is not a done deal. Once these things hit land (and look at all the land masses on the current radar maps that it might go through before even getting near Florida) no one knows where it will go, really. Staying calm and intelligently following the progress is how this works.

[pslhomie]

Yes one of the best ideas is to fill your freezer with either water bottles or gallon jugs of water. This way if the power does go out you have ice. Thanks I almost forgot. Oh btw unless you get a "Boil order" don't fall for that standing in line for hours for bottled water. Tap water should be safe.

Make sure you fill up with gas. I believe it is Florida law now that all gas stations are required to have generators but I would check with the gas station just in case. I remember we had to go at 3am and get in line for the station to open at 5am.

The storm should not be that big as far as wind goes but flooding could be a large problem. If it continues along the current path all of the east side of Florida will be on the dirty side. You can get a can of spray foam to seal your doors if the water starts coming inside. It is easier to clean off the foam than to clean up after a flood. I think they work better than sand bags.

[aridon]

Its not going to hit us. Its also not even going to get over a weak tropical storm and its going to impact the west coast if it even survives at all.

Non event. Weather channel just wants you to tune in. Model intensity doesn't bring it over 45 mph after it finishes interacting with mountains today it will be lucky to be a remnant system. Its going to rain.