Tropical Storm Irene (tornadoes, roofing, stores)

[greatblueheron]

good idea...but do you have to "know" anything about them to use them ?? lol I don't even know how they are powered...

Originally Posted by southbel

I've been through way too many hurricane from back when I lived in the Outer Banks. Do yourself a favor. Get a good generator and a small window A/C unit. You won't regret it. We have used ours several times in the past and it makes an enormous difference in getting through a hurricane.

[MustangEater82]

GenerTors are great.... But buying, storing and maintaining a few hundred dollar generator vs. Dealing with no power for a week.



Fun thing about huricanes when charley hit punta gorda in southwest florida, it lost power and actually built strenght up over the FL everglades.

Sent from my autocorrect butchering device.

[southbel]

Originally Posted by greatblueheron

good idea...but do you have to "know" anything about them to use them ?? lol I don't even know how they are powered...

I am not mechanically inclined and even I could use them. We just have the gas powered kind vice the whole house type. Even though it costs a few hundred dollars, we've had ours for years and years. Takes up a small bit of garage floor space but the comfort it brings when you're dealing with that post-hurricane humidity and heat has been invaluable. We don't get as many storms here as we did in the Outer Banks so I don't use it that much but I sure do love having it when we do need it.

I once went without power for nine weeks (after Fran in NC) because the sub-station was completely destroyed. Never want to go through that again!

[emilybh]

Originally Posted by OleTomCat

Latest Update, looking less likely as time goes on that we will little more than some wind and rain.....

That is what I was thinking. Now it looks like it may edge into North Myrtle Beach but it looks like we are out of the path. However they say it will strengthen .

Here's what accuweather.com says about how Irene compares to Hugo.

Hurricane Hugo in 1989
Hugo is another disastrous hurricane that took a path through the Leeward Islands, grazed Puerto Rico and ultimately made landfall in the Carolinas.
The hurricane struck Isle of Palms, S.C., as a powerful Category 4 storm with winds of 140 mph. Hugo claimed 27 lives in South Carolina, left nearly 100,000 people homeless and caused $10 billion in damage.
Hugo's landfall point was south of where Irene is expected to blast onshore. Hugo also tracked well inland over the U.S., whereas Irene is predicted to stay closer to the coast of the mid-Atlantic and Northeast after landfall.

This is pretty cool. You can type in your address and it gives you the chances of changes in wind speeds over the next 5 days at your location http://www.weather.com/weather/hurricanecentral/tracker

So far it says there is just a 5% chance of winds reaching 58 miles an hour in the next 96 hours and zero chance that it will be any worse.

[blueherons]

Originally Posted by See228

22 years seems like a long interval to me... So long in fact, I forgot how bad Hugo really was.

I haven't forgotten how bad Hugo was and I never will because I lived through it. My home had another house land on top of it.

Just because we didn't have a hurricane last year doesn't mean we've dodged a bullit.

[emilybh]

At least we aren't in the high threat level zone anymore according to the weather channel. That has evidently been limited to NC.

[pokrplr]

No worries with Irene, focusing further out in the Atlantic where another one is brewing. Jose will be the next named storm, looks like in another day or so. Its that time of the year

[scuba steve]

Oh no, what will I ever do with all the beer I bought?

[Scotty011]

Originally Posted by scuba steve

Oh no, what will I ever do with all the beer I bought?

Have a party and celebrate.

[OleTomCat]

Party at Steve's house this Saturday...