[OT] Hurricane prep (Was: OT: Traffic Signals in New Mexico)

Pete Dashwood wrote:
Daniel,

I didn't realise you are in danger from Katrina.

Some of our channels here run direct feeds from the US and UK after midnight so we get Fox and BBC. I saw some Fox coverage of it last night.

The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA - http://www.noaa.gov/ ) has a map of Katrina's 3-day projection. If you look at that map (located at http://www.nhc.noaa.gov/refresh/graphics_at2%2Bshtml/145105.shtml?3day?large ), where the "AL" is over Alabama, we're just up from the bottom tip of the letter "L". It's overshot us for now, but that means that we're in the upper-right quadrant, which is where the spin-up tornadoes are. :(

"LX-i" <lxi0007@xxxxxxxxxxxx> wrote in message news:a983e$431084d0$45491c57$28788@xxxxxxxxxxxxxx


Yep - once again, the center of the cone goes straight through Montgomery.

So, this is a fairly frequent event in Montgomery? It must be terrible for everybody concerned.

It didn't *used* to be frequent. In my first 6 1/2 years here, anytime the coast got a hurricane, we'd just get a bunch of rain, and maybe a little wind. Annoying, but not dangerous. Then, Ivan last year plowed right through Montgomery, and was still a category 2 (if I remember correctly) when it blew over my house. (The weirdest thing I think I've seen in my life so far was being in the eye of that hurricane. Clear skies, sunshine, the works - for about 15 minutes. Then back to the pounding. It was like the hurricane took a smoke break! :> )

Are the defence measures similar to those for tornadoes (get in the cellar and hope the house is still there when it's over...)?

Not really - at least this far inland (~170 miles), it's not going to blow over a house or anything (although your roof may lose several shingles - during Ivan, we lost the cover of the exhaust fan over the stove, which is where some of the water came in the house). But yes, once the winds come, you get into the basement or interior no-window room, with your batteries, water, radio, etc., and wait it out.

During Ivan, we never lost power here on base (which was rare - most of the city lost power anywhere from 8 hours to 3 days), and we never lost cable. So, I had re-routed the cable modem and actually had it in the bathroom (our only interior no-window room) with me, and had my computer on its cart. (My family had gone elsewhere to escape it.) It should be easier with the laptop this time - of course, we'll have to see what path it takes. If it drifts much more west, we'll probably get away with a few tornado warnings.

I saw on Fox something about a 'get clear' zone being around 5 hours. I didn't really understand what it meant but it looked like if you didn't get out within this time you wouldn't be able to move.

So do people simply pack up and go to another area? I could imagine huge traffic congestion. And the disruption if you have to do this frequently must be awful.

I'm not sure about a "get clear" zone, but they have ways of getting the traffic through. For Ivan and Dennis, I-65 from Mobile (coast) to Montgomery (170 miles inland) was made northbound on both sides of the Interstate. Once everything was done, they did the reverse - both sides became southbound for a time. It's still slow-going, but you'd be surprised how much traffic you can clear.

(There are Federal highways that are still two-way, so folks needing to come north can still do it - they just have to take what is now considered a "back road"...)

What do most people do to cope? 

You got me.  :)  Being this far inland is usually enough.

Why would people want to live in a town that is frequently hit by hurricanes? I know you, personally, have no choice but what is the attraction of Montgomery for the general population?

Well, like I said, this far inland is generally OK. And, in Florida, homes are built expecting to have to weather (no pun intended) storms like this. (Well, not *quite* like this - category 5's are few and far between.) For Montgomery, there are folks that have grown up here; there are folks that enjoy the history of the area (from Hank Williams to Rosa Parks); some are here because of their jobs.

I think I'd be much more reticient to live in a hurricane or tornado zone than I would be to live here, so maybe conditioning (while Kiwis are not blase about earthquakes, neither do we live in constant fear) and upbringing shape how we assess these risks.

You're conditioned to what you're around. The heat and humidity here in the summer is stifling. The locals don't like it, but they're used to it. Now, let the Air Force send some Maine or Michigan native here... :) It's actually kind of funny to those of us who are used to it.

Dennis was the biggest non-event of the year - we had to get all our crap put up, then when it *didn't* hit Montgomery the way they were expecting, we had to be at work at our normal times.

That's kindof unreasonable. But then, the military are not noted for their reasonability... :-) I bet the brass who made that decision don't live in Montgomery...

They do! He lives in one of the biggest houses on Montgomery. (And I can talk about him because he's not the commander anymore... ;> ) I have a feeling that *he* wasn't the one securing stuff around his house - so he didn't realize the need to unsecure it.

Finally, sincere best wishes for all people reading this who may be in the path of a hurricane or tornado.

Maybe, in time, we'll find a way to encourage these systems to dissipate.

Heh - well, although they're quite inconvenient to us in our technological age, they actually serve a purpose in the cycle of nature. Doesn't make it any easier to watch, though.


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