Hurricane Frances

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benz · #1 Post by **benz** » Tue Aug 31, 2004 6:30 pm

Well, she's the real deal folks....140mph sustained, no signs of turning away from the coast. It's about anyone's guess at this point where on the southeast coast she'll land, but things look like a steady turn to the north will put her about GA or SC. Hope everyone down there is getting ready now - the media does a bad job of giving advance warning to these storms, so I thought I'd create a thread to raise awareness a little.

http://www.nhc.noaa.gov/ftp/graphics/AT ... 2053W5.gif

Up here in NC we have a bad history with "F" storms (Fran, Floyd, etc.), so we're also keeping our fingers crossed....

Bob Collins · #2 Post by **Bob Collins** » Tue Aug 31, 2004 8:57 pm

Yes it looks to be a real pain for Bill and myself. I am about 20 minutes south of Bill.

Just a reminder, please don't post images, but rather a link to the image. Some of the good people here are on dial-up and can't quite get the images like us DSL types.

Good luck and get ready for the hurricane.

Daniel · #3 Post by **Daniel** » Sat Sep 04, 2004 12:08 pm

Benz, have any storms ever reached as far west as Winston Salem? I just moved to NC from Los Angeles and experienced my first tornado warning a few weeks ago.

#4 Post by **JaneL** » Sat Sep 04, 2004 2:16 pm

>Benz, have any storms ever reached as far west as Winston Salem? I just moved to NC from Los Angeles and experienced my first tornado warning a few weeks ago.
>

Hugo made it to Charlotte.

benz · #5 Post by **benz** » Sat Sep 04, 2004 10:54 pm

The worst that made it as far west as my area (Raleigh) was Fran back in 1996 (Hugo was nasty too, but I wasnt around for that one). We really shouldn't worry about hurricanes too much, I think the government hypes everyone up a little too much...the coastal areas are the ones who should be wary, but that doesn't mean we sometimes feel the effects this far inland.

BTW, how is everyone in FL holding up? You got lucky with Frances weakening so much, but the bad news is that she's barely moving.....which means extended rains and winds. Stay safe down there!

#6 Post by **JaneL** » Sun Sep 05, 2004 7:10 am

>(Hugo was nasty too, but I wasnt around for that one). We really shouldn't worry about hurricanes too much, I think the government hypes everyone up a little too much...the coastal areas are the ones who should be wary, but that doesn't mean we sometimes feel the effects this far inland.
>

That's pretty much the casual attitude most people inland in SC/NC had until Hugo proved them wrong.

Re Bill and the others, I haven't heard any more from him since I posted the note from him a couple of days ago. He was expecting to lose power pretty early on.

Bob Collins · #7 Post by **Bob Collins** » Tue Sep 14, 2004 12:00 pm

Hi Nonny.

Most everyone in my office (North Palm Beach, FL) just south of Bill, lost power for at least a week. My son (2 years old) was getting sick, so with Ivan initially looking to be a Florida wanderer, my wife son and myself went north to Georgia for a few days of AC and a head start should Ivan arrive.

Frances was a total pain, we suffered little damage of note, but no power for over a week is amazing how bad it can be. Water was off a couple of days and then a boil water order. How do you boil water without power? Our subdivision does not have gas stoves, and obviously LP grilles will work, but mind your fuel use. Also, a typical hurricane if there is such a thing, moves over your location in a few hours, not days! That was the hard part, as during those days you are burning your supplies. Normally one plans for three or four days of no readily available food, water, power. When a hurrican sits on your for those three days, it gets desperate quickly.

(reference to previous posts)
Government hype? Obviously you never lived through such things as Andrew, Frances, Charley, Ivan or the like. Fist fights boke out at gas stations when people wanted to fuel up not only the car, but fuel tanks for generators. Fights over ice and food. When the general order begins to fail, you then know how bad it is.

Forced camping in 90+ heat is no fun, especially when the average Joe cannot camp or certainly knows nothing of camping. It is scary and can be quite dangerous, see above paragraph. And yes, these were personally witnessed. Almost a martial law situation.

Remember, the hurricane is not the as much the killer, as is the flooding and the heat after the hurricane.

Good luck and Godspeed to those in Ivan's path.

benz · #8 Post by **benz** » Tue Sep 14, 2004 1:46 pm

Bob Collins wrote:Hi Nonny.

Government hype? Obviously you never lived through such things as Andrew, Frances, Charley, Ivan or the like. Fist fights boke out at gas stations when people wanted to fuel up not only the car, but fuel tanks for generators. Fights over ice and food. When the general order begins to fail, you then know how bad it is.

Forced camping in 90+ heat is no fun, especially when the average Joe cannot camp or certainly knows nothing of camping. It is scary and can be quite dangerous, see above paragraph. And yes, these were personally witnessed. Almost a martial law situation.

Well, you are talking about a completely different part of the country than I am, for one. I am over 150mi inland from the coast, and NC is quite a bit further north than FL. Sure, we get the occasional direct hit (Hugo, Fran) but when officials in this area overreact to every tropical storm and the like it gets a bit stale. When a disintegrating tropical depression finally makes its way up here it should warrant nothing more than some localized flood alerts and so on....yet they cancel school, close public offices, declare states of emergencies (for the whole state, mind you), and so on. I know, better safe than sorry, but I think by now we can realize that the entire STATE does not need to be put on alert for one area that may or may not be affected.

That said, good luck those in Ivan's path, and keep an eye on Jeanne!

#9 Post by **JaneL** » Tue Sep 14, 2004 2:02 pm

>Well, you are talking about a completely different part of the country than I am, for one. I am over 150mi inland from the coast, and NC is quite a bit further north than FL.
>

How far inland and north is Asheville, and have you been paying any attention to the problems they had from Frances? Ever been to Biltmore Village? You won't be visiting the shops there again. And bring your own drinking water.

benz · #10 Post by **benz** » Tue Sep 14, 2004 3:59 pm

Yes I know what happened in Asheville, I have friends up there who's houses are flooded and they still don't have drinking water. I think you guys are missing the point. I'm saying there doesn't need to be widespread panic throughout the state when we KNOW that a storm will not affect the whole state. Its a big area of land, so what the coast experiences will not necessarily be the same as the central and western parts, and vice versa.

Bob Collins · #11 Post by **Bob Collins** » Tue Sep 14, 2004 8:52 pm

It is not panic to cancel school and the like, it is smart. Do you want to be with your children during a flash flood, or would you prefer them away from you? I prefer to be near my child when danger is near.

Both Frances and Charley effected the entire state of Florida, both in storm-water/winds/damage, AND in the economy. With Frances, there was no part of Florida left untouched from weather effects! I don't care how big your state is, Frances was the size of Texas!

An old syaing: Don't mess with mother nature. Think about it.

benz · #12 Post by **benz** » Tue Sep 14, 2004 10:19 pm

I agree with you, but I think you'd see what I mean if you lived in Raleigh a couple years....its more of a problem with the local media than anything, but they seem to blow a lot of things out of proportion around here anyway (Clay Aiken, the Carolina Hurricanes' Stanley cup stint, etc.).

Whatever the case, I feel sorry for all the Floridians, this has been a bad year, and it may not be the end of it either unfortunately.

#13 Post by **BillMorrow** » Thu Sep 16, 2004 2:14 am

more comments on Frances..
and bad weather in general..

i went through several instances of bad weather on my boat..

Hurricane Hugo..
i was in the chesapeake and it missed, but i had a big boat to take care of and you never know where it will really go..

Hurricane Bob..
came right to me when we were docked in connecticut..
survived quite nicely with the usual preparation..
you have no idea how hard it is to board up big windows on a big boat..!

Hurricane Andrew..
it was headed for miami beach, so i took the boat to ft. lauderdale and hid up the New River..
48 hours of steady work to board up and prepare and andrew went to south dade..
i slept through it all..
no damage..

Storm of the Century..
i was in miami beach and tied up on the facing pier with my stern to biscayne bay..
bad, very bad, but it was too late to turn around..
waves beat the crap out of the huge swim platform on the stern..
more damage than all preceeding storms..

one thing i learned is you never know where it will wind up..
another thing is it dissapates when over land and trees go a long way toward shielding you from winds..
so when i sold the boat and bought a house, i got far away from the water, in the trees and above the flood plain..
i am on well, with a big generator to power the whole house..

so for the 10 days i was without power i had water, AC, refrigeration and i was independant on everything but the LPG delivery truck..!

i think as long as one settles in an area not prone to flooding and you are away from the sea you can be safe..

one final thought..
i had more damage to my last house in california (in los altos hills) when a pacific storm pushed a tree over on my house than all the bad weather with a name i have experiences here, in florida..

in short, be prepared and then enjoy the time off..

Daniel · #14 Post by **Daniel** » Wed Sep 22, 2004 7:54 pm

Glad to hear you made it through alright..

benz · #15 Post by **benz** » Wed Sep 22, 2004 8:52 pm

Looks like Ivan II is making a run at Texa$....

[censored] this has been an active year, theres 4 named systems active at the moment!

AtmosMan · #16 Post by **AtmosMan** » Wed Sep 22, 2004 10:03 pm

benz wrote:[censored] this has been an active year, theres 4 named systems active at the moment!

Tell me about it. I'm a meteorology major at the State University of New York at Albany and we've been going crazy around here! Looks like Ivan will become a tropical storm and hit Texas. Jeanne will meander off the eastern seaboard for a few days, then maybe hit the Carolinas (not too sure about this one.) Karl will go out to sea, and Lisa is still there, struggling to stay alive, but may interact with a wave coming off the west coast of Africa. We just have to wait and see! Everyone be safe.

#17 Post by **BillMorrow** » Wed Sep 22, 2004 10:11 pm

ivan is back as ivan-II, bedeviling the gulf coast and jeanne is heading this way..

looks like we might get more bad weather..

happily i had my generator tuned up and its ready to go..

MichaelMeier · #18 Post by **MichaelMeier** » Mon Oct 04, 2004 6:00 am

#19 Post by **JaneL** » Mon Oct 04, 2004 6:37 am

>Not sure, whether nature alone is to blame for the series of storms this season: http://bash.org/GODvsBUSH.gif
>

http://www.snopes.com/politics/bush/hurricane.asp

MichaelMeier · #20 Post by **MichaelMeier** » Mon Oct 04, 2004 7:29 am

Hurricane Frances

Hurricane Frances

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