F is for Florence
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Who knew it was going to black out FIOS in Florida and potentially a good part of the rest of the USA from just after Midnight until a few minutes ago. Collateral damage to business from that can be huge too. A somewhat localized event is no longer local when it can cause data and network blackouts across the entire country. One has to wonder why they waited so long to put in a static IP re-routing traffic around their facilities in that area when they had so much lead time.
Hopefully the people who live in that area took better note of the warnings and mandatory evacs then FIOS did. Hearts out to the families of the 7 who died.
Thankfully it was not the Cat4/5 storm initially feared.
Hopefully the people who live in that area took better note of the warnings and mandatory evacs then FIOS did. Hearts out to the families of the 7 who died.
Thankfully it was not the Cat4/5 storm initially feared.
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So it was consistent for 4 days and was suppose be a NE wind for a nice broad reach. Instead it was ESE for a not as nice close reach plus all night with the waves on the beam the whole time.
Guess I shouldn't be surprised, not the first time I left on an overnight to find out the weather experts don't know their North from South
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Drone video of my marina in Whortonsville, just off of broad creek: https://youtu.be/0L4ZHmYvbgY
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Wow, I've been watching the news coverage of the damage from Hurricane Michael and the interviews with some people who chose not to abide by the evacuation order. Do these people not watch the news? Every single hurricane there are people interviewed who are crying about how they lost loved ones, and there are people telling harrowing stories of survival. Many say that it was worse than they expected and that they should have evacuated. Then there are the people who survive, but find out that life with WEEKS of no electricity or running water, and WEEKs without being able to flush your toilet, is very hard. Then they are sitting on their roof crying about how long it's taking for rescuers to get to them.
Every single hurricane there seems to be a fresh batch. Some seem to think that praying to God was going to save their house. The governor of Florida warned everybody that Hurricane Michael was expected to be worse than any previous one in most people's lifetimes. What kind of fantasies and magical thinking causes these fools to stay behind? And some of them are old enough to have seen this scenario reported in the news many many times in the past.
Every single hurricane there seems to be a fresh batch. Some seem to think that praying to God was going to save their house. The governor of Florida warned everybody that Hurricane Michael was expected to be worse than any previous one in most people's lifetimes. What kind of fantasies and magical thinking causes these fools to stay behind? And some of them are old enough to have seen this scenario reported in the news many many times in the past.
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While I agree with much of what you said, I think sitting in judgement from your safe perch in Colorado where I think you live needs a little tempering and maybe a modicum of feeling for those who have lost family / friends/ and homes.
I was able a number of years ago to go for a week to support the Red Cross in Gulfport , Mississippi days after Katrina raked the area. Nothing ever could prepare me for what I saw physically or felt emotionally from the experience. In fact psychologist prepared us all what we would face and also counseled us after the week .
First fact. Many people did not have the means necessary to leave. Meaning vehicles, funding, or even any government assistance. Some in nursing homes, Or even the elderly could not physically be moved. There is no organized response in many areas to get people out of the danger zone like there is after the disaster happens.
Second fact. I’m sure your armchairing suggestion has no personal experience. It is not an eásy decision to just leave all your belongs to the looters.
Third fact. Too many people crying wolf over threatening emergencies make many people numb to heeding them.
Fourth. Very few have ever really seen first hand the true power of water and wind, just seen it through a camera lens which in no way gives it justice. It’s like describing what chocolate ice cream tastes like.
If people ever experienced what could happen they would try harder to get out of the way. Nothing prepared me for my first night there. The scope of the destruction surrounding me. Seeing fishing trawlers 6 miles inland sitting in trees was surreal. Devastating of everything standing all around you. Every every tree snapped in half. And the survivors walking around with a certain stare in their eyes . The fear 5hey must have felt involved in it. The releif of surviving it. The guilty feeling having surviving when others los5 lives. Destruction of EVERYTHING they owned. Destruction of family heirlooms and generational properties. The loss of pets....it goes on and on.
I am not one to criticize the survivors when we all should lift a hand to help them out. There by the grace of god go I.
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There is a LOT that goes into the calculus of "do I stay, or do I go?"
I live in Marathon 50 miles north of Key West. The eye wall of Irma went down our street. That's not hyperbole, it literally went down our street.
I wasn't here for the storm. I was able to get in about 10 days after. The destruction really is beyond description, and all the news video in the world doesn't capture it.
I've talked to a lot of folks since the storm. One woman who stayed said to me "I have three big dogs and two birds, where would I go? What hotel would take me?". And it's not always clear whether pets will be allowed into shelters. You'd have to be a truly cruel person to leave an animal behind to fend for itself.
As Chef said when all your worldly possessions are in that house, how do you simply drive away?
A lot of people gauge the decision on the wind strength of the storm. "A Cat 1 or 2 I'll stay, a Cat 3 or more I'm out of here". But Michael spooled up so fast that logic trapped people. What they thought was going to be an uncomfortable night riding out a Cat 2 turned out to be a life threatening Cat 5 so fast the choice was made for them.
The other thing is every storm is different. When Wilma blew through the Keys the Gulf side of the islands took the storm surge and flooded. With Irma it was the opposite and homes that had no water during Wilma were washed away on the ocean side.
And there's no category to predict storm surge.
Michael has made me re-think my own storm strategy, but I won't judge others for the hard choices they make.
As Chef2Sail said "There but for the grace of God go I".
https://www.redcross.org/
I live in Marathon 50 miles north of Key West. The eye wall of Irma went down our street. That's not hyperbole, it literally went down our street.
I wasn't here for the storm. I was able to get in about 10 days after. The destruction really is beyond description, and all the news video in the world doesn't capture it.
I've talked to a lot of folks since the storm. One woman who stayed said to me "I have three big dogs and two birds, where would I go? What hotel would take me?". And it's not always clear whether pets will be allowed into shelters. You'd have to be a truly cruel person to leave an animal behind to fend for itself.
As Chef said when all your worldly possessions are in that house, how do you simply drive away?
A lot of people gauge the decision on the wind strength of the storm. "A Cat 1 or 2 I'll stay, a Cat 3 or more I'm out of here". But Michael spooled up so fast that logic trapped people. What they thought was going to be an uncomfortable night riding out a Cat 2 turned out to be a life threatening Cat 5 so fast the choice was made for them.
The other thing is every storm is different. When Wilma blew through the Keys the Gulf side of the islands took the storm surge and flooded. With Irma it was the opposite and homes that had no water during Wilma were washed away on the ocean side.
And there's no category to predict storm surge.
Michael has made me re-think my own storm strategy, but I won't judge others for the hard choices they make.
As Chef2Sail said "There but for the grace of God go I".
These people are there to help whether it's a hurricane in Florida or a tornado in the Mid-West.
https://www.redcross.org/
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I actually live in Missouri, right in tornado alley. Maybe you heard of the Joplin Tornado. I have friends who lost homes in that one.
I weathered one in a van in a creek bed in 1981.
I've lived my whole life between the confluence of our two great rivers, Big Muddy and Ol' Man. I worked sandbagging levees during the two, so called hundred year floods we had in 1994 and 1995. We have some experience with wind and water.
I know that there are people who stay behind in hurricanes because of no car or money. There are also people who just stay, out of stuborness, and they end up putting the lives of first responders at risk.
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I have lived in Leavenworth Kansas when I was small. The massive scale of hurricane destruction is hard to imagine. When you drive in for miles and every tree is snapped in half.
Tornados are very pinpoint destructive and happen quickly. Hurricanes are terrorizing for hours . Both ruin people’s lives.
When there is a tornado warning do you pack the car with all your belongings and evacuate.? I doubt it.
Personally I’d leave if a hurricane was forecast....and have. But I understand why others don’t.
Tornados are very pinpoint destructive and happen quickly. Hurricanes are terrorizing for hours . Both ruin people’s lives.
When there is a tornado warning do you pack the car with all your belongings and evacuate.? I doubt it.
Personally I’d leave if a hurricane was forecast....and have. But I understand why others don’t.
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The past 3 days I've come down the ICW and seen all the damage along the waterway to the RICH people's houses. I can fully believe that's the damage out of sight to me me is a LOT worst.
People should get off their internet forum soapboxes. If they have something critical to say, do something positive to help. Otherwise get off the box or use it to cover your blah blah blah head!
People should get off their internet forum soapboxes. If they have something critical to say, do something positive to help. Otherwise get off the box or use it to cover your blah blah blah head!
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A Positive Note in All This
When I drove through Marathon after the storm you could almost say what year a house was built by the type of damage it sustained. Hurricane standards have kept evolving and they work.
The new standard calls for homes to be raised above 100 year flood levels and to be built to a 180 MPH storm standard.
I've gotten VERY familiar with this as we put down a deposit with a builder right before Irma and are going ahead with the build.
We're building a modular home, 200 MPH Hardie board siding, 180 MPH windows, a metal roof, hurricane ties, etc.
Yes it's more expensive. But houses on our street built in the same factory and erected by the same builder came through the storm with no significant damage. 14 of them. I think one lost a piece of trim, though they all lost landscaping to the storm surge but they're all elevated on pre-stressed concrete pilings sunk 30 feet into the ground.
The good news is a home built today or re-built after the storm will be able to weather the next hurricane. We're learning.
When I drove through Marathon after the storm you could almost say what year a house was built by the type of damage it sustained. Hurricane standards have kept evolving and they work.
The new standard calls for homes to be raised above 100 year flood levels and to be built to a 180 MPH storm standard.
I've gotten VERY familiar with this as we put down a deposit with a builder right before Irma and are going ahead with the build.
We're building a modular home, 200 MPH Hardie board siding, 180 MPH windows, a metal roof, hurricane ties, etc.
Yes it's more expensive. But houses on our street built in the same factory and erected by the same builder came through the storm with no significant damage. 14 of them. I think one lost a piece of trim, though they all lost landscaping to the storm surge but they're all elevated on pre-stressed concrete pilings sunk 30 feet into the ground.
The good news is a home built today or re-built after the storm will be able to weather the next hurricane. We're learning.
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Thought I would chime in on this as a voice of experience. Just got internet back today so please excuse my delayed response. I had expressed in an earlier post that I had a bad feeling about another storm getting into the Gulf and heading our way since I knew we were overdue. My intuition was right but the timing was wrong. I let my guard down and thought we were home free for another season. I was busy getting the boat ready for my upcoming trip to the Appalachicola seafood festival on the Sunday before the storm. I didn't even know that a storm had developed because I don't watch network television or local news. Found out about the storm that night from my sister in law who said there's a storm heading directly for us. Spent Monday prepping the boat for the storm... loading up storm anchor and chain removing all sails bimini etc. Headed out Tuesday to anchor the boat, wasn't able to make it to my desired spot in time so had to settle in what I thought was a less desirable spot. I think Sunday they were expecting landfall as a one, Monday bumped to a two, Tuesday morning a three then Tuesday afternoon they started talking about a strong cat 4. This was my 4th weathering of a cat 3 or above storm but this baby was different. The last time I saw anything like this was Camille in 69. Devastating. I think it has put an end to my sailing days, not because I lost the boat, I didn't. That spot that I thought was less desirable turned out to be a Godsend. None of the other boats drug down on me and my Mantus Anchor held and didn't drag even in 135 plus mph winds. Maybe I'll explain how I set up the anchor another time but for now I'll just say that Michael knocked the wind out of this old mans sails. I'll spend years trying to put my universe back in order.
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