New hurricane shelter

[Lindaloo]

We purchased a house near Brewton, Alabama. This is going to be my families hurricane shelter. My parents sold their vacation home on Pensacola Beach and went in with us to buy this house. There is a cynder block building on the back of the property that will be just right for my big dogs. All we have to do is build a stable for my horses and we are all set. I can't stable them up there but was told by the local council that we could stable them for shelter during a hurricane.

We will stock the house full of supplies in May every year. I am really excited. After Katrina, it was not hard to talk my parents into doing this either.

[Ixolib]

Very cool, Linda. That is certainly some peace of mind that's worth having!! I'm jealous... And your animals are lucky to have you!!

[vbhoutex]

Wow that is great!!! It is similar to us having an open ended invitation to our friends in Johnson City(NW of Austin) whenever we need it.

[Lindaloo]

That is great too David.

My parents had a scare with Ivan with the beach house, but it survived and was unscathed while their neighbors homes were destroyed on each side. They have another one in Destin so there will be a summer retreat for us still. lol.

My Mother said a while back that they still were not going to leave in another storm. I said "Mom, look right through there, that is the beach" She said "Well, I guess you will help us get the cars out of here" LOL!! There used to be houses across the golf course but now they are gone. Another surge would come straight to them without anything in the way stopping it like it did before. One of those moments that you just had to be there. LOL!!

[Jagno]

The shelter is a fantastic investment for your family. After being displaced for almost 6 months we invested in a motor home. This would take us to safety and offer shelter upon return if there's no where to live. After last hurricane seasons non-events everyone around here has gotten right back to being soooo complacent. They swear we won't see another hurricane Rita for 50 years. I wish I could be that optimistic.

[Lindaloo]

I believe it will happen again, right on down to the storm surge. My theory is that we have not had much of a winter down in the South. The gulf remains warm and really gets above normal in the summer. If you think about it, EVERY storm that entered the gulf turned into a CAT5. Surge with Katrina and Rita. Has anyone ever thought about that factor? If we get a decent winter that will cool off the gulf. And maybe, just maybe we will be okay as far as surge. I hope I am making sense.

We will stock things up at the new house just in case our supplies get washed away down here.

[Frank P]

I think this is a great plan Linda... eventually I'd like to do something very similar but first I'd like to get into a primary house before I can have a backup... cool that you have a place for your animals too, because they are an important part of one's family... and need to be taken care just like everyone else..

[Ptarmigan]

Cool.

[MSRobi911]

Hey Linda,

You got room for a couple more people in your house? HAHAHAHAHAHAHA ROFL

I don't know that I can handle another hurricane with a surge like Katrina in the courthouse again, I knew we were safe, but it sure was a hell of a time while five feet of water was in the bottom floor and all we could see was water, water everywhere.

I think this house we bought in Moss Point for now is very safe. It is a block house with brick on the outside and we just had new double paned windows with the gas between them put in ($7,000 worth, can you believe windows cost that much?) and we also have inside shutters on all the windows. PLUS this house DID NOT get any water from Katrina and the river is right across the street. The house to the East side did and the house on the east side across the street did, but this house and the house across the street on the west side didn't get any water, so we are high enough.

We are still waiting to see what Nationwide does about the Windpool before we try to rebuild. If they cancel the Hurricane coverage under their home owners policy (which you know according to them we didn't get any wind damage from Katrina) then we would have to go in the Windpool and we have been told that our policy would cost around 12,000.00 a year, yes that is twelve thousand dollars a year plus homeowners and plus flood insurance! There is no way we could afford to live there anymore, so we would just have to sell the property, which makes me sooooo sad to even think about. Oh well!

Mary

PS Guess who our structural engineering firm was that was sent by Nationwide???? You only get 1 guess!

[timNms]

Hey Linda,

You got room for a couple more people in your house? HAHAHAHAHAHAHA ROFL

I don't know that I can handle another hurricane with a surge like Katrina in the courthouse again, I knew we were safe, but it sure was a hell of a time while five feet of water was in the bottom floor and all we could see was water, water everywhere.

I think this house we bought in Moss Point for now is very safe. It is a block house with brick on the outside and we just had new double paned windows with the gas between them put in ($7,000 worth, can you believe windows cost that much?) and we also have inside shutters on all the windows. PLUS this house DID NOT get any water from Katrina and the river is right across the street. The house to the East side did and the house on the east side across the street did, but this house and the house across the street on the west side didn't get any water, so we are high enough.

We are still waiting to see what Nationwide does about the Windpool before we try to rebuild. If they cancel the Hurricane coverage under their home owners policy (which you know according to them we didn't get any wind damage from Katrina) then we would have to go in the Windpool and we have been told that our policy would cost around 12,000.00 a year, yes that is twelve thousand dollars a year plus homeowners and plus flood insurance! There is no way we could afford to live there anymore, so we would just have to sell the property, which makes me sooooo sad to even think about. Oh well!

Mary

PS Guess who our structural engineering firm was that was sent by Nationwide???? You only get 1 guess!

$12000/yr? That's wayyyy too much for anyone to have to pay just for wind coverage. I could understand if it was for both flood and wind damage. Someone is lining their pockets for sure. It burns my butt to think that our government pays some people to pop out baby after baby and sit on their butts getting a big check every month, but won't help people who are trying to have a home and take care of their family.