edgeblade wrote:Stephanie wrote:rosethornil wrote:I'm in Norfolk/Virginia Beach area and this morning, I made the arduous trek to Mall-Wart to buy water and some canned goods and such. There was *no one* else buying water this morning and their shelves were pretty well stocked. I was surprised to be "lone shopper on aisle 17."
Secondly, there's been very little in the local media about this (as a prior poster said). That's a puzzle. Any ideas what that's about?
Rose
Complacency...
Yeah people in this area seem to think that it can't happen here or won't happen here. The really last storm that I'm aware of to make a direct landfall in SE VA was the 1933 Chesapeake/Potomac storm which according to the track map I've looked at made landfall around VA Beach, though the article says OBX. Isabel in 2003 was a really close call for the area, but she also hit the OBX first. 1933 was much further north and east than Isabel in terms of landfall location. SE VA will be in big trouble when the next major storm makes a direct hit. Hopefully it never happens, but I think it will one day.
I honestly don't think it's complacency. Most of us long term Virginians know that it can and does happen to us just not as often as other places. As far as rushing out to stock up on groceries and such, well it could be several reasons but one I can think of is money. Many are probably waiting on checks to come or payday etc. Many are on a fixed income and storm or no storm just might not have the means to buy anything extra at this point. Some may keep their pantries stocked after Isabel so it could be many reasons for not rushing out to the grocery stores. As far as weather reports well what can they actually tell you yet? It's going to hit, or maybe it won't? More than likely you will hear more about Earl as the day progresses and Earl gives a better indication of what he is planning on doing. I kind of feel bad for those who do the forecasts, if they say something "might" happen and it doesn't then they don't know what they are talking about (I'm not saying that but what I hear others say) or if they don't say anything right away then they should have given more warning etc. With any storm much of it is a wait and see what will or won't happen and then reporting the facts and not sensationalizing it. Storms are not something easily built into your budget and if you live payday to payday and something like Earl comes along well then you just do the best you can do and pray all goes well. It so much easier to say what a person should do and a lot hard for some of us to be able to follow those directions.
