#23 Postby TreasureIslandFLGal » Fri Jul 15, 2005 11:32 am
Here's my hurricane story again... so you Houstonians or inland living folks should pay attention.
If Emily does hit the shore and head your way, even if she is "just" a CAT3, be prepared to rough it for a while. If you live in an older home that you don't trust to survive high winds, evacuate. If you have windows, board them up. If you live in a trailer, go to a friend's house. If you are surrounded by large trees, try to find less dangerous shelter.
A CAT3 will weaken as it travels inland, but if the TX terrain doesn't rapidly elevate from the coastline, you can expect at least CAT2 gusts in Houston.
I lived about 40 miles to the NNE of Raleigh, NC when Hurricane Fran came through. It hit around Cape Fear and headed inland so we ended up in the NE quadrant, pretty close to where the eye's path went. Even that far inland, we had steady winds in the 90mph range and gusts at 105mph+ most of the night. Raleigh used to be known as Oak City, but lost nearly all of its big oaks. Durham and Cary were also devastated. Although homes in general managed to survive the winds, it was all the downed trees and flying debris that did all the damage! many many windows were blown out. Trees were down all over. We had a storm a few weeks before that saturated the ground, so when Fran came through, it didn't take much more rain and her winds to topple more than 1/2 of every tree. The logging industry was really hit hard. The scenery changed forever as woods looked like strewn toothpicks.
Of the 11 houses in the neighborhood, only 2 (mine and the one in the open) escaped a large tree going through the roof. We lost about 15 large pine trees and an oak -out of a possible 22. Some were toppled, some were broken. The rest of our trees were seriously listing with huge mounds of dirt and exposed roots at their bases.
With so many trees down everywhere, power outages wee incredible. It had been many years since this big of a storm had thinned out the large trees in central Carolina. (Hugo went through western part of state) It took 28 days to get power back. That is 4 weeks! No water or electricity.
The road out to our house from town was completely blocked by fallen trees for 3 weeks. People got around on bikes or by horse. Eventually local farmers hauled the trees to the roadside, tired of waiting for the county to do it. Raleigh itself got most of its power back within a week.
We had our neighbors living with us, my best friend and her family (trailer rolled away about 100 yards before being crushed by a falling tree).
Even a full year later, Raleigh was still continuing to burn a massive pile of debris off of Capital Blvd. -the world's largest bonfire! -like a few football field's worth of trees that had been gathered throughout the city!
And it was just as bad in Durham, Cary, Chapel Hill and the surrounding smaller towns.
So I say prepare to be living on your own for a while...more than just a week's worth of supplies, if you live in a forested area outside the main city limits! It could take a while before you could get modern conveniences back.
Also check on elderly neighbors before and after the storm. Know their plans. They may also need help preparing for the storm in securing their yards.
AND DO NOT LET YOUR PET OUTSIDE TO GO TO THE BATHROOM DURING THE EYE/SLOW DOWN OF THE STORM UNLESS YOU HAVE IT ON A LEASH. -a crack of lightening suddenly shocked my dog and she dashed away. The storm picked way up again and I didn't find her for weeks. She and her other buddies had run into an old barn which toppled on them during the storm, killing most of the neighborhood's pets. Some idiots left their dogs outside, tied up, which they broke free of in thier panic. Others couldn't get them inside in time. Others like me probably thought a quick potty-break was needed. In any case, keep them close to you. They are freaked out too.
0 likes
