Ivan will bring rain - let's all go crazy.

[South Texan]

IKE is about to hit the Texas coast (yes, I wrote the wrong name in the title and this post originally). It probably will hit the Galveston/Houston area. It will dump a lot of rain and will bring about high winds far inland. The damage and devastation to that area might be horrific. It will miss my city in all likelihood, however, and we only will see an inch of rain and some elevated winds at the most.

Well… at least that is what the National Hurricane Center and all the weather reports are saying. If I were to go by the hysteria I witnessed in the grocery store today, Armageddon is just around the corner.

EVERY jug and bottle of water was gone. Canned goods were almost all gone. Bread was almost sold out. (So were chocolate and beer!) Batteries and flashlights were in scarce supply. Super aggressive people were pushing carts around in a panic as if the storm was imminent. Home Depot was on the news showing almost all of its generators were gone – although the clerk in the report said he was predicting that most of them would be returned Monday morning.

If we were in the path of the hurricane, I might understand this hysteria to an extent - and I am NOT making light of the plight of those in its path, but all we are going to see here is some rain. This Chicken Little reaction is almost silly to watch.

[Crawley]

Wow! Hurricane Ivan still going strong after 4 years! That's amazing!

[South Texan]

Wow! Hurricane Ivan still going strong after 4 years! That's amazing!

AAAAAAAAAAH!!!!! Sometimes I really pull a boner, don't I?

Yes. The hurricane is Ike.

[Bramblerose]

People. Go fig.

Yeah, I remember a weekend we were to get snow. My concession? A thick library book. Then we went by the store to get a couple things- probably snacks or something simple to add to dinner.

The lines were Thanksgiving-esque.

Dude, plain snow, not Iditerod-requiring type storms.

I'm just glad none of the Texans are being shipped to Chaffee! I get my husband back Monday!

[loveisuneven]

mass hysteria

i'm nearby the hurricane path too
i went to albertson's last night after work.. which is never busy, and there was literally no bread
and i actually needed bread, because we ran out...
note to self, don't try to do regular grocery shopping when we might get 5 inches of rain and 50 mph winds......

at least nobody was being a bitch about the long lines

[DevilBoy]

The experience here is very similar every winter.
The first hint that there might be a few snow flurries in the forecast... and within an hour or so, every grocery store is out of bread, milk, water, etc.

I've always wondered... what do these people do with all the loaves of bread they buy?
What is it about inclement weather that compels people to purchase every loaf of bread at the local grocery store?
Why do they need all of this bread, just because of some heavy rain or snow flurries?!?!?

[loveisuneven]

i'm thinking they use the loaves of bread like sandbags to keep the water out
or in the snow situation, as insulation?

[Moggie]

Yeah I'm Central Texas too. I figure I can live on rum and graham crackers this weekend. It'll be safer then risking my life for a loaf of bread and some bottled water.

[ShadedWings]

Westernish TX here.. and yeah, tons of rain. So much so that the ceiling in the bedroom is leaking slowly and the fireplace has been acting like a water faucet. *sigh* Then one of the buckets near the fireplace got knocked over.

And this is still happening AFTER the last rains, when we told the apartment office/maintainance that the ceiling/fireplace was leaking. Which was probably about 2-3 weeks ago. "Oh we'll look at it when it's not raining anymore" was the reply, back then. I think it was dry for a while before Ike's rain hit. *mutter*

/back ontopic

I don't get people who feel the need to stock up. I never have and probably never will unless something catastrophic is about to happen, like nuclear war or something that will actually cause stores to close for weeks. (Just an example. ) I figure... if flooding/"disaster" is that bad, I'll leave the area, to somewhere that HAS supplies.

Too tired. Must go sleep, not post. *sighs at self*

[jedimaster91]

Everyone in my city remembers the HUGE snowstorm of '95. We got slammed with over two feet of snow--which doesn't really seem like a lot, but for us it is--and then the temperature plummeted to -20F for a week. The whole city was shut down. Now, we only get enough snow for ONE snowball once every few years, but the way people buy bread and milk around here if the weather guy even MENTIONS the S-word, you'd think we lived at the North Pole.

Crazy, I tell ya.

[Pinkie]

I'm waaaay up north in mid-Michigan, and for some stupid reason, people are going freakin' nuts over GAS!! There's rumors of $5 gas because of the big scary hurricane. Since I only have about a quarter tank of gas, hubby says I should go fill up, so I put on some shoes, and go. All I find is great big "cluster-fucks" at or near any gas station, so I decided to quit wasting what gas I had, and save my sanity (what's left of it) and came home with no gas. I figure, it will go up for a few days, maybe. I'll pay a little extra for a few gallons to get me by, then it will come back down and I'll fill up.

What a bunch of flippin' idiots.

[Irving Patrick Freleigh]

Rumors were flying that gas would go way up when Gustav hit, and it never did. Didn't stop me from making a special trip to gas up, though.

Whatever happens to the price of gas won't be a surprise to me and won't affect me. I gassed up this morning, but that was because I had a quarter tank left, not because I expected prices to go up.

[lupo pazzesco]

I go to school in houston. I evacuated to San Antonio because I didnt' want to deal with all the stupid people there going zomgs I have no BEANS!!!!!! (Had that happen during Rita...)

I am worried about my apartment, though. I prepped it as best I could, but still. People annoy me. It's a storm. It will be bad. Going bat shit crazy isn't helping ANYONE. Yeesh...

[Chromatix]

I've been known to go shopping in the middle of a blizzard. On foot.

Honestly, the most dangerous thing about a blizzard is the possibility of getting lost, because the visibility is so poor (and sometimes deceptive). Which isn't very likely in the middle of a city.

The next most dangerous thing about a blizzard - or rather, about new snow-fall - is that the roads haven't been cleared of it yet, and the people driving in it are mostly the hordes of people who were rushing home to try and beat it (and failing miserably), because they don't know how to drive in snow.

My advice to Americans is: stock up on tinned soup, and keep that stock full. Also keep a camping stove and a couple of small LPG tanks to heat it with. Then you won't have to panic, see? You can just stay indoors and wait it out.

Unless your house blows to pieces, that is. But if it's that bad, you should have evacuated. Or built your house better.

Floods? Don't buy or build in a floodplain, you idiots.

[been_there]

I grew up in the northeastern US and also saw grocery store blizzard hysteria. Each time a significant accumulation was predicted, the local news channels would dash to the grocery stores to tape people getting wild.

It was always the same: a rush on bread, eggs, and milk. I always envisioned people stuffing themselves with french toast.