Storm Season 2016 (twisters and other scary stuff)

[mathnerd]

Not a storm, but after two years of living in California I experienced my first noticeable earthquake. I was from my front door to my car a bit after 1AM and I heard what I thought was rolling thunder. Then I realized my feet were vibrating and the garage door was rattling. Where I am it wasn't bad at all, and actually barely noticeable, but people just a mile downhill said it was much longer and much stronger; strong enough to wake them out of a deep sleep. Turns out it was a 5.2 centered a bit north of Borrego Springs, which is about 80 miles NE of me.

[notalwaysright]

Hey, I hope everyone who's in Matthew's path is all ready! I'm thinking of you guys.

[DGoddessChardonnay]

Hey, I hope everyone who's in Matthew's path is all ready! I'm thinking of you guys.

I think we're far enough inland (central part of NC) that all we should really see is some rain and wind.

Not planning on going anywhere Saturday. Got to run to the store in the morning for milk/bread/pound of butter and quick run to get a small bottle of e-juice to hold until my online order gets here (due Saturday but hoping tomorrow.)

Been watching local news coverage and at first our governor declared State of Emergency in 66 of our counties (we have 100 total.) Now it's the entire state of NC that's under State of Emergency b/c the weather forecasters still aren't 100% sure of Matthew's path.

Either way, I'll be home enjoying my last couple of days of freedom b/f going back to work on Monday.

[Aragarthiel]

Where I am, we're expecting a bit of rain and wind, but I don't think anyone was expecting flooding. The flood of evacuees, that is. Hotels are completely sold out, the interstate is at a standstill, and people are offering up their yards to anyone who might have a camper or a trailer.

As a side note, my sister goes to school closer to the coast. They're expecting a bit more wind and rain then us and evacuation was recommended by the school- however, classes were not cancelled, and it's midterm week. I'm willing to bet that very, very few students, if any, are going to evacuate, and that it won't end well.

[darkroxas45]

Hey, I hope everyone who's in Matthew's path is all ready! I'm thinking of you guys.

I am ready for him. got food, water, ice, flashlights, and an oil lamp

[Android Kaeli]

I left well ahead of any type of evacuations, had to get a hotel room in bumfucknowhere as any hotels from the coast to about 150-some miles inland were sold out or couldn't take pets [note to self: do NOT evacuate with someone who has pets again].

[DGoddessChardonnay]

I left well ahead of any type of evacuations, had to get a hotel room in bumfucknowhere as any hotels from the coast to about 150-some miles inland were sold out or couldn't take pets [note to self: do NOT evacuate with someone who has pets again].

That's something that's always concerned me whenever we have these evacuations: what happens to the pets? Are there emergency shelters that can harbor them until their owners can return?

So glad I live where I do . . . .it would be hard to get all the furbabies together. Only one largish cat carrier (and we're looking at replacing it soon, as the door is getting rusty) and we have 2 large dogs.

And only one small vehicle.

[EricKei]

Generally, "pet-friendly" shelters will advertise themselves as such, fill up quickly, and (AFAIK) require that the owners stay there with the animals. They're fairly rare. Animal hospitals and such will often offer safe boarding, but that ain't cheap, and, of course, requires that the place will remain staffed; thus, they're usually outside of the immediate danger zone.

[AccountingDrone]

That's something that's always concerned me whenever we have these evacuations: what happens to the pets? Are there emergency shelters that can harbor them until their owners can return?

So glad I live where I do . . . .it would be hard to get all the furbabies together. Only one largish cat carrier (and we're looking at replacing it soon, as the door is getting rusty) and we have 2 large dogs.

And only one small vehicle.

I lucked into getting a pair of penguin transport cages [48"x36"x36" with tray insert] and with 4 inside cats it works - you put a cat hammock in the upper end of each cage, a small litter pan in the bottom of each cage, and the 2 corner food/water bowls that clamp into the mesh of the cage and you have 2 cat condos =) Both will comfortably fit into the mom-van with the army cot bungee corded into place. # large plastic bins holding spare litter, food, gallons of water and people supplies slide in under the cot and the momvan fits 2 adults, 4 cats and can be lived in temporarily [I have no issue sleeping in the semi reclined drivers seat, freeing up the cot for whomever else is with me, or we can hot rack the cot =) ] and it has the cargo rails on the roof, with the thule cargo carrier. We tend to leave the tent, a second cot, and assorted camp gear in the carrier to containerize it. My luggage is a medium molle pack =) Since the house fire, most of my life is containerized into my phone, a tablet and a laptop, and pretty much every scrap of clothing I own fits into a medium molle or straps to the outside of a molle pack. I am a pretty stripped for action, ride or die bitch. [and yes, I tend to go everywhere except banks and federal buildings with a gun and a knife, I am a firm 2nd amendment person though I have no issue with the various gun safety courses and passing a clearance deal - had security clearances since I was 16 of various levels. Rob and I agree we would rather have him bail me out than ID me at a morgue, I had a stalker for the better part of 30 years thank Ghu he died a couple years back<of natural causes, damned the bad luck. Pity nobody tortured him like he tortured me.>]

Why yes, I do have experience being evacuated from hurricane zones =) and Rob spent several shore duty periods being a disaster coordinator for his divisions =)

[Android Kaeli]

That's something that's always concerned me whenever we have these evacuations: what happens to the pets? Are there emergency shelters that can harbor them until their owners can return?

So glad I live where I do . . . .it would be hard to get all the furbabies together. Only one largish cat carrier (and we're looking at replacing it soon, as the door is getting rusty) and we have 2 large dogs.

And only one small vehicle.

I don't have any animals myself but from what I've seen, anyone who's looking for a pet friendly emergency shelter has better odds of winning the lottery then finding one. Basically they are few, far between, and only allow maybe a few pets at best -- this year was the first I've heard of shelters allowing animals. The same goes for pet friendly hotels that aren't 1. expensive AND 2. don't tack on a very high pet tax [the one I'm at is cheap at $20 a day PER pet, others were $30+ more a day].

[Jack T. Chance]

There's at least 1 long-time CSer that I know now lives in Florida, but they've deactivated their Facebook account and haven't actually posted here in months. Only time will tell if they'll check in and let us know they're still alive and (hopefully) safe & sound.

[notalwaysright]

I worry how my cat would deal if I had to evacuate. He's very good with his litter box, although I've had some incidents, but they've always been in other box-shaped things. So it's hard to say it was his fault. He's a bit of a terror if you try to keep him in a room. Or out of a room. He will wait until you're gone and rip up the carpet trying to get in or out.

So even if I was able to stay at a friend/relative's house, I'd have to watch him like a hawk. They wouldn't know not to leave a random cardboard box out overnight... He also has a history of pulling his fur out and biting his belly until he creates sores. He stopped after I switched foods, but I think it was at least partly caused by stress. So... Lets just hope for no evacuations for like 10 years, 'kay? The only reason I could think of is if we had an earthquake. It would be unlikely (but possible) to have a fire, or flood. No hurricanes or tornadoes here. I'm not in the path of a lahar from a volcano, though I know people who are.

[Aragarthiel]

I don't have any animals myself but from what I've seen, anyone who's looking for a pet friendly emergency shelter has better odds of winning the lottery then finding one.

Being just outside of the major area of impact and therefore in an area with a lot of evacuees, I got some insight into this. Our local news's Facebook page blew up with people offering to host evacuee families and their pets, and there was even one person offering to temporary stable horses, all for free. A similar thing happened a couple years ago when Atlanta was snowed in for several days, people near the areas where traffic was at a standstill overnight were all over Facebook offering their homes to families, and even people farther away were offering use of their 4WD vehicles to go and get families. I remember watching it as it was happening and it was utterly amazing how many people were trying to help out.

So if anyone ever needs to evacuate like that, I'd recommend checking out the Facebook page for news stations in the area you're going to.

[protege]

Up here in PA, we usually get the tail end of any storms. So far though, all we've seen is some heavy rain and black skies. Other than some trees coming down, damage has been pretty minor. I hope that those of you in the storm's path are safe.