<death glare to H. Irene>

[Seshat]

Not entirely true....if the window breaks, it could keep the pieces together, rather than scattered or shattered. That being said, taping windows is otherwise completely ineffective against hurricanes, which is why people who know what the hell they're doing BOARD UP their windows. Duct tape may FIX everything, but it sure as fuck won't stop debris from breaking through a window!

Atlantic: hurricanes. North Pacific: typhoons. South Pacific (where I grew up): cyclones.

The BIG danger is debris. And in the really dangerous ones, 'debris' can be entire trees that have been yanked out of the ground, or chunks of building. Taping a window is going to do nothing to prevent those from coming through.

Storm shutters is your safety feature. Ideally, you want one of those 'tornado safety rooms' - the same design should work just fine as a hurricane safety room, as long as it's above flood level.

I've also heard of people who've designed and built entirely hurricane-proof houses; usually with an aerodynamic concrete outer shell. Dome buildings seem to be particularly resistant.

I spent about a year sneering at people in the South who freaked the fuck out every time there was even a threat of a little bit of snow sometime in the week maybe, until someone pointed out the obvious: These people didn't get much snow. The city I lived in didn't even OWN a snowplow. They'd never needed one. They had no budget for snow removal, their buildings weren't built to bear the weight, no one had snow tires, there probably wasn't enough heating oil in the area to last through a prolonged cold snap, and pipes were going to freeze all over the county.

Yes, that's the thing, isn't it?

Where I am, we build for fire and for gale force winds. Where my parents are, they build for fire, cyclones, and thunderstorms that bring hail a little smaller than tennis balls.

Both our towns would be utterly crippled by snow.

Oftentimes when hurricanes come through here, many businesses, even bars, close. Of course, not ALL the bars close, which is why we all eventually end up at the ones that don't.

Not all that bad a plan, actually. Collect everyone into a few well-built, safe buildings, so you know where everyone is and if there's a medical emergency, there's people around to help them.

I'd suggest having the medicos who join these parties bring their full kits, and the bar staff can keep them (labelled with the owner's name) safely in the back.

[fireheart]

One of my friends posted this gem on Facebook this afternoon (my time). Just thought I'd share with everyone:

ATTENTION: As Hurricane Irene batters the East Coast, federal disaster officials warned that Internet outages could force people to interact with other people for the first time in years. Residents braced themselves for the horror of awkward silences and unwanted eye contact. FEMA advised: “Be prepared. Write down possible topics to talk about in advance. Sports...the weather. Remember, a conversation is basically a series of Facebook updates strung together.”

[BookstoreEscapee]

Hope your stock is okay, Kia. >_>
I hope the coastal cities are alright... and like I heard elsewhere, it's not the wind, but the water that gets you (and the infrastructure). I have visions of New Yorkers accidentally drinking saltwater. bleh. Glad I'm only in danger of a super-volcano that will wipe out everything from the Great Divide west.

The power people in NYC (ConEdison) may shut down power to some areas if the flooding gets bad because of the danger of salt water corroding the lines and equipment. They haven't done it yet, though.

Dome buildings seem to be particularly resistant.

My coworker lives in a geodesic dome house. He has a roof problem, though. Hope it holds up.

My mom said the cats seemed to be "sensing doom" when the wind started to get bad earlier.

It's been fairly calm here for the last hour or so (though the wind seems to be picking up again now). Gonna try to get a little sleep before it gets bad again.

[Cat]

Still have power here. I-95 and the Merritt Parkway have completely shut down in CT due to debris (guess I'm wfh tomorrow, those roads are the only way in for me)

[draggar]

Right now she's just a little souteast of New York City. She's probably pushing water from north and south of Long Island right into NYC and metro Jersey. NE Jersery, Metro NY, and southern CT are now in a tornado watch.

The worst parts now seem like:

Albany, NY and down 87 to Yonkers - heading W or SW.
Strong band coming into the 95/395 split into CT
Most of western CT
Band moving across Mass & another into southern VT and NH.
Another just NW of Portland, ME heading NNW.

It's just baffling seeing the SIZE of her as well as how slowly she's moving.

They're saying she's a triple threat still - surge, lots of rain (flooding) and prolonged exposure to wind. It's hard to see where the center of the storm is now - the back end has little to no moisture so it's all just wind.

[Cat]

My parents are one town over form me.....they lost power, heavy branches, and on tree.


Still just wind and rain here....lights flickering. Cats indifferent. One of my parents dogs hates storm, and have been following my mom around for a few days. The pup is now cowering in her kennel.

[BookstoreEscapee]

We only lost power once last night, for less than a minute. It's pretty calm right now; lots of branches down that I can see from my balcony, but nothing major. I must have slept through the worst of it. I went to bed a little before 3 and woke up around 8:30.

My parents got water in the basement, and they got a leak in the roof with some ceiling damage in the living room. Hope that's not gonna be a major fix.

[draggar]

We only lost power once last night, for less than a minute. It's pretty calm right now; lots of branches down that I can see from my balcony, but nothing major. I must have slept through the worst of it. I went to bed a little before 3 and woke up around 8:30.

My parents got water in the basement, and they got a leak in the roof with some ceiling damage in the living room. Hope that's not gonna be a major fix.

The radar looks like she's picking up speed. the 8am update had her over Tinton Falls, NJ and behind her is mostly no rain but some wind. Looks like the worst is over for the southern 2/3 of New Jersey but there may be a repeat of what happened in Floyd (flooding in Bound Brook a day or two later) with the amount of rain up north.

Looks like the center may be passing into New York City now.

It also looks some some very bad weather is moving though Rhode Island now. Other strong squalls north of Concord, NH and the eastern coast of Maine (Belfast, Elsworth, Bar Harbor up into Saint John (New Brunswick, Canada)

Edit> Strong storms in Lowell, MA heading north. That squall in RI actually is very worrying, it reminds me a lot of the "back eyewall" that kicked Broward County's ass in 2005 from Wilma.

[BookstoreEscapee]

The news is around NYC; in Manhattan Beach, Brooklyn at the moment checking out flooding. A minute ago they were somewhere else watching water pour onto the street. Not sure where that was, though.

[Jester]

Not all that bad a plan, actually. Collect everyone into a few well-built, safe buildings, so you know where everyone is and if there's a medical emergency, there's people around to help them.

I'd suggest having the medicos who join these parties bring their full kits, and the bar staff can keep them (labelled with the owner's name) safely in the back.

I read all this, and was chuckling the whole time.

Why? Do I find it to be a badly thought-out plan? Not at all. It is sensible, smart, forward thinking...and completely unlike anything that actually happens.

In reality, a lot of the bars that stay open are the ones that are semi-open air, often the tiki type, with something vaguely resembling roofs, or covering above with some plastic flaps for the sides. Including at least one bar that I have, on multiple occasions, described as being held together with duct tape and string. On which I have been corrected by longtime denizens of said bar, who reminded me that it is being held together with old duct tape and string.

The medicos are usually not there, as they are usually on duty and on high alert (which is fine, because there are idiots out there that will require the attention of said medicos, not to mention medical issues unrelated to storm stupidity), or, alternately, the off-duty medicos are there drinking it up with the rest of us.

And we may bar hop, running between the rain drops and dodging the folks paddle boarding or even on occasion jet-skiing down the street to get from one dodgy bar to another dodgy bar. Well, running may be exaggerating, as we've already been swilling for quite some time. It's more like a semi-jog, just fast enough to stay dry, but slow enough to not spill the drinks still in our hands. And to duck out of the way of any eels that may have been thrown from the ocean into the trees downtown. And some of the more interesting citizens will dress up in amusing and imaginative costumes while they are doing all of this. And we do all of it naked.

Okay, I'm exaggerating above. Most people don't do it naked. But other than that one embellishment, every single item in the above paragraph has happened at some point or another in the last 12 years of my living here in Hurricane Alley.

"Well-built, safe building."

[protege]

We don't get hurricanes here in Pennsylvania. However, we do occasionally get heavy rains and flooding. After the St. Patrick's Day Flood in '36, the state put massive flood control projects in place. We do have 3 rivers here, after all. These are photos from when Ivan tore through here in 2004.

[draggar]

I have to give a " not safe for work" warning on this but it is hilarious!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pY4gJ...layer_embedded

[Severen13]

Fine and dandy over here. The rain has stopped but it's still very windy.

[BookstoreEscapee]

I have to give a " not safe for work" warning on this but it is hilarious!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pY4gJ...layer_embedded

I remember that reporter but I didn't see that part!


/part, heh

[KiaKat]

We're flooding a bit here, but it's not terrible, and the wind is minimal. We lost internet for a bit this morning, but the power has stayed on.

Torrential downpours, though. And terrified kittehs under the bed.

And some work drahmah, but I'll share that another time.