Welcome to DU! The truly grassroots left-of-center political community where regular people, not algorithms, drive the discussions and set the standards. Join the community: Create a free account Support DU (and get rid of ads!): Become a Star Member Latest Breaking News General Discussion The DU Lounge All Forums Issue Forums Culture Forums Alliance Forums Region Forums Support Forums Help & Search
65 replies = new reply since forum marked as read
Highlight: NoneDon't highlight anything 5 newestHighlight 5 most recent replies
Matthew is the strongest hurricane to hit the US since (Original Post) malaise Oct 2016 OP
Katrina jehop61 Oct 2016 #1
Yep - this one is a biggie malaise Oct 2016 #2
Katrina was cat 3 at landfall Beausoleil Oct 2016 #12
Correct malaise Oct 2016 #18
Kennedy Space Center is going to get hammered! VMA131Marine Oct 2016 #3
Mandatory evacuations from St Augustine malaise Oct 2016 #9
Cat 5s exboyfil Oct 2016 #4
I remember Miami Dade after Andrew malaise Oct 2016 #6
I was in Andrew dmr Oct 2016 #13
Glad you're away from this mess malaise Oct 2016 #16
I'm up high and very dry in NM Warpy Oct 2016 #30
As a FL native I've been in a few hurricanes myself. Scary AF. We never Nay Oct 2016 #64
Me too mcar Oct 2016 #19
I was on Biloxi during Camille. pangaia Oct 2016 #51
In the NC mountains now, but, always thinking of my island and coastal pals. blm Oct 2016 #5
Look out jehop61 Oct 2016 #7
Biggest loss of life in Virginia due to a hurricane 1939 Oct 2016 #61
Lots of power cuts in Florida already malaise Oct 2016 #8
Matthew kinda reminds me of Floyd - TONS of rain for many days. blm Oct 2016 #11
Floyd was huge malaise Oct 2016 #14
Yeah, in terms of the soaking it was huge and covered more land area in US than most. blm Oct 2016 #22
Unbelievable malaise Oct 2016 #31
very happy you are safe...n/t chillfactor Oct 2016 #27
I am thinking Andrew. boston bean Oct 2016 #10
Andrew was not pre-internet csziggy Oct 2016 #15
Back then you got lots of great stuff for free on line malaise Oct 2016 #17
It depended on where you wanted to go - Compuserve was a pay service csziggy Oct 2016 #23
14.4kbs malaise Oct 2016 #28
TAPCIS!! blaze Oct 2016 #36
I still have some 3.5" TAPCIS floppies around somewhere csziggy Oct 2016 #37
True but Andrew was ages before Katrina malaise Oct 2016 #21
My oldest (and only at the time) was 5 mcar Oct 2016 #45
I was able to prepare my sis and her family in Kendal malaise Oct 2016 #65
My son is in Orlando mcar Oct 2016 #20
There are people who will never move malaise Oct 2016 #24
Some don't have much option mcar Oct 2016 #25
I'm talking about the stubborn ones malaise Oct 2016 #26
all too often they assume people have a place to go Skittles Oct 2016 #42
Holy shit. sheshe2 Oct 2016 #44
They should be fine, she mcar Oct 2016 #46
Thanks mcar. sheshe2 Oct 2016 #49
It'll be a long night mcar Oct 2016 #50
Orlando should be fine unless you are in an old home or mobile home or very low-lying area steve2470 Oct 2016 #54
I am hoping it doesnt make a loop and return for a direct hit. Thinkingabout Oct 2016 #29
Everyone is worried about that malaise Oct 2016 #32
This is the prediction for next Wed. dixiegrrrrl Oct 2016 #35
Fortunately it will be a glancing blow Gman Oct 2016 #33
Central FLorida will take a hit malaise Oct 2016 #34
we evacuated from Daytona area yesterday - sitting now in Tampa watching the weather channel DrDan Oct 2016 #38
Stay safe malaise Oct 2016 #40
thank you DrDan Oct 2016 #43
Latest from Jeff Masters -With or Without a Landfall, Category 4 Matthew Will Pose an Extreme Threat malaise Oct 2016 #48
I'm glad you left mcar Oct 2016 #47
Been in Fl for 34 years and this is the worst DrDan Oct 2016 #63
hope your house is ok, I am in Orlando steve2470 Oct 2016 #56
Thanks - hope the same for you DrDan Oct 2016 #62
Great that you are well. Mendocino Oct 2016 #39
Thanks malaise Oct 2016 #41
This message was self-deleted by its author kestrel91316 Oct 2016 #52
you must have just fixed it :p nt steve2470 Oct 2016 #57
This message was self-deleted by its author kestrel91316 Oct 2016 #59
wow stay safe DU'ers gopiscrap Oct 2016 #53
latest radar of Matthew steve2470 Oct 2016 #55
BBC: At least 339 dead in Haiti. moondust Oct 2016 #58
They got the worst of it and they are the least malaise Oct 2016 #60

jehop61

(1,735 posts)
1. Katrina
Thu Oct 6, 2016, 03:30 PM
Oct 2016

Was a Cat two or one at landfall. The breaking of the dams caused most of the damage. But this is much stronger unfortunately.

Beausoleil

(2,843 posts)
12. Katrina was cat 3 at landfall
Thu Oct 6, 2016, 03:56 PM
Oct 2016

With 120 MPH winds.
Horrific damage along the Mississippi coast, Slidel, LA was almost completely wiped out.
This was no Cat 1.

malaise

(268,944 posts)
18. Correct
Thu Oct 6, 2016, 04:18 PM
Oct 2016

Now look at this
Hurricane Warnings are now in place from Broward County, Florida, to Ediston Beach, South Carolina. As of 2 pm EDT Thursday, Matthew’s sustained winds were holding at 140 mph, with the storm located about 125 miles east-southeast of West Palm Beach, Florida.

https://www.wunderground.com/blog/JeffMasters/comment.html?entrynum=3468

VMA131Marine

(4,138 posts)
3. Kennedy Space Center is going to get hammered!
Thu Oct 6, 2016, 03:34 PM
Oct 2016

The NHC storm surge map shows the whole area being inundated.

exboyfil

(17,862 posts)
4. Cat 5s
Thu Oct 6, 2016, 03:34 PM
Oct 2016

Andrew and Camille in recent history. Camille was a legend when I moved to Mississippi in the late 1970s.

This one is going to ride up the coast of eastern Florida. It could be worst than Andrew.

dmr

(28,347 posts)
13. I was in Andrew
Thu Oct 6, 2016, 04:04 PM
Oct 2016

boy, I won't forget it either. The aftermath was awful. The things I saw gave me nightmares.

I heard the weather guy say this morning that Mathew could go from Category 4 to Category 5 very rapidly. He also said this would be the strongest hurricane to hit the Florida coastline since they started gathering statistics in 1850.

It's frightening. My thoughts, prayers and comforting hugs for everyone's safety.


We're fortunate to have President Obama in office. Poppy Bush (Andrew) & GW Bush (Katrina) were failures in getting the gears of the Federal government going to assist the victims.

I can feel my anxiety level skyrocketing from past hurricane memories, --- thankfully I'm now safely tucked away in Northern Michigan.


Warpy

(111,245 posts)
30. I'm up high and very dry in NM
Thu Oct 6, 2016, 04:32 PM
Oct 2016

but I remember a lot of east coast hurricanes. Hazel is the first one I remember clearly, probably because they kept us in school because a brick building was safer. Then all the oak trees surrounding it started to fall on top of it and we had to be evacuated elsewhere.

But yeah, if you've been in one, you tend to have a few flashbacks here and there when another big one hits, especially when it hits someplace you're very familiar with.

And yes, the people in Florida are fortunate Obama is in the White House. Republicans use FEMA as a dumping ground for incompetents they owe favors to. Democrats staff it with professionals who know how to deal with disasters.

Nay

(12,051 posts)
64. As a FL native I've been in a few hurricanes myself. Scary AF. We never
Fri Oct 7, 2016, 12:12 PM
Oct 2016

were blase about them; we always evacuated. It was always interesting to come back home and see all the interesting stuff that came ashore in the hurricane!

jehop61

(1,735 posts)
7. Look out
Thu Oct 6, 2016, 03:43 PM
Oct 2016

When we lived in Murphy, hurricane on the coast caused rain and mudslides that destroyed several mountain homes.

1939

(1,683 posts)
61. Biggest loss of life in Virginia due to a hurricane
Fri Oct 7, 2016, 06:31 AM
Oct 2016

Was one (forget the name and year, maybe Camille) that came ashore in the Gulf and tracked up the Appalachian Mountain chain. Many lives lost due to flash flooding in the mountains.

malaise

(268,944 posts)
8. Lots of power cuts in Florida already
Thu Oct 6, 2016, 03:43 PM
Oct 2016

Matthew is huge

I'm seeing rain bands in Fort Myers. We're still getting rain associated with Matthew in Jamaica.


Notice that there are two hurricanes in the Atlantic - Nicole is heading for Bermuda

malaise

(268,944 posts)
14. Floyd was huge
Thu Oct 6, 2016, 04:04 PM
Oct 2016

In terms of the US coastal track and strength they are very similar, but Floyd never entered the Caribbean.

boston bean

(36,221 posts)
10. I am thinking Andrew.
Thu Oct 6, 2016, 03:53 PM
Oct 2016

Lots of people forget that one. It was pre internet. Miles upon miles of houses looking thie spikt matchsticms. It was bad!

csziggy

(34,136 posts)
15. Andrew was not pre-internet
Thu Oct 6, 2016, 04:05 PM
Oct 2016

I remember checking on people I knew from Compuserve forums - a few we never heard back from. The ones we did hear from - weeks later - were still shell shocked and some had lost everything.

The year after Andrew hit, a teenager wrote an excellent paper about the effects of the storm on livestock. I have a copy I downloaded from the internet to use as a guide for making improvements on my farm. There was a lot of other information available on the internet about home construction, safety recommendations and other tips for surviving storms.

Maybe Andrew was pre world wide web but it certainly was not pre-internet!

malaise

(268,944 posts)
17. Back then you got lots of great stuff for free on line
Thu Oct 6, 2016, 04:09 PM
Oct 2016

I remember the old black screen - dos it was - some had green script.

csziggy

(34,136 posts)
23. It depended on where you wanted to go - Compuserve was a pay service
Thu Oct 6, 2016, 04:21 PM
Oct 2016

Something like $2 an hour. For the forums there was a great piece of software - TAPCIS (The Access Program for Compuserve Information Service) - that let you go online, download the thread subject lines, offline mark the threads you wanted to read, go back online to pick up the threads. Then you could spend however much time you wanted reading and responding to the threads, and then spend a few minutes uploading the responses. With TAPCIS many users paid $5 a month for a minimal number of hours and never used up their time.

Between having to subscribe to a pay service for most seriously informative sites and having to pay an ISP for access, pay for an extra phone line (unless you didn't need to take calls), the internet was not cheap back then. When we first started, we paid $50 for 300 baud speed - by the time the world wide web started we were up to 14.4 kbs! At that speed and with our poor internet connections, the web was not very much fun to use - way too slow for most pages to load and too many time outs.

For many years even those slow speeds were not reliable in my rural location. On the dirt road down the way from the farm on a curve there was a big mud puddle. Coming up out of the puddle were two cable ends, taped together and to a big stick in the mud. A huge wad of duct tape attempted to keep the splice in the telephone cable dry. Sometimes a passing vehicle would hit the stick and douse the splice in the mud. Sometimes it rained too hard and the stick simply slumped over. Either way we'd lose our internet connection and the telephone line was not very reliable, either.

The telephone line was like that up to the point the road was paved - then they put in new cables and the connections were much more consistent. Soon after, they ran fiber optic down the road and we got DSL broadband.

malaise

(268,944 posts)
28. 14.4kbs
Thu Oct 6, 2016, 04:27 PM
Oct 2016

Down memory lane. I lived near UWI back then so we had 'decent' (or we thought it was decent) service. Now I'd turn it off.

csziggy

(34,136 posts)
37. I still have some 3.5" TAPCIS floppies around somewhere
Thu Oct 6, 2016, 06:47 PM
Oct 2016

I think I threw away the 5.25" ones a long time ago. Not sure if he is still using it, but for years my husband used the box one of the versions of TAPCIS came in to carry his AD&D dice around in.

Heck, I still have The Source notebook here somewhere - that was the pay service I used before Compuserve bought it.

malaise

(268,944 posts)
21. True but Andrew was ages before Katrina
Thu Oct 6, 2016, 04:21 PM
Oct 2016

Andrew was 1992. One of my Miami nephews was reminding me that he was nearly four and found things flying around exciting. That's his only memory.

mcar

(42,302 posts)
45. My oldest (and only at the time) was 5
Thu Oct 6, 2016, 08:27 PM
Oct 2016

We put him on a mattress in the walk in closet in our NW Dade apartment. He slept through it all. I was terrified and we northern transplants were woefully unprepared.

malaise

(268,944 posts)
65. I was able to prepare my sis and her family in Kendal
Sat Oct 8, 2016, 08:21 AM
Oct 2016

because of my Gilbert experience. Her place survived while most of her neighbors had serious damage.

mcar

(42,302 posts)
20. My son is in Orlando
Thu Oct 6, 2016, 04:20 PM
Oct 2016

I wanted him to come here to west central FL but he said the roads are too packed.

I cannot believe some people are staying on the coast.

Skittles

(153,150 posts)
42. all too often they assume people have a place to go
Thu Oct 6, 2016, 06:54 PM
Oct 2016

or just have a lot of spare cash

I hope there are adequate shelters

sheshe2

(83,746 posts)
44. Holy shit.
Thu Oct 6, 2016, 07:50 PM
Oct 2016

Orlando is in play? I thought it was mostly East Coast. My nephew and wife are there for a very delayed honeymoon.

mcar

(42,302 posts)
46. They should be fine, she
Thu Oct 6, 2016, 08:30 PM
Oct 2016

Depends on the strength of those bands but they'll get rain and lots of wind. They could lose power in spots. Lots of folks on the Atlantic coast have headed to Orlando and parts west and north. Thus, the traffic. I just wanted my chick home under my wing.

sheshe2

(83,746 posts)
49. Thanks mcar.
Thu Oct 6, 2016, 09:11 PM
Oct 2016

I understand the chick being home under your wing, thing.

Stay safe everyone. This sounds scary.

Hugs!

steve2470

(37,457 posts)
54. Orlando should be fine unless you are in an old home or mobile home or very low-lying area
Thu Oct 6, 2016, 11:40 PM
Oct 2016

Now, if you're east of Orlando or on the coast, time to worry.

malaise

(268,944 posts)
32. Everyone is worried about that
Thu Oct 6, 2016, 04:34 PM
Oct 2016

Matthew will be retired along with Don the Con after both complete their cycle of destruction

Gman

(24,780 posts)
33. Fortunately it will be a glancing blow
Thu Oct 6, 2016, 05:00 PM
Oct 2016

Bad enough right along the coast. But a direct hit would put a lot of people at risk many miles inland.

DrDan

(20,411 posts)
38. we evacuated from Daytona area yesterday - sitting now in Tampa watching the weather channel
Thu Oct 6, 2016, 06:50 PM
Oct 2016

it seems to be headed directly to our house . . .

malaise

(268,944 posts)
48. Latest from Jeff Masters -With or Without a Landfall, Category 4 Matthew Will Pose an Extreme Threat
Thu Oct 6, 2016, 08:34 PM
Oct 2016
https://www.wunderground.com/blog/JeffMasters/comment.html?entrynum=3469
<snip>
NHC’s Hurricane Warning as of 8 pm extended from Boca Raton, FL, to South Santee River, SC, including Lake Okeechobee and Orlando. As of 8 pm EDT, Matthew was moving toward the northwest, but slightly more northward than westward, at about 13 mph. Given that Matthew was then located about 75 miles east of Palm Beach, we can be confident that Matthew will not make landfall south of Palm Beach. (A reminder: NHC defines landfall as the center of a tropical cyclone reaching the coast. A hurricane’s eyewall can move along the coast without it being considered landfall of the storm itself.)

Matthew’s path should undergo a very gradual rightward arc as it approaches the angled Florida coast, which makes it very difficult to say exactly where landfall might occur. The more important question may be where Matthew’s strongest winds come ashore. Especially if Matthew undergoes an ERC, parts of its eyewall could affect the entire coastline from around Palm Beach north to the Georgia coast for extended periods, although these winds may only be around Category 1 strength. A broader field of sustained winds above tropical-storm strength (39 mph) can be expected well inland, including Lake Okeechobee and the Orlando area. As we discussed in our our post on Wednesday morning, the most likely point for landfall--if landfall occurs--is Cape Canaveral, which juts about 10-15 miles into the Atlantic.

Extreme storm surge possible in northern Florida, Georgia, and South Carolina
Even a broader, weaker Matthew would retain its ability to produce severe storm surge north of its path, especially along Florida’s First Coast (including St. Augustine and Jacksonville) and the coast of Georgia. As of late Thursday afternoon, the entire coast from near Boca Raton, FL, to Cat Island, SC, was under a storm surge warning under a prototype NHC system expected to become operational next year. As Matthew churns northward, the northeast winds ahead of it will pile water against the coastline, leading to what could be record or near-record storm surges in some areas.

DrDan

(20,411 posts)
63. Been in Fl for 34 years and this is the worst
Fri Oct 7, 2016, 08:04 AM
Oct 2016

Storm we have seen

We have evacuated a number of times but never to Tampa

Mendocino

(7,486 posts)
39. Great that you are well.
Thu Oct 6, 2016, 06:50 PM
Oct 2016

My sister and BIL have evacuated from coastal South Carolina to inland Georgia.

Response to malaise (Original post)

Response to steve2470 (Reply #57)

Latest Discussions»General Discussion»Matthew is the strongest ...