How many people who now live in the path of hurricanes

[hedgehog]

have never gone through a hurricane themselves and have no family members who have gone through a hurricane?

This was inspired by a comment on another thread about how someone's family prepared for hurricane season back when they were a kid. Since hurricanes seem to come through any one area only every 20 to 40 years, and since a lot of people have moved to the coasts in the past 20 to 40 years, it makes sense to me that there are a lot of people who have no personal experience or family lore to guide them through a hurricane.

Now me and mine, we know how to behave when winter hits the Snow Belt. We start to do things like always having at least half a tank of gas, plenty of milk and bread and a two or three day supply of anything else we might need, never leaving the house without wearing boots or throwing a pair into the car, etc. We don't panic with every snow flake, but we watch the weather channel and make plans accordingly.

[annabanana]

1. that would be me

south shore long Island...

[hedgehog]

3. Excellent point there! I wonder how many people in your area are aware that

hurricanes can track that far north along the coast?


BTW - is the only evac route through Manhattan?

[Warpy]

13. Long Island is wide enough

that most schools and other stout buildings on the north shore would provide adequate shelter.

Remember, it's the storm surge that kills. I don't see NY being hit by more than a Cat. 2 because of the hundreds of miles cold water it would travel over once the Gulf Stream heads out to sea. Only the south shore would be particularly affected.

The real problem with a NY hurricane is not Long Island, it's having one go up just to the west of Manhattan, pushing the majority of the surge right up New York harbor. A great deal of the city, especially the financial district, would be flooded. It would take a very long time to pump out the subways, restore power, and clean up all the electronic infrastructure. The New York Stock exchange would be obliterated for days, maybe weeks.

That's the scenario of the 1938 hurricane, one that pushed the storm surge up through Narragansett Bay and into Providence.

[halobeam]

14. southshore Long Island here too.....

We are aware, but most are in denial, that it could one day be catastrophic. They are fools. A strong Cat 2 or Cat 3 hitting at a 90 degree angle into Manhattan is what they would call the Big One for us here. Manhattan would be 20 feet under water (including ground zero) and would cut us off completely, as would any help getting to us. When a hurricane doesn't make landfall at Cape Hatteras NC and is heading north, I'm already going to be out of Manhattan and northbound. Otherwise the warnings will come here and we'll be in a parking lot called the LIE or name any other parkway.

Yes. Manhattan is the only way out.

People laugh here at leaving BEFORE you know it's going to hit.

The New England hurricane sped up here in something like 6 or 8 hours. Hitting as a Cat 3 on the east part of Long Island. It made the Shinnecock Canal; it used to be a town... hundreds died.

[cobalt1999]

2. 20 to 40 years?

Shoot, down here on the Panhandle of Florida we get a small hurricane about every three year and a major hurricane about every 10 years.

I'd love to go 20 years without a hurricane.

[hedgehog]

4. I'm thinking of the major biggies. For example, I have a vague

memory of a hurricane down near Miami that took out a couple of apartment blocks.

[geomon666]

16. If it's the same one I went through...

It took a lot more out than that.

[Ilsa]

5. Some area are hit more frequently than every decade or so.

People who have been through them GENERALLY know how to deal with them. Sometimes they get complacent when an "easy" hurricane blows through and they are without power for only a day or two and see only minimal damage.

I think everyone everywhere should have emergency supplies available, including the items you listed and whatever else is reasonable for their area.

Also, the severity of your post-hurricane problems depends on many factors, like how old your house is, whether you are in close proximity to rising tides, etc.

[Catch22Dem]

6. We experienced a couple of Cat 5 storms in the 90s

When we lived in Okinawa. It was different there. Everything is built out of fucking concrete. So, while a cat 2 can destroy a coastal U.S. city, a cat 5 hitting Okinawa is fairly routine, and not much more than an inconvenience. Sure, there's a little damage here and there, my car was not where I parked it, but we were comfortable in our concrete house. We experienced two cat 5s that were absolute direct hits that I can recall, and I think there was one death.

Amazingly, Americans will rebuild Galveston Island and replace toothpick homes with new toothpick homes, then fear for their lives when the next one hits. Boggles the mind.

[RollWithIt]

10. Not sure about how Texas will react, but after Andrew in Florida the building codes became MUCH

better. Hopefully Texas will do the same.

[Catherine Vincent]

7. Wow!

Floodwaters from Hurricane Ike surround a house September 14, 2008 near Winnie, Texas. Hurricane Ike made landfall yesterday morning at Galveston causing widespread wind and flood damage along the Texas and Louisiana coasts.
(Pool Photo/Getty Images)

[RoyGBiv]

8. Went through my first ...

Sept. 12-13, 2008.

I have a great deal of experience with what I call the code blue method of disaster preparedness. I grew up and lived 38 years of my life in the heart of tornado alley. One's warning in those situation usually involves an understanding that thunderstorms might be coming that afternoon and evening, and they might produce some nasties. Everything that needs to be done to prepare for the possibility of several days without power, phone service, etc. is done in a couple hours.

That don't work for a hurricane.

Having dealt with yearly ice storms, however, taught me a few things, but left a few bad habits. During an ice storm, you tend not to have to worry about food spoilage or, really, getting too cold as long as you have tons of clothes and blankets and a home to stay in. With the heat, I can only get so naked ... an no one wants to be around that anyway. I've been quite lucky in that my power came back early, and I have enough of my grandmother in me that I habitually keep water and ice on-hand.

It's been an experience ... one I care not to repeat any time soon.

[RollWithIt]

9. I live in South Florida... try at least one every year.....

And usually we have at least 5 every year with a projected path where we fall in the cone. The main thing is though, our building codes down here are very very strong. But anything above a 2 I'm making a run for it asap. If a storm like Ike was going to hit here, there would be a mass exodus to Disney World.

[slackmaster]

11. I am a bit concerned that changes in sea surface temperatures could make SoCal vulnerable

We haven't had a direct hit by a tropical cyclone since the 1930s, but it wouldn't take much more than what we have seen during strong El Niños to make us vulnerable.

[elocs]

12. I live in Wisconsin where it snows every winter and the temp gets way below zero

and it's no big deal. I've lived in this city for over 50 years and I've never lost power in the winter, been without heat or access to a grocery store even in a winter storm. A bad winter storm is easy to deal with--you stay inside. I am not worried every year if I will have a chance of losing my home or having to be evacuated. I couldn't live somewhere like that and I wouldn't want to have to live that way. I think it is a piece of cake living here compared to those living in the path of hurricanes.

[tpsbmam]

15. I think it depends on individuals......

Me, I'm the type who is prepared for most things. When I lived in the Midwest & the Northeast, I not only did everything you mentioned and I kept things like a sleeping bag in my car (for warmth if I got stuck in the snow or stranded with car problem at 1 a.m.), flares, etc.

I'm constantly prepared -- I'm one of those people who does have an emergency bag (including stuff for my pets), when we get big storms I fill my bathtubs ahead of time (we live on a well -- no electricity, no flushy among other things), always have at least 5 gallons of drinking water, make sure I have what I need for a week, etc etc. And I live in an area where the emergency kit is unlikely to be needed (one never knows though)! I'm in the mountains of NC -- we can get snow but in my town, the most we've gotten since I've lived here has been about 1/2 inch that was gone by noon -- towns 1/2 hour away have gotten a foot with the same storm. We do get ice storms sometimes though. And you never know when the terrorist goats next door might attack -- the look cute but we all know looks can be deceptive! :scared: :P My neighbors laugh at me when I fill the tubs -- a couple of times I've gotten the last laugh when I could flush my toilets and they couldn't. When I hear there are hurricanes in the gulf, I fill up my gas tank ahead of time (I use very little gas -- once a month is typically good for me). I have TONS of batteries, a flashlight in every room, etc etc.

I guarantee if I lived in Florida (e.g.) and a hurricane was coming, my important stuff, my emergency kit, my dogs and I would be outta there before most people. LOL

And I have friends and neighbors who are the opposite. When we lost power one time, one neighbor didn't have a flashlight in the house (and this is someone who used to live in FL and lived through 2 hurricanes down there).

I'm probably over cautious. Others I know aren't cautious enough. So I say it depends on the individual.

[MiniMe]

17. I love outside the DC in the suburbs

We have been hit by a few here, but they were mostly just the leftovers. Agnes, David, and Isabelle are the ones in recent memory. Or at least the ones since I have lived here. Living close to DC there are other disasters to worry about.

[Catch22Dem]

18. I was in DC for Floyd in 1999

Not bad. Wind...rain...wind...then out to sea.

[MiniMe]

20. I was on vacation in North Carolina when it came it

Would have been better off staying at the beach since it really didn't get hit, but we had to evacuate. Rode through the damn storm the whole way.

[malaise]

19. This is a very important post

If people have not faced a hurricane in 25 years and the old folks aren't around or haven't passed on the reality of hurricanes, they always believe it won't hit them, particularly when they've escaped before. Further, a lot of hurricane devastation is the result of the failure of collective memory.
When Jamaica was hit by Gilbert from one end to the other in 1988, it was the first major hurricane since the 1950s. Yes we were hit on a coast or two several times but this was island-wide destruction. Most people ignored the warnings and did not prepare. Most of the newer homes had not been built using hurricane specifications. One of our good friends was eight months pregnant and it is only because we went to a luncheon the day before the hurricane that she even took us seriously and went to the supermarket for emergencies. Imagine being eight months pregnant and ignoring a hurricane warning. She has a Masters Degree - this is not an uneducated person.

It's not merely citizens who lose their collective memory. The building codes are also forgotten as are the reasons why there should be no housing developments in river beds and flooding plains.

Grenada was wiped out island-wide by Ivan in 04 and even the Prime Minister and Governor General lost their official homes because they all forgot hurricane Janet in the 1950s.

Remember the Andaman tribes in the Nicobar islands who survived that devastating tsunami - they survived because they had not lost their collective memory.

You are correct - lots of people do not know how to prepare for hurricanes. Why I do not know - it is not rocket science.

[hedgehog]

22. Speaking of collective memory - what personal testimony

(as opposed to reading a book or seeing a documentary) have you ever heard regarding the Great Flu Pandemic of 1918? My grandmother told me about losing her friends to it - I never miss getting my vaccine every fall.

[malaise]

23. We don't have flu vaccines here

but that's an important reality check. Of course given the other big story this weekend, how many average citizens in America or the world remember or understand what caused the Great Depression. When collective memory fails and the education institutions are systematically undermined and 'dumbed-down', a lot of bad things happen.

[hedgehog]

24. It's odd, but I've learned more about my mother's life in the thirties in the

past few years than in the previous 45. She mentions more and more details as she gets older.

[spin]

21. I lived in Tampa Florida for 37 years...

and I never experienced the full fury of a hurricane. I did go through a lot of tropical storms and once lost power for five days. No air conditioning for five days is no fun especially in Florida.

I did evacuate one time when Hurricane Charley threatened the Tampa Bay area. I headed south to my daughters house in Lee County Florida. The storm center decided to make a hard right turn and I was within 70 miles of the center. Although I was on the dirty side of the storm, it was merely a lot of wind and rain. My daughter's house lost power but I had bought her a generator which provided enough power for the TV and the refrigerator and a few lights. We slept at night in her motor home which had A/C.

Tampa never suffered any bad weather from Charley. All too often the center of the storm track is not accurate. Many people realize this and refuse to evacuate. Sometimes they regret their decision even if they survive.

For info on Hurricane Charley:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hurricane_Charley