OT: Hurricane Dorian - (UPDATED: Closed)

[borg]

The eye of Wilma went over my house in 2005.
110 mph from the south
30 minutes of sunshine
110 mph from the north
The craziest 2 hours of my life
Can’t imagine 185 mph and 20 ft storm surge traveling over 10 ft elevation Bahamian islands + 1-2 ft of rain.

 

[Kontradiction]

Best of luck to everyone!
What a mess.
Wife and I are in Truro, MA, where all is calm (other than the drama over the Great Whites).
@KontradictioN, you are about to experience two major weather events; best of luck.

I’m lost. What’s the second one?

 

[AQPE]

G-d bless

 

[BTTA]

I’m lost. What’s the second one?

Yes, being lost is the normal condition for the guy. What's the name of your beloved?

 

[Kontradiction]

Yes, being lost is the normal condition for the guy. What's the name of your beloved?

Ah, I got you. Apologies. I’ve already been working my way through my booze supply. Alisha. First girl I’ve met that can put up with me for long periods of time. She must be a sociopath.

 

[Palm Beach Pats Fan]

The eye of Wilma went over my house in 2005.
110 mph from the south
30 minutes of sunshine
110 mph from the north
The craziest 2 hours of my life
Can’t imagine 185 mph and 20 ft storm surge traveling over 10 ft elevation Bahamian islands + 1-2 ft of rain.

me too... it was crazy. Right over my house. Eerie. On the backside, the wind rolled a huge industrial construction dumpster made of solid steel like it was a LEGO. Usually the back half of a storm is much weaker. Not with Wilma.

 

[Tunescribe]

I apologize for the main forum OT post, and feel free to move it.

185 mph winds! I am not sure if this forum has any posters from the Bahamas or not, but the northern Bahamas are getting it incredibly hard

I am in the Jupiter FL area. We are all boarded up, have lots of food, water, booze, batteries, gas for the generator, and now it's a waiting game.

We will know by ~2AM if the turn north is happening when it is supposed to happen, to keep it offshore. We should be >50 miles from the center at its closet path, if computer models hold.

Now we are at >90% probability of TS winds (25-74 mph) and ~35% chance of hurricane strength winds (>75 mph). 50 or even 75 mph wind is a whole different ballgame, obviously, from 185 mph.

So-called "hurricane-proof" things are vulnerable at those speeds. Dorian has the strongest landfall wind speed for an Atlantic hurricane since 1935.

Just curious: since this sort of thing occurs so often where you live, why aren't the power lines moved to a less-vulnerable place (perhaps underground)?

 

[mgteich]

Underground lines are preferable, but expensive. But the recent storms are helping to convince the legislature to spend the money.

Plan could spur more underground power lines in Florida

Just curious: since this sort of thing occurs so often where you live, why aren't the power lines moved to a less-vulnerable place (perhaps underground)?

 

[venecol]

I'm lucky in that my house is on the same grid as Boca Hospital, so we either don't lose power or lose it for very short time. Like mgteich said, its very expensive.

 

[Palm Beach Pats Fan]

Just curious: since this sort of thing occurs so often where you live, why aren't the power lines moved to a less-vulnerable place (perhaps underground)?

Difficulty is increased by the water table. 5-10 feet in many places. No basements in south FL!

 

[supafly]

Underground lines are preferable, but expensive. But the recent storms are helping to convince the legislature to spend the money.

Plan could spur more underground power lines in Florida

I'm lucky in that my house is on the same grid as Boca Hospital, so we either don't lose power or lose it for very short time. Like mgteich said, its very expensive.

We have everything underground in my neighborhood, as it’s a newer development. It is definitely more pleasing to the eye, but it didn’t help at all during a recent lightning storm where a power surge took out all of our appliances, TVs, cable boxes, etc. Even some of the HDMI cables were fried, which I guess is pretty rare.

After a long 6 week battle with the electrician, repairman, and insurance company, we were finally able to go out and buy all new stuff. I want the electric company to install a whole home surge protector outside, but they said they don’t offer that service anymore. The neighbors on both sides were mildly affected (phone line and security issues), but nothing like our situation.

 

[DarrylS]

Nothing but respect for any hurricane, while others flock to the beaches to see the waves, I stay home and hunker down.

When I was very young in the 50's living in Newport we were hit by Hurricane Carol, to this day it still resonates in my brain.. no power for about a week, the whole house shook all night long, chimneys toppled, the roof leaked.. a huge mess.

Minimizing any hurricane is flat out stupid.. but there are those who will defy any evacuation order..

 

[supafly]

Stay safe @Palm Beach Pats Fan

Keep us updated

 

[letekro]

Just curious: since this sort of thing occurs so often where you live, why aren't the power lines moved to a less-vulnerable place (perhaps underground)?

The media gives the impression that it happens often, but in any one location, it doesn’t. Miami, for example hasn’t seen a hurricane for 14 years. Perhaps there have been 2 or 3 tropical storms over the same period.

Fort Lauderdale also had Wilma in 2005 and I think the previous one before that was in 1950.

Important to note that the high winds they are talking about on TV are in a small section near in the eye wall. The odds of getting hit with that catastrophic piece over a lifetime in Florida is vanishingly small.

 

[Teej]

I moved from Central MA to Central Florida in December 2003 and in March 2004 I signed a contract to have a house built in no more than 180 days.
Orlando hadn't been hit by a bad hurricane since the 1960's but in August 2004 Charley hit, followed by Frances, Ivan and Jeanne in what became known as "The Year of the Four Hurricanes"(not very creative). Florida was turned into the blue tarp state and my house took 22 months to build because the trades were making more money doing insurance jobs than they would have made working for builders.

The six months of cold, snow and ice in Central Ma didn't look so bad in hindsight.

 

[Triumph]

This is the big one Elizabeth.

Evacuate if asked to.

 

[Kontradiction]

Just curious: since this sort of thing occurs so often where you live, why aren't the power lines moved to a less-vulnerable place (perhaps underground)?

Most of Jax is underground now. It can still go out. Especially if the manholes get flooded. Thing is, while it’s harder to knock an area with underground utilities out, once they are out, it takes much longer on average to get them back on unless you’re connected to a hospital/police station/fire station’s grid. The electric company pretty much has to isolate the area where the wire is down underground, then get an excavating crew out and make the repairs whereas it’s much easier to isolate a problem with overhead lines.

 

[Palm Beach Pats Fan]

Stay safe @Palm Beach Pats Fan

Keep us updated

Feeder rain bands come and go. The eye is stalled, as predicted, moving just 1 mph over Grand Bahama island. Still have power and internet here, 100 miles away. Wind gusts, but nothing huge.

I will feel more relieved when a national hurricane center update shows it moving NORTH. We should see that by this afternoon

 

[PP2]

The six months of cold, snow and ice in Central Ma didn't look so bad in hindsight.

It's down to 2-3 months thanks to Global Warming. And it's also why we've had a CAT 5 each of the last 4 years.

 

[Clonamery]

Feeder rain bands come and go. The eye is stalled, as predicted, moving just 1 mph over Grand Bahama island. Still have power and internet here, 100 miles away. Wind gusts, but nothing huge.

I will feel more relieved when a national hurricane center update shows it moving NORTH. We should see that by this afternoon

"It's a wobble north, Jim!!!" Ok...still could continue West but it seems to be following the predicted path which will save the wind/rain from mauling most of Florida.