Storm prep again, ugh. What is your system for hurricane prep?

I’m implementing my usual pre-storm technique of crossing my fingers and hoping that power isn’t gone for too long and we don’t have any tree or structure damage.

@product Hopefully we’ll slow it down for you, just a little wind and rain before it gets to your town. :-)

I keep looking around my new house, which is sans a basement, wondering where the best place to hunker down during a tornado would be.

Bottles of water.

Fill my bathtub with water (make sure it’s holding).

Make a few bags of ice.

Cooler or styrofoam container.

Stock up on pantry food and fruits and veg that last like apples, carrots, clementines, and pears.

Start cooking and eating any raw meat that would go bad quickly in a power outage. Even if you don’t eat it before the storm it will keep longer cooked. If you have gas then you don’t have to worry as much that you won’t be able to cook. I have electric.

Fill my car gas tank.

Cash on hand.

Flashlight and back up batteries.

Charge your cell phone. If you don’t have a car to charge your phone if electricity goes out then buy an external battery.

@JLeslie what kind of “external battery” do you have? I Haven considering one of those car charger thingies to keep in my SUV for road emergencies.

My system for hurricane prep, which has worked flawlessly all my life, is to stay on the West Coast of North America or Europe, at least during hurricane season.

@canidmajor I meant the small portable ones that are around $10.00. It will usually give you one 100% charge when you get low. They do have larger ones, but I like the small one for every day that I can take in my purse. Does this link work? http://www.walmart.com/ip/New-Portable-External-Power-Bank-Battery-Charger-for-Mobile-Cell-Phones-2600mAh/701296343

I don’t have that specific one, but they all work the same. You can buy them at drug stores, Walmart, some supermarkets, Amazon, etc.

I also have a battery that can jump my car, it’s so much more powerful than what I was talking about. It has regular sockets to plug a computer or what have you. I think it’s around $100.00.

@JLeslie I wondered what one you had and liked, since you mentioned it. I know what they are.

Hurricane? Move inland.

@canidmajor The one I have now was given to my husband by a vendor or account executive and I have no idea the brand, it doesn’t say. It was just free swag.

I had one before this and I have no idea what brand it was either.

I bought one at Walgreens for a friend and just picked whatever brand and it worked great.

It’s going to be a tropical storm in the northeast.

@Dutchess_III Been there, done that, I like New England. And at least we have time to prep for hurricanes. :-)

@JLeslie By the time they got here, technically so were Irene and Sandy. The damage was still horrific.

I only have vague memories of being in a hurricane. I was 7 or so. We lived in Clearwater, Florida on a canal leading to Tampa Bay. I remember my folks piling furniture up. Then we ran inland to stay with friends who had kids too. What an adventure!
I have vague memories of the drive back. Astonished at all the downed trees and the mess!

@canidmajor I wasn’t trying to say don’t prepare, I was just responding to the comment @Dutchess_III made asking hurricane? Definitely prepare. I have most of that stuff all hurricane season. I think Hurricane Sandy was a hurricane when it hit the northeast, but if you mean it was tropical storm winds where you are, that doesn’t surprise me. It’s all about how close you are to the eye of course and if you are on the dirty side.

Good luck @canidmajor !

Thanks. I have lots of wine and snacks. :-)

I think we’re just in for a lot of rain.

I spent rwo weeks in Florida with my daughter and sister. My daughter and I are tornado folk. My sister was raised in Kansas but has lived in CA for the last 40 years.
We ended up under a hurricane warning. Oh JOY!! WTF were we supposed to do???
We just ended up in something that was just like a toad choking rain back in Kansas.
We went to bed.

@janbb I worry most about the old 80’ oak in my backyard. When it is this early, the full canopy acts like a giant sail in the wind. Thinking I might hang out in the basement tomorrow.

With my wine and snacks and dog. :-)

Oh man. Good luck to all our east coast jellies.

@canidmajor Has it been raining recently? Is the ground already soaked?

Is your house close to the water?

@JLeslie I am not worried about it being uprooted, but losing large branches or splitting. It is an old tree. The gusts in these storms can snap the limbs.

@canidmajor I see. That would concern me too. Do you know if there is a lot of lightening in the storm? I was going to look up more of the info later. I have family in the area, and of course you and other jellies too.

The satellite videos are showing a very active lightning system at the center, hopefully that will alleviate a bit as it hits shallower shoreline water. I worry about friends on Fire Island, but I am grateful that FI and Long Island will buffer the storm surge a bit. The whole full-moon thing also concerns me.

Are they not evacuating FI/LI? People right on the shore?

Nope. They’re “encouraging” it but it’s not mandatory.

Watch the news and think…. “It would suck to be there now.” I’m close enough that when people get the hell out of dodge they fill hotels and campsites here. It used to be good for the local economy. With shelves half bare here now I think storm season is going to clean us out.

[Mod says] Moved to Social on request.

Thanks, @longgone!

Just started raining here a little while ago.

I make sure I have gasoline in cars, mowers, generators and fuel containers. Experience has shown that 20 extra gallons is a good amount for me. That will run generators and any gasoline powered tools like chainsaws for a week or so.
When the crisis passes I pour about half of that gasoline into the cars so it doesn’t get stale.
Of course I do the usual things mentioned in the Q as well but the prep for power outages gets the lion’s share of the work.
I wish they ran natural gas lines out here. They’ve been talking about it for decades but it does not seem likely.

@LuckyGuy I much prefer natural gas. Sometimes that is a. Decider for buying a house. I used to live in an area which lost power so regularly, being able to cook and take a shower makes a huge difference in simple comfort, and thus coping, levels.

It’s Sunday morning, getting some rain, but the worst part of the wind track has shifted a bit to the east. The rain will be filling up my basement, I am sure. Ugh.

@canidmajor Does that happen with every rain? You get water in your basement?

I just glanced at the weather channel. It looks like it won’t be much different than a typical very rainy windy day for most of NY and CT except the islands and the shore. Are you in CT? I don’t remember.

Luckily, you have colder waters, maybe the next flight will show the wind speeds down another 10mph before it comes on shore of they fly out one more time.

I saw it’s forward motion is 16mph. That’s pretty fast. That’s good. Hopefully, it keeps on moving.

@JLeslie, my basement only floods with very very heavy, sustained rains. And no, this is not like a typical rainy windy day. Shoreline communities don’t evacuate for “typical” rainy windy days. Power companies don’t double or triple personnel on call for typical rainy windy days.

And, because it’s August, and it’s the Gulf Stream, the water is not significantly cooler.

This is a significantly more serious storm than a typical NorEaster, which is a serious type of storm.

Like I said, except for people on the coastline, I’m not ignoring them.

I live in Florida. I’ve been through many many tropical storms and hurricanes. I know what the wind and rain can be like. Only people near the eye (maybe within 20 miles, I haven’t seen the exact stretch of the wind speeds for this storm) are going to have sustained tropical force winds.

We don’t have basements to worry about (not most people) but we have all of the other concerns.

If that storm had come for Florida it would probably be a cat 2 with our water temperature.

I have no doubt there will be some downed power lines. I’m not questioning that.

It looked like it was coming in near Eastern CT and RI when I checked it a couple of hours ago. Which would also be eastern LI too.

Downed power lines and flooding of course.

Oh, lordy, save me from the “I live in Florida, I know all about this” people.
No you don’t. A storm like this affects Florida differently than it does New England. It’s that simple. Different places have different climate issues, different topographic features, different levels of probable damage.

Snow conditions are different in Colorado than Connecticut, which are different from Seattle.

Tornados are different in Connecticut than Colorado or Florida or Kansas.

Let it go.

I agree with that, that’s why I asked where you live and if your basement usually floods. Don’t be so exasperated.

I’m just talking about the wind speeds.

My sister is in Manhattan, she won’t be hit the same as how RI is about to get smacked, but if Manhattan loses power or water it’s a catastrophe in ways unlike other places. I know each place is different.

One of my basic standing preps is avoiding residency in Texass. ;-)

We were very lucky and were pretty well spared, but a lot of our neighbors to the east sustained flood damage and thousands lost power. Hopefully it all can be dealt with, and nobody lost everything.

It’s still raining here. I did all those things to secure the home in the Berkshires.

Yes, wine is very important.

The most important thing is to have the surfboard waxed properly!!!

We’ve had very heavy rain alternating with clearing. My crepe myrtle is very depressed.

Poor crepe myrtle.

^^ It is a sad, sad bush. I hope it recovers!

My myrtle is over 13 years old, but it’s only about 12’ tall. Also, it usually blooms in July, but it hasn’t yet this year. Is this typical, or does it need an arboreal health coach?

@canidmajor @janbb

About how far do you live from the coast?

@Dutchess_III

I bet you’re the most inland of ALL the jellies!
Unless there’s a Mongolian jelly of whom I am unaware.
Well, 2nd most maybe: Smudges lives in Nebrasky.

Ha ha’! Yeah I’m inland. And doors open.

@Brian1946 I live about ¾ mile from the ocean.

@Brian1946 I’m about a mile and a half from the beach, and just above the evac center in my area, so tidal and storm surges don’t affect me. @janbb only has the cast of Jersey Shore holding back Neptune’s wrath…