OT: Gustav

nikkipigtails

nikkipigtails

Well-Known Member
It's probably a little early to start a thread of Gustav but I figured I would anyway. As of today, it's a Category 1 hurricane and is expected to be a Category 3 hurricane in the Gulf of Mexico on Sunday. It's projected path (so far) is almost exactly the same as Ivan which was a direct hit for us as a Category 3 storm in 2004.

Hurricane classifications for those of you who don't deal with hurricanes regularly:
Category One -- Winds 74-95 miles per hour
Category Two -- Winds 96-110 miles per hour
Category Three -- Winds 111-130 miles per hour
Category Four -- Winds 131-155 miles per hour
Category Five -- Winds greater than 155 miles per hour

For those of you who don't know about Ivan, it reached a Category 5 hurricane and was the size of the state of Texas at its peak, which was in the gulf just a couple of days before landfall. It was the 6th strongest hurricane ever to hit the US and caused a total of $13billion in damamges.

Here's a link to Ivan's damage and a couple of pics:
PHOTO GALLERY: Deadly Ivan slams into Gulf Coast -- Newsday.com

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29pwyec.jpg


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These photos were taken about 30 minutes from my house so you can see why I'm already starting to get a little nervous. What is it with these Eastern European named storms?
 
Intranick

Intranick

Active Member
I hope everything turns out ok :)

other than the pictures ive seen, even knowing wind speeds, its hard for me to grasp how much damage it would cause. The closest thing we have are tornadoes, which are possibly even more devestating than hurricanes, but in a much smaller area.

interesting how closely the two rating systems resemble each other, for a tornado it goes as so:
Enhanced Fujita Scale
Force Wind MPH
EF0 65–85
EF1 86–110
EF2 111–135
EF3 136–165
EF4 166–200
EF5 >200

we do also get strong t-storms with hurricane force winds from time to time, but they're over a couple hours, not over days
 
nikkipigtails

nikkipigtails

Well-Known Member
I'm with you Lynn.

Gustav has almost the identical course that Ivan did so we're watching it very closely. Tommy's dad lost his house in Ivan and just finished rebuilding a year ago.

Hopefully it will just stay in the gulf, weaken then come to shore as a bad thunderstorm. I doubt it will, but I'm still going to hope for it.
 
Disciple882542

Disciple882542

Member
According to the latest models, Gustov is predicted to make landfall between the Mississippi Delta and Orange Beach. Anywhere between those two points is bad news for us Alabamians. The gulf waters are 87 degrees in many areas so the chance of it weakening is pretty low. Make no mistake about it, a category 3 storm making landfall on the Louisiana/Mississippi border would cause SIGNIFICANT damage in Alabama. The intensity, magnitude, vastness, power, etc. of a major hurricane is unfathomable if you've never seen their effects before. I was riding on the beach in the Gulf Shores/Orange Beach area a day after Ivan. The things you see are absolutely incredible.

God bless,
Chris
 
BigAl07

BigAl07

Administrator
RS STAFF
I just read on another post about on the weather channel last night they were talking about the rise in the gulf temps this year... average being 86 with areas (large areas/pockets several hundreds of miles across) where the temps are currently hovering near 90. That's not a good recipe for a mild storm by any means. Be safe everyone!!
 
nikkipigtails

nikkipigtails

Well-Known Member
Disciple882542 said:
According to the latest models, Gustov is predicted to make landfall between the Mississippi Delta and Orange Beach. Anywhere between those two points is bad news for us Alabamians. The gulf waters are 87 degrees in many areas so the chance of it weakening is pretty low. Make no mistake about it, a category 3 storm making landfall on the Louisiana/Mississippi border would cause SIGNIFICANT damage in Alabama. The intensity, magnitude, vastness, power, etc. of a major hurricane is unfathomable if you've never seen their effects before. I was riding on the beach in the Gulf Shores/Orange Beach area a day after Ivan. The things you see are absolutely incredible.

God bless,
Chris
Click to expand...

Most people think that the place that gets a direct hit gets hit the hardest. In reality, it's the people who are east of the eye that gets the worst of it. Tommy's dad lives in Gulf Shores, it's about 30 minutes south of us. He lost his house in Ivan.

Where are you located Disciple?
 
nikkipigtails

nikkipigtails

Well-Known Member
Stock up on canned foods, bottled water (which you have to use for everything, even bathing if there is flooding in your area), batteries for flashlights, generators, gas, food for the animals. You put plywood over your windows. You pick up everything in your yard that could potentially blow around. You make sure that your vehicles are full of gas and you pack a couple of bags just in case you have to evacuate. You put all of your important papers, birth certificates, pictures, anything important to you, in a safe or in another suitcase so if you evacuate and lose your house, you won't lose those. You should have enough provisions for a month. With Ivan, I was out of power for almost 3 weeks in the middle of September. I was MISERABLE. I would take my cats for little car rides around the neighborhood just to cool them off. You have to make sure to have a chainsaw with extra blades and ladders for cleaning debris.

Most people end up having block parties where everyone cleans out their fridge. After Ivan, everyone put their grills in the street at the end of the culd-a-sac and grilled out. That was kinda fun.
 
nikkipigtails

nikkipigtails

Well-Known Member
I HATE Mobile. The company my husband works for is in Prattville and he's usually up there half the time. My FIL also has a lake house up there but I can't remember what lake it's on. It's nice though.
 
Intranick

Intranick

Active Member
If you happen to see "bags" that water goes in with a spout or zipper on the size, i forget which it was.. guess who made them :)

nikkipigtails said:
Stock up on canned foods, bottled water (which you have to use for everything, even bathing if there is flooding in your area), batteries for flashlights, generators, gas, food for the animals. You put plywood over your windows. You pick up everything in your yard that could potentially blow around. You make sure that your vehicles are full of gas and you pack a couple of bags just in case you have to evacuate. You put all of your important papers, birth certificates, pictures, anything important to you, in a safe or in another suitcase so if you evacuate and lose your house, you won't lose those. You should have enough provisions for a month. With Ivan, I was out of power for almost 3 weeks in the middle of September. I was MISERABLE. I would take my cats for little car rides around the neighborhood just to cool them off. You have to make sure to have a chainsaw with extra blades and ladders for cleaning debris.

Most people end up having block parties where everyone cleans out their fridge. After Ivan, everyone put their grills in the street at the end of the culd-a-sac and grilled out. That was kinda fun.
Click to expand...
 
mps9506

mps9506

Well-Known Member
Hope you guys fare well with Gustav, The models are predicting a cat 2-3 when it lands currently. If it stalls like some of the models are predicting before landfall it should weaken slightly so wind damage won't be as bad, but I suspect the rain will be worse.

Most people think that the place that gets a direct hit gets hit the hardest. In reality, it's the people who are east of the eye that gets the worst of it. Tommy's dad lives in Gulf Shores, it's about 30 minutes south of us. He lost his house in Ivan.
Click to expand...

In our area people on the north side see the worst surge and strongest winds. We are keeping our eyes on Hannah here. She doesn't appear like she will develop into a strong storm, but may hit anywhere from Cuba to NC...
There are also 5 more tropical waves behind her.... oi... The storm season just got really busy, we may have 3-4 named Atlantic Tropical systems by next week.
So what does one do to prepare for such a storm?
Click to expand...
Storm Shutters, generators, water jugs, non perishable food, gas for chain saws, charged cell phones and back up batteries.
If I see anything over a Cat 3 I shutter up and leave town. The downside is (I ran into this in 99 with Fran) you might not be able to drive back home for a week or two. Anything below a two I just make sure I have enough to "go camping" for a week or two.
 
lcstorc

lcstorc

Well-Known Member
Looks like they are headed on very different tracks though. My best to everyone in Gustov's path. I am holding my breath that Hannah goes away. I would be scared regardless but it may hit while we are supposed to be going to MACNA.
The only good thing about hurricanes is the way neighbors get together and help each other. That really impressed me after Andrew. We were the only one with a phone so we left it on the porch for the neighborhood to use. Hubby was worried about the potential bill but there was not one long distance charge on it. We all helped each other clean up and the people without houses moved in with the people who had houses.
Already have 3/4 inch plywood cut for the windows with holes already drilled so it takes about an hour to board up. We have 65g of RO/DI water in the garage and lots of canned food and Sterno. Battery powered TV and radio and lots and lots of batteries.
 
nikkipigtails

nikkipigtails

Well-Known Member
The wind is actually more devistating than the rain. It's the wind that blows roofs off houses and blows cars away. It's just so happens that it raining too so if someone's roof gets blown off, it's going to rain in the house.
 
mps9506

mps9506

Well-Known Member
lcstorc said:
Already have 3/4 inch plywood cut for the windows with holes already drilled so it takes about an hour to board up.
Click to expand...

Our place has these cool shutters that look like old school wooden shutters but are actually steel and lock into place. Takes about 30 seconds per window to "board up" out place. Some of the folks at the beach have the automatic ones that close up themselves in bad weather... Must be nice :)
NHC isn't forecasting Hannah to be too bad, but the models are all over the place on where she will go. All I know is our beaches should start seeing swell from her around Monday/Tuesday. Been a busy month for surfing for us.

Not looking forward to gas prices after Gustav btw...
 
Disciple882542

Disciple882542

Member
lcstorc said:
Looks like they are headed on very different tracks though. My best to everyone in Gustov's path. I am holding my breath that Hannah goes away. I would be scared regardless but it may hit while we are supposed to be going to MACNA.
The only good thing about hurricanes is the way neighbors get together and help each other. That really impressed me after Andrew. We were the only one with a phone so we left it on the porch for the neighborhood to use. Hubby was worried about the potential bill but there was not one long distance charge on it. We all helped each other clean up and the people without houses moved in with the people who had houses.
Already have 3/4 inch plywood cut for the windows with holes already drilled so it takes about an hour to board up. We have 65g of RO/DI water in the garage and lots of canned food and Sterno. Battery powered TV and radio and lots and lots of batteries.
Click to expand...

make sure you mount the plywood far enough away from the window so that when the plywood bows it won't break the glass.
 
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