Hurricane Irma

Here comes Irma's little sister.

Oh no, the poor Caribbean.........

Yeah, maybe we shouldn't have unpacked the Jeep quite yet....

Yeah, Maria's track does look REAL similar to the track that Irma took...

The good news is that it doesn't look as though it will be anywhere near the size and strength of Irma, the bad news is that any Hurricane is bad news when your house just got reduced to sticks.

Hope you all have time to get secure and prepped, and that it peters out before it hits the main land.

I dunno, but I think that with all the problems people had evacuating with gas stations running out of fuel and a LOT of problems just being able to get back home because of the fuel shortage, possibly a lot more people might decide to take their chances and just stay put and ride it out. Especially any of those people who didn't suffer any, or just minor, damage.

I would only be concerned if the hurricane gets into the Gulf of Mexico with landfall a direct hit or closeby to the west of me.

Originally Posted by Helenthereef

The good news is that it doesn't look as though it will be anywhere near the size and strength of Irma, the bad news is that any Hurricane is bad news when your house just got reduced to sticks.

Hope you all have time to get secure and prepped, and that it peters out before it hits the main land.

I have a friend on the Dominican Republic that I haven't heard from since just before Irma went through the islands. He said their utilities are less than reliable as it is and I doubt services will be restored before Maria hits them.

Originally Posted by bcr229

I have a friend on the Dominican Republic that I haven't heard from since just before Irma went through the islands. He said their utilities are less than reliable as it is and I doubt services will be restored before Maria hits them.

I would guess that repairs might be put on hold until Maria passes, as they would likely consider it as probable wasted effort if Maria would be likely to just knock it out again. And possibly the crews there would be evacuated anyway. Not a good situation for the people living there, unfortunately.

Well, Irma exposed a weakness in Florida with getting gasoline supplies where they are needed during an evacuation and subsequent flood of evacuees returning home afterwards. Do you think anyone has done anything to address that problem yet?

Heard from my buddy this morning. They got power back over the weekend just in time to learn about Maria. I told him he could laugh at me in January when I was bitching about ice storms making it almost impossible to step outside without falling on my rump whenever I needed more wood for the stove.

As for the gas thing... I really don't see the suppliers altering their delivery systems for one-off incidents like Irma. People would be better served by keeping some jerry cans of fuel in case they have to evacuate. Storing liquids like gas or even water is a PITA though - they're bulky, heavy, and have to be rotated periodically so most folks don't bother.

Glad you heard from your guy in the Dominican Republic - it can take a while for phones to get back on line (and for electricity to come on to charge mobiles)

Originally Posted by bcr229

Storing liquids like gas or even water is a PITA though - they're bulky, heavy, and have to be rotated periodically so most folks don't bother.

We store gas in proper fuel cans, but if we haven't had to use it we pour the gas into our car (or run the back up generator for a couple of hours to keep it in condition) after 3 months storage, and refill. You kind of get into the rhythm of it after a while and it's no big deal. Might seem like overkill, but it's worth its weight in gold on the odd occasion we do use it.

One good idea is to buy a generator that uses the same fuel as your car so that it's multipurpose.