Hurricane Preps

[Morgan Palmer]

My sister and her boyfriend recently moved from FTW to Valrico FL in eastern Hillsborough County, just east ot Tampa. I've been on the phone with her trying to direct her as to what to do. They moved into their house just two months ago, and along with new jobs, they haven't thought about hurricanes!

I'll be on the phone with her during the storm tomorrow and will post what she says in Target area, but they're hoping to get plywood up today.

We've found some standard tips for installing plywood to a concrete block stucco home. Anyone have some personal experience with this and encounter any problems or have any special suggestions???

She is pretty worried, and so am I!

MP

 

[Bridget Beddow]

Is she worried about the tropical storm or Clyde?

 

[Richard Halter]

Tip #1 - Reinforce the garage doors. The weakest point in any home is the garage doors. If the garage is attached, the doors blow in, the winds rush in and push up on the roof, and there goes the home. I would put plywood up over the doors.

If Charlie is less than Cat 3, it isn't so much of an issue, it sounds as though they may be inland from any storm surge, and the storm may be moving fast enough to avoid heavy flooding, but if Charlie is really big, or there are significant tornados/miniswhirls, that can be their biggest concern.

Tip #2 - make sure the cam corder batteries are charges, it is good in low light conditions, and they have plenty of videotape. :lol:

 

[Morgan Palmer]

they're concerned about charley. thanks for the tips.

Unfortunately their business site, which they just took over is right on Tampa Bay. NOT GOOD! :shock:

 

[Bill Hamilton]

We've found some standard tips for installing plywood to a concrete block stucco home. Anyone have some personal experience with this and encounter any problems or have any special suggestions???

The way I have seen it done was to install bolt anchors into the window framing/perimeter and bolt the plywood on. Concrete nails pull out in strong winds.
Other things needed are a small cache of food, water, flashlights with a good supply of batteries, a battery powered radio and sandbags for doorways to slow the water.(sounds like common sense but many people don't think about them until they really need it.)

 

[Bill Hamilton]

I'll be on the phone with her during the storm tomorrow

Will she be on a cell phone in case the land lines go down?

 

[Geoff Boyle]

If she has any big windows, they should be the first to be borded up. I know from personal experiance that a wind greater than 100km/h will blow the window right into the house, if it is into the wind direction. A wooden brace on the inside works really well.

 

[Richard Halter]

Latest NWS forecast has the storm as a 123mph Cat 3 striking at or just north of Tampa Bay. If Tampa Bay stays in the Right Front Quadrant, then the bayfront is going to probably get swamped, and anyone near the ocean is going to have to get inland.

This is going to be another Weather Channel Special folks.

 

[Jim Southard]

Isn't a major hurricane, moving somewhat parallel to the west coast of Florida, making landfall just north of Tampa, one of the "worst-case scenarios"?

I remember some TV special a while back pointing out the most vulnerable locations for a hurricane to hit, and I think they mentioned the scenario that we might see with Charley. Can anyone confirm, and maybe provide some details to fill in my memory?

Jim

 

[Richard Halter]

TV profile or not, yes it is.

Tampa Bay is a nice body of water that is very subseptable to storm surge for a cane taking Charley's path. The land is very flat very far inland, and the area is densely urbanized. This could be a multi billion dollar ticket.

 

[Thomas Loades]

Also — don't forget it's probably not a good idea to just tape up your windows, because then the glass will be held together in larger, more dangerous shards than otherwise.

And all those canal estates around Tampa will be in BIG trouble if Charley comes by. They barely look stable in calm weather.

 

[Zach Bailey]

A strong hurricane ramping up tampa bay is definitely what I'd classify as one of the worst case scenarios. The fact that it's on a bay amplifies the storm surge. As others have said, if the right front quad or the eye passes right through the Bay, we could see some catastrophic flooding.

The only worse scenario I can think of are a hurricane like alex going through the Chesapeke or right over long island. Bye-bye New York, New York.

It's also only a matter of time before a strong hurricane comes and puts New Orleans back underwater.

 

[Bridget Beddow]

New Orleans is practically under sea level as it is.

I couldn't live down there...too much swampy

 

[Thomas Loades]

I think it's below sea level — like Holland — which is why they have such fancy graves in their cemeteries, to keep all the bodies out of the water table. Kinda creepy.

 

[Zach Bailey]

New Orleans is practically under sea level as it is.

I couldn't live down there...too much swampy

Yes, New Orleans is below sea level. :shock: Not to mention it's also built on a swamp so things are slowly sinking, and surrounded by the mississippi river and lake ponchetrain. It's a big deal when New Orleans gets 1-2 inches of rain in an hour because the only way the city has of removing the water is by pumping it out.

I was there in May and a strong thunderstorm moved through in the evening and dumped about 1.5" in an hour or so. Once it stopped raining I looked outside and there was about a good 8 inches of water in the street in front of my girlfriend's apartment. That's why people park their cars up on the curbs in new orleans (it's not because the streets are narrow) :wink:

So, if 1.5" of rain can do that...imagine what a moderate storm surge of maybe 4-8 feet could do. New Orleans wouldn't stand a chance...