Thread: Tropical Storm Irma

Folks around here remember Ivan and the 2-3 weeks without power. I just made my annual trip to Wally World, sold out of bottled water, bread, and milk already.

Originally Posted by CarlF

Irma is now a strong Cat 5, 175 MPH.
Models are in general agreement that it will enter the Florida Straits, but then all bets are off. Some still predicting a hard right turn right up the FL Peninsula, others take it NE into the Atlantic, and then others have it smacking the central Gulf Coast.
Wont know until later this week if I need to start buying plywood, water and canned goods.

If I lived near the coast I would already have plywood cut to fit every hole that needed plugging stored away for a rainy day. I already keep a good supply of survival food, and I have a way to store a couple of weeks worth of drinking water. Gas grill, smoker and twin 35,000 btu gas cook top. We just replenish the canned goods it as we use it to keep it from going bad. A 5000w generator and a supply of fresh gasoline will keep the food in the deep freezer good for a long time if you use it for a couple of hours and then turn it off for a few hours. We keep several fresh Duracell batteries and small LED flashlights.

Originally Posted by Haywire

I "rode out"Hurricane Fredick back in '79 and my pants are still drying out. If that storm looks like it's even thinking about Orange Beach, I'm gone to the hunting camp. Easier to live there in case of a massive power outage that lasts a while.

Both of my parents were teenagers living in Mobile when Fredrick rolled through. I've grown up hearing horror stories about it. The wife and I are headed down Friday night and will be staying with my grandparents for the weekend before heading over to OB (assuming the weather holds out). I'll be making sure my grandparents are fully stocked on any and all provisions, regardless if the storm comes to town or not.

While not set in stone, according to Fox10's Michael White, the latest models have the front that is moving in on us tomorrow moving further south than originally thought, pushing the forecast tracks to the east and causing Irma to go up the east coast to the Carolina area

I sure hope so.....I'll be arriving with the cold front then....keeping an eye on the weather....don't want to add to the problem and evacuation if there is one

Attachment 6574

This is how I see it!

Models are in very good agreement that Irma is going to go over the Keys and then head up the FL Peninsula, into the GA Bight and then smack the Carolinas.

If you are in the Keys, you shoulda left yesterday.
If you live in south FL or near the east coast of south FL, you should have left yesterday.

I stopped at WalMart in Jackson, AL yesterday and the water was flying off the shelves, along with the Spam. I guess folks up this way remember being without power for days after Ivan, though we never did run out of city water.

Me, I stay prepared for these storms. Fredrick made me a believer. I'm like Mark, keeping stocks of food, water, paper goods, lighting sources, emergency meds, etc. The main difference is that he has a generator. I have four, one of which runs on propane and takes care of most of the house. (I found folks who were moving away and selling generators, cheap.)

By the way, I have found that marine gas (no alcolhol) keeps just fine for two years if you double treat it with Stabil. After the second hurricane season, it gets run through the automobiles and a fresh supply put in place. I sure am glad I bought gas cans back before they got so sophisticated and expensive. Sure do hope I get to use this current supply on the highway.

People around here are going crazy looking for bottled water. I stopped yesterday on my way to work and WalMart was out and one woman was going berserk because they didn't have any bottled water (several local churches purchased pallets of water to take to Houston earlier this week). She had several 2 liter drinks in her shopping cart along with a gallon of milk and gallon of OJ. I asked her what she did with the empty coke bottles and milk/juice jugs. She said that they just throw them away when they are empty. She sort of got upset when I told her she didn't need bottled water then. She looked at me like I was crazy when I told her to just clean the coke bottles and milk/juice jugs out and put water in them (add several drops of bleach or freeze them) and she'd have plenty of water.

People also don't understand that if you fill your vehicle up with gas today, by the time the storm would have arrived, you'd have to fill up again (and possibly two times). One thing I always did when I had my boat, was to keep the fuel tank full (26 gallon fuel tank) and add some Stabil during hurricane season. That way, if a storm hit and no one could get gas, I would be able to use the 26 gallons in the boat. If I took the boat out, I'd refill it on my way home to keep the tank full.

Wife and I went to Sam's Club here in Newnan Ga to pick up a few things, Now we are a long way from any of the targeted areas, But water was almost gone, I asked when we were checking out if she's seen a lot more than normal getting water, She said Alot and there truck shipment of water was diverted.
Now we have 2 more Hurricanes out there,