Thread: Storm is starting to sound bad.

It's my first storm here too, been through quite a few living in La but no storms to talk about here the past few years. I was curious too, how far N should people board up/shutter? Were on Fish River, about .5-1 mile from the mouth of the bay.

Fishindave---You'll be fine in Foley so far as flooding danger goes, unless you live in a low lying area. Check with City Hall about flooding danger. Wind damage would depend on the category of the storm.

PNG---Quick, go check on your flood danger area, you will be in danger from the back side of a storm when the wind switches out of the west and blows Mobile Bay back up the river. I'd put up window protection if it's supposed to come within fifty miles---that's cheap insurance against the water/wind damage that could be done if a tree limb busts out a window. These storms are not things where you want to see how little preparation you can get away with. A category one shouldn't be much of a problem unless it floods you, but other than that, get real nervous.

How far north? I evacuate from Orange Beach to Grove Hill, 85 miles north of Mobile and I put up storm shutters on the south and east facing windows there---I don't want debris busting through a window. I want to be around to watch Bama beat LSU out of another championship.

When Fredrick came through in '79, I rode it out on a 40' boat anchored up in Water Hole Branch, not far from where you are. The eye passed close by and the whole experience scared the everloving aspirations out of me. Neither I nor the boat suffered any damage, but there were plenty of possibilities that night---I shined the spotlight out and watched big pine tops go blowing by horizontally while the wind screamed and roared at the same time. I was thinking about a line from a Jimmy Buffet song, "I wish I were somewhere other than here." At nightfall, the hills on both sides of the branch were heavily forested, and the next morning there wasn't a tree left standing. Yeah, I rode out a hurricane, and I'll never do it again if I have the chance to get away.

Haywire, at what point would they begin evac is it cat 2 and above, we are leaving in the morning headed that way and I am dead set on not cancelling our vacation if I have to evac I will , we are staying at the admirals quarters do you think that area will flood any.Thanks for your advice

Hawgfan---Once again, nobody knows where it's going to go. If it comes close here, especially to the west, it could well affect you there at A.Q. The authorities probably won't issue a mandatory evacuation order before Monday, and I hate it for you that the timing is so bad. Just keep an eye on the weather channels, but they won't know anything about pinpointing landfall until probably Monday evening. Right now the computer models are split three and three between the storm going well to the east of us and coming right into our backyard.

Well they are boarding up houses already in my neighborhood, we got the geni ready but if its a direct we're going to have to go. Just too far out from help if its needed. It would be easier to make it back to land by boat than car once the tree's start coming down. We're in a raised beach house about 4 blocks from the beach. We got storm shutters so should be ok there but its a little sobering to think about being stranded here.

Hmmm... what ya'll think? Should I stay or should I go?

Take the boat out. Just ride within the eye and you should be ok. Lol

Tofer, if they say go, do it. Think about it this way---Consider all the things that can go wrong in a storm---If they can go wrong, they will, and when they go wrong they will do so at the worst possible time and in a manner calculated to do the maximum possible damage. Get outta there!

how quick can you get back in with a sticker?

They usually don't let us back on until the roads are more or less cleared and emergency personnel have checked things out. It can be a day or two depending on the extent of damage. I doubt if they'll let you back in your condo until the power and sewer are back on---hard time getting to your room without elevators.

Hey Fin, this is the time when we love to be in Michigan, good luck to all of you.