Skipper
3587
Hey man. I know a lot of folks here were not in NC during Hugo. If possible, at least prepare for power loss, it could be significant. Hugo did millions of dollars worth of damage nearly to our mountain towns in NC, and left huge chunks of the state without power.
You might not get supplies for breadmilk, but get batteries and candles, and preferably, some potable water.
Please be safe, Armando. Winds there where you are could be up to 80mph even, and rainfall up to 10" as well.
When you can, you @Clay and the other NC folks check in here and let us know you guys are okay over the weekend.
Scrax
3588
Looks like Hampton Roads will be spared the worst this time (that yellow bit of Virginia on the map). We have so much to thank North Carolina shielding us from most hurricanes.
“Luckily,” it’s currently turning south, so Raleigh’s impact might be more Matthew than Floyd in the end, but either way, a lot of people are going to be massively endangered.
But yeah, we’ve been charging all the batteries and porta chargers, gathering candles, and have plenty of non-perishable foods to eat. And many bottles and jugs to fill with water, we’ve been saving em for a week now
Skipper
3590
I remember post-Hugo we had several days of dawn-to-dusk chainsaw sounds in the neighborhoods. Felled trees were everywhere. I don’t even own a chainsaw, here’s hoping my neighborhood isn’t too bad.
I feel for the SC coast if it veers too far south. The lowlands there are going to take a beating.
Yeah… I’m expecting lengthy power loss for sure. And thus to be bored out of my skull, heh.
Seriously though, man, take care out where you are, too. It’s already been a crazy rainy summer. I feel like a lot of the state is gonna be flooding like mad. Esp if this thing decides to just camp out on the NC/SC border for the whole weekend.
Alstein
3592
I’m optimistic, but I’m a bit further west. Triad usually lucks out on these storms. Gonna be a crap weekend though and don’t expect I’ll be able to eat out much.
Skipper
3593
We should be even better here in Charlotte. Let’s hope it isn’t as bad as all these reports they are projecting.
dtolman
3594
I would add to cram your freezer full of water containers now to get as much ice as possible, and make sure you have a large well insulated cooler to put them in once you lose power.
That first week without power after Sandy, having that extra ice (and the cooler - which kept it from thawing for a week) was a godsend.
I’d also fill a bathtub with water (for non-potable uses, like cleaning dishes etc). You can never have too much water (in containers).
Nesrie
3595
So my sister is in the Philippines, and they have one too. She assures me it is not projected to hit her island, and now it’s my duty to keep my family here from freaking out because USA news isn’t as good at reporting the other ones.
RichVR
3596
Yeah, bathtub for washing and then flushing toilet. In that order. Freezer packed with bags of ice cubes from ice maker in my case. Melted ice is more potable water.
I was here near NCSU for Fran in '96, and my power was out for 7 days. As long as the flooding is not out of control, the worst tragedy for most folks will be loss of a freezer full of food, and the mania from having no internet access for a few days.
Having no power for 4 days last year at Irma showed me how screwed we are in the apocolypse. The retardedness of people in my neighborhood was unbelievable. The constant bitching and trying to encourage everyone else to bitch at the power company and self entitlement was just mind boggling.
Meanwhile my wife and I just shrugged and made the best of it with the understanding that millions of people (literally) were without power and we probably aren’t the highest priority.
Granath
3599
That may have been unique to your neighborhood.
Ours just took stuff out of the freezer, wheeled our grills into the cul-de-sac and had an open cookout. Yes everyone bitched because of the heat and humidity but none of us were encouraging each other to inundate FPL with calls. It would do no damn good anyway. But after a while that heat and humidity can become life-threatening to the sick and elderly so it is not simple entitlement. Air conditioning in FL can be a necessity for some people. Which is why my 80+ year old parents spent the better part of 4 days at my home since I was the one who got power back first.
None of the people ranting were sick, elderly, or even had young kids. I 100% agree that would have been a different story.
Re:power cuts… given that hurricanes are relatively frequent, and given that its pretty sunny… why don’t more people on the US east coast have some solar panels and an off-grid switch?
I live in the UK… zero chance of a hurricane taking out the power grid, and yet even here, if we had room in the house to put one somewhere sensible, I’d hook up a tesla powerwall to store solar power in case the power goes out. (I’m rural and we get maybe 2-3 powercuts a year, usually only a few hours).
I know historically this was expensive, but solar power /energy storage is getting cheap as hell. Why isn’t this a big thing?
Nesrie
3604
I actually had a quote this year for solar panels. I was told that in order to have power from the panels during an outage, I’d actually have to buy an incrediblly expensive battery… like the battery itself was almost the same cost as getting the panels including installation. Without the battery, the panels won’t supply the house during an outage.
The cost for the panels was around 30k minus some tax breaks. The battery was somewhere around 20k. That others were a little less on the panels but the batteries still expensive.
40-50k is not doable for a lot of people, probably most.
Clay
3605
Perhaps a better question is: why in the world are most of our power lines above ground instead of buried??
Nesrie
3606
I should also mention those go on the roof which I assume a number of people will lose due to the high winds.
