Hurricane Matthew

  • Thread starter Thread starter FWB
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I'm right in the middle of this storm, in Abaco (Marsh Harbour) Bahamas. We had expected the eye to give us a direct hit per the forecast track but a few days ago it was steered away towards Nassau which has experienced its worst hurricane in 87 years! I'm watching the US networks (courtesy of my generator because the power is down) and, like has been said already, the fervour and panic being whipped up by their coverage is only parralled by the storm itself! Still, on the plus side, we are seeing less of the Hilary and Donald show.
I think, right now, I'd rather be back in my other home in the New Forest. Stay safe everyone.
 
Robin said:
Feel free to fly in and do it for them if you want, they had a week, including a weekend to do it themselves and chose not to, they live 4 hours drive away. I'm 71 had a stroke 3 years back and new hips, so not as agile as I would like, They meanwhile are younger and fitter, plus we live in a mandatory evacuation zone and may have to leave at a moments notice.:p We paid guys to do most stuff for us and the new owners have been given their contact info. Sorry to disappoint...:disgust:. .
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well our just sold boat escaped unscathed. NEW owner had a contractor remove the canvas enclosure but the well tied off roller genoa and in-mast main stayed put as did the RIB in it's davits we meantime had to get out of dodge rapido but afte driving 11hrs away from the danger area in nightmare traffic still could not find a hotel room So we slept in the car in a rest area along with hundreds of others. Next morning set off home as peeps who stayed put said our condo was OK, just no power. Met nightmare winds and rain as we were now close to Matthews outer bands, trees down everywhere and flooding ( inland) Pulled into a restaurant car park tht said 'open' to be greeted by a go away we are closed' employee with attitude. I turned to go back to the car, tripped and fell flaton my face, blood everywhere. THere was a Walmart store nearby thtwa open 24 hrs so went there to clean up and get sticky plasters. WAlmart manager panicked thinking I had fallen in their park and might sue, but when told not insisted I took a leccy ride on cart to go get the bandaids. THEN to addinsult to injury I press the wrong lever o the cart and went fast reverse into a bench seat. Finally got out and drove on but stopped 30 miles from home andwas told all the bridges over the intracoastal were closed untill 7am next day, so drove on dodging trees and debris all over and slept another night in the car, but this time at our marina as they had resident security patrols.NO working traffic signals for over 60 miles made for Russian rouletteat times Checked the old boat next morning at daybreak and took piccies to send the new owner who was ecstatic to find it looking good. Saw multiple shredded headsails two boats with mangled busted masts and security said a couplesank in their berths, no idea why, maybe they relied on bilge pumps that didn't because the power was out, although it came back about 3am whilst we were there At 7am after proving we were genuine residents we were allowed to cross the nearest bridge to get home. Home was fine but branches and leaves everywhere, boundary fences all gone .A steel roof door had been ripped off and missed SWMBO's car by inches we were told but the covered are parking roof survived. Crabby Joe's Local fishing pier and restaurant over the waves off the ocean beach is no longer a landmark and large bits of the coast road were washed away. WE finally got power back at 9am this morning but still have no cable, phone or internet.

WE were lucky, others were not, 6 dead in our area from falling trees. I'm glad our old boat is OK. The live aboards in our marina were all OK and only lost power for a short time.

HUrricanes suck!:disgust:
 
It feels better to hear that people are safe but feels really sad thinking about the destruction caused due to such storms. There are certain things in the world that we cannot control, but can definitely take preventive measures. I have a friend who lives in Florida, he told me that he takes preventive measures to be prepared for storms as the weather is non predictable. He does roof reinforcement every two to three years to protect it from leakage, keeps the yard clean, has installed Palm Beach window and door, keeps the first-aid box and necessary medicines at an easy reach and stores lots of water and good amount of food, since it is very difficult to get them during such situations. And we can always pray for the safety of our family and friends.
 
Hey Ruth, please refrain from reviving old threads particularly when you have nothing to add but uninformative wibble.
 
jonjo said:
Hey Ruth, please refrain from reviving old threads particularly when you have nothing to add but uninformative wibble.
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Hey that's not very welcoming for a new member...!!

How to cope with a hurricane...

"We have entered the peak of the hurricane season. Right now, you can to turn on the TV and see a weather person pointing to some radar blob down in the Caribbean and making two basic meteorological points :

(1) There is no need to panic.
(2) We could all be killed.

Yes, hurricane season is an exciting time to be in Florida. If you're new to the area, you're probably wondering what you need to do to prepare for the possibility that we'll get hit by "the big one."

Based on our insurance industry experiences, we recommend that you follow this simple three-step hurricane preparedness plan:

STEP 1:

Buy enough food and bottled water to last your family for at least three days.

STEP 2:

Put these supplies into your car.

STEP 3:

Drive to Nebraska and remain there until Halloween. Unfortunately, statistics show that most people will not follow this sensible plan. Most people will foolishly stay here in Florida.

We'll start with one of the most important hurricane preparedness items:

HOMEOWNERS' INSURANCE:

If you own a home, you must have hurricane insurance. Fortunately, this insurance is cheap and easy to get, as long as your home meets two basic requirements:

(1) It is reasonably well-built, and
(2) It is located in Wisconsin

Unfortunately, if your home is located in Florida, or any other area that might actually be hit by a hurricane, most insurance companies would prefer not to sell you hurricane insurance, because then they might be required to pay YOU money, and that is certainly not why they got into the insurance business in the first place. So you'll have to scrounge around for an insurance company, which will charge you an annual premium roughly equal to the replacement value of your house. At any moment, this company can drop you like used dental floss.

SHUTTERS:

Your house should have hurricane shutters on all the windows, all the doors. There are several types of shutters, with advantages and disadvantages:

Plywood shutters: The advantage is that, because you make them yourself, they're cheap.

Sheet-metal shutters: The advantage is that these work well, once you get them all up. The disadvantage is that once you get them all up, your hands will be useless bleeding stumps, and it will be December.

Roll-down shutters: The advantages are that they're very easy to use, and will definitely protect your house. The disadvantage is that you will have to sell your house to pay for them.

Hurricane-proof windows: These are the newest wrinkle in hurricane protection: They look like ordinary windows, but they can withstand hurricane winds! You can be sure of this, because the salesman says so. He lives in Nebraska.

Hurricane Proofing your property: As the hurricane approaches, check your yard for movable objects like barbecue grills, planters, patio furniture, visiting relatives, etc...

You should, as a precaution, throw these items into your swimming pool (if you don't have a swimming pool, you should have one built immediately). Otherwise, the hurricane winds will turn these objects into deadly missiles.

EVACUATION ROUTE:

If you live in a low-lying area, you should have an evacuation route planned out. (To determine whether you live in a low-lying area, look at your driver's license; if it says "Florida," you live in a low-lying area). The purpose of having an evacuation route is to avoid being trapped in your home when a major storm hits. Instead, you will be trapped in a gigantic traffic jam several miles from your home, along with two hundred thousand other evacuees. So, as a bonus, you will not
be lonely.

HURRICANE SUPPLIES:

If you don't evacuate, you will need a mess of supplies. Do not buy them now! Florida tradition requires that you wait until the last possible minute, then go to the supermarket and get into vicious fights with strangers over who gets the last can of cat food. In addition to food and water, you will need the following supplies:

23 flashlights. At least $167 worth of batteries that turn out, when the power goes off, to be the wrong size for the flashlights.

Bleach. (No, I don't know what the bleach is for. NOBODY knows what the bleach is for, but it's traditional, so GET some!)

A big knife that you can strap to your leg. (This will be useless in a hurricane, but it looks cool.)

A large quantity of raw chicken, to placate the alligators. (Ask anybody who went through Andrew; after the hurricane, there WILL be irate alligators.)

$35,000 in cash or diamonds so that, after the hurricane passes, you can buy a generator from a man with no discernible teeth.

Of course these are just basic precautions. As the hurricane draws near, it is vitally important that you keep abreast of the situation by turning on your television and watching TV reporters in rain slickers stand right next to the ocean and tell you over and over how vitally important it is for everybody to stay away from the ocean."
 
ripvan1 said:
A pretty rude and unnecessary post to a newbie - apology in order
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Very worthy of you to stand up for this new user. So much so that I see you are a person of good character and therefore am in a position to offer you a business opportunity. My uncle, Mr. Laikaumbongo, recently deceased, has left to me in his will the sum of 13,000,000 USD....
 
ripvan1 said:
A pretty rude and unnecessary post to a newbie - apology in order
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I wasted 10 minutes reading this thread and was about to put my house on the market because it is 19ft above high water.

A Cat 5 hurricane in May would mean global warming is advancing far faster than predictions, then I noticed the October 2016 start date of this thread. My curiosity tweaked I then found that Ruth's first 3 posts on this forum had all revived old threads from 2013, 2014 and 2016, that is generally considered bad form.
 
Just as a matter of interest who considers it bad form? Hurricanes didn't stop happening in 2016 don't you know so any advice is relevant now as it was then.

By the way - welcome Ruth - you carry on reviving old threads if you like, some of us may have missed them first time round.
 
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*sigh*. To be more explicit...

"ruthsmith" joined this forum then made 3 posts in 5 minutes on dead threads posting meaningless comments with zero boaty content. Now normally people who do this stick to the restaurant or book review sections, have location of "New York" and say things like "+1. I have eaten there. It is the best!!". Why? given that Time don't need to pay a forum posting service to post here (yes, such services do exist) I imagine it's creating a valid id which has passed the initial moderation to sell on for later forum spamming. "ruthsmith" won't be an evil spam mastermind, just someone making a few cents a post.

Grumpy old man? Can't remember if I'm a few months older or younger than GHA. But I have been kicking about the Internet for a while...

("ruthsmith" is free to tell me that I'm wrong of course...)
 
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