Hurricane Matthews

[OhYouBadBadKitten]

I've uhmmed and ahhed about starting this thread. I've also been crazy busy, but intend to try and take things a little slower today.

The good news is that it has currently dropped to a cat 3 storm and it has jigged right a little bit. Florida is very well set up for evacuations, so for those with relatives in the area, please don't worry, they will have been removed inland. It's likely to be rather wild for them and you may lose contact for an extended period.

For coastal areas, it looks very concerning - the winds are expected to peak at around 140mph. The space centre infrastructure can withstand 120-130mph. The most worrying aspect is storm surge. It will be devastating.

I'm curious as to what they will do with regards to voting in the election, given that some areas may be without power for a few weeks.

[OhYouBadBadKitten]

And of course, while the States is well set up for this sort of situation, poor Haiti :( it is utterly utterly devastating for them.

[BlossomCat]

I've just been listening to Radio 4 about Haiti, it sounds like it was horrendous.
There will be repercussions in the southern states, but at least they have the infrastructure there to get assistance in quickly. It must be utterly terrifying to live through such a storm.
Oxfam appeal for Haiti

[OhYouBadBadKitten]

Well done Oxfam for getting off the ground so quickly. I do worry that the impact on Florida will dominate people's thoughts soon and Haiti will fall out of people's minds.

Matthew is currently going through an eye wall replacement, this can weaken the hurricane, but it does increase the wind field.
Worst of the winds are still off shore.

[TwoWeeksInCyprus]

Thanks for the Oxfam link BlossomCat

[OhYouBadBadKitten]

Heading off for a bit now. Thankfully the worst of the winds are still offshore. Some concern for winds for the Canaveral area and storm surge further north up the florida coast into Georgia.

[GloriaSmud]

The BBC has live reporting here and the Guardian here.
Hurricane showing up well here.

[GloriaSmud]

If you get a moment, the footage on the Guardian blog from the cockpit of the NOAA hurricane hunter aircraft flying in Hurricane Matthew is

[OhYouBadBadKitten]

Thanks for the links Gloria,
looks like Jacksonville is going to be worst affected, mostly due to storm surge.

[aginghippy]

My brother lives in Jacksonville. Luckily he is not too near to the beach or the river. They still have power, so we can communicate.

He says it is windy there, but not too bad atm. They are waiting for the centre of the storm to arrive tonight.

[OhYouBadBadKitten]

He didn't decide to leave Aginghippy? I hope he's well stocked up! 4 hours before it reaches hurricane conditions there, around 8 or so before they are at the peak. The storm surge is predicted to be around 8-11 feet around there.

If he decides to stay put (he has time to leave I think still) can you feed back reports please while he has power. Just from a curiosity point of view.

It's just jigged to the left a little. It's around the space centre at present, winds not as terrible as perhaps they could be.

[aginghippy]

They were not told to evacuate in his area, so he just decided to stay. They have filled the bathtub and some plastic jugs with water. They have enough food for 3-4 days, though he describes it as 'an interesting menu'. They got a new propane tank for their bbq, so they can still cook when the storm is over. (Sounds very Floridian to me ) He is expecting to be without power for a few days.

If he says anything else of interest, I don't mind updating.

[OhYouBadBadKitten]

thank you :)

How far is he from the river?

[aginghippy]

He is about a mile from the river, I think.

[OhYouBadBadKitten]

ok, Looks like zones abc and f are voluntary evacuation zones. It has interesting topography with some parts really close to the river not being evacuation zones, presumably because they are higher ground. He sounds well prepared.

[aginghippy]

My brother says it's very windy now in Jacksonville. They have had a couple of flickers with the power supply, so he is not expecting it to last much longer.

[theDudesmummy]

My brother is in Palm Bay (south of Jacksonville, he is married to a Floridian and lives there) and gave me a video call a couple of hours ago. He was standing outsde and it looked a bit breezy but nothing major. I think the worst has passed now (the Floridians were very stoic about it all). It's awful about the Haitians though.

[aginghippy]

The centre of the storm is near Daytona Beach now. That's about 90 miles from Jacksonville, so not past Florida yet.

[OhYouBadBadKitten]

I hope every one is ok.
Haiti is,just horrendous :(

[Hulababy]

:( Haiti - the effects are become clearer and the death toll is so high.

Looks like Florida has been fairly lucky in all, not quite as badly hit as they thought, esp central. Airports are reopening, shops open for business, theme parks etc are back to normal from today apparently. Sad for those who have to now head home and see what awaits them in terms of tidying up, getting back on track, etc.

[GloriaSmud]

BBC report about Haiti

[Martha75]

All those billions of dollars raised after the Haiti earthquake and yet people were still living in flimsy hovels not fit to withstand extreme weather.
Where has the money gone - surely enough raised to have rebuilt homes, hospitals schools?