If you received a hurricane alert right now

elp30 · 27/10/2021 01:38

I live near the US Gulf Coast in Texas and our hurricane season runs from June 1st-November 30th so we are still technically in it. It's pretty calm right now but we can still gets strong storms and heavy flooding.

We've had six hurricanes since 2008: Dolly, Gustav, Ike, Harvey, Laura and Nicholas last month. Harvey was in 2017 and hit my specific area the worst in many years. It is the one storm that has made me fall out of love with where I live.

We always have bottled water, charcoal, canned food, cat food, batteries, candles, and we are investing in a generator and petrol, plastic sheeting and tape, some plywood and nails, a radio, all our documents are in one place for a quick getaway. But we are in a high enough elevation to not worry too badly about flooding but the loss of power is greater. However, it does make good sense to have an emergency fund of money in case there's a need to evacuate and you need to pay for accommodation and food.

It's a lot to think about and for six-long months of the year, it can be draining.

safariboot · 27/10/2021 01:48

Put the gadgets on charge until the storm comes. Sit in the hallway away from any windows. That's about all I can do.

romdowa · 27/10/2021 02:24

Last time we had a red weather warning , we just stocked up on food and water and tied anything down that we could and we just hoped for the best. My neighbour actually had a little caravan outside that very nearly flew away with the strength of the wind. It was a scary storm and our costal town was without power for a week in some places and half the businesses suffered damage. It was a rare event though and hopefully something we won't see again

MrsTerryPratchett · 27/10/2021 02:26

I'd have to leave the caravan I'm currently staying in and find a brick building, conveniently enough that's a local pub. I would go to the cellar with bottle of pop and crisps.

Basically go to the Winchester, have a nice cold pint and wait for all this to blow over

ZingDramaQueenOfSheeba · 27/10/2021 02:28

no clue

I'd probably wake up my family and pack my crochet. not necessarily in that order

ItsJustTheOneSwanActually · 27/10/2021 02:53

I live on the prairies and we get tornado warnings occasionally. We’d all decamp to the basement and keep away from the window.

Luckily it’s where we keep the wine.

ZZTopGuitarSolo · 27/10/2021 04:35

It's windy enough here that we're expecting to lose power tonight. We've charged everything and made sure the generator has fuel.

Last time we had a hurricane we had no warning. I was woken by the sound of the wind at 4am and by the time I was able to leave the house there were hundreds of trees down, all the roads were blocked, no one had power, and there were hours long queues at the petrol stations of people getting fuel for their generators. We had no power for a week and we went and stayed in a hotel.

The one before that we all slept in one downstairs room together and hoped a tree didn't fall on the house.

HerRoyalNotness · 27/10/2021 04:50

Stay put, so the coastal towns can evacuate. We have flushing and drinking water, I’d probably fill the bath as well. Plenty of food, gas in the bbq. We’ve never flooded, although came close one year, so if it was a big one, move the important stuff upstairs.

mathanxiety · 27/10/2021 05:45

We get severe weather in summer - derechos and the odd tornado warning. There's a basement I can go to, and other than that there's a little vestibule with a tiny window (a kind of a walk through closet) off my bedroom in which we could shelter, and the bathroom has a window opening onto a three season porch, which would be a good spot too. It would be a tight squeeze.

I keep my important documents in a fireproof case, keep the cat's carrier handy, a phone charger in my handbag, and keep my phone on me and reasonably charged.

The biggest threat here is the odd polar vortex.

Original poster

LindaLooky · 27/10/2021 09:29

Gosh those of you who live with the actual threat of hurricanes have my sympathy.

My town never progresses from "a bit windy" so I can treat this as a theoretical exercise.

I recently read a book that mentioned how hurricane warning systems have improved in recent years but it said tornadoes cant be planned for until you are in them. Scary!

@MrsTerryPratchett - my zombie escape plan is similar except I go to a pub with an upstairs vs the cellar!

OP posts:

ZZTopGuitarSolo · 27/10/2021 16:12

Our biggest threat is ice storms. If you google ice storm images you'll see they're beautiful but incredibly destructive. I've been here for a couple. It's freaky seeing all the tree branches pulled down to the ground by the weight of the ice. During one ice storm I tried to walk the dog through the woods, but all the paths had completely disappeared.

MotherWol · 27/10/2021 16:20

Right now I’m in FIL’s house with the baby while the rest of the clan are out for a walk, so I guess tell them all to get home ASAP, board up the kitchen window, bring as much wine in from the shed as I can, and wait for it all to blow over

muldersspeedos · 27/10/2021 17:02

Make a cup of tea.

heather2908 · 27/10/2021 17:15

@LindaLooky

Gosh those of you who live with the actual threat of hurricanes have my sympathy.

My town never progresses from "a bit windy" so I can treat this as a theoretical exercise.

I recently read a book that mentioned how hurricane warning systems have improved in recent years but it said tornadoes cant be planned for until you are in them. Scary!

@MrsTerryPratchett - my zombie escape plan is similar except I go to a pub with an upstairs vs the cellar!

I’m laid on the bed reading while my three cats are laid next to me. I’d probably just move away from the window

And as an aside, can’t zombies climb stairs? I feel like we’ve all been subjected to way too many zombie films if the characters could have just escaped by going upstairs!

621CustardCream438 · 27/10/2021 17:52

How much notice? Hurricane in a few days, depending on predicted geography I might drive to family the other end of the country. Hurricane this afternoon, I’d get a big ziplock bag of passports and certificates, the hard drive and medications and stick it in a backpack with a few bits of clothes/kids stuff. Put the outside bins in the garage, fill the water bottles and the bath, charge the devices and take up residence with the bag, snacks, torches and some duvets etc in the hall. If it floods, move upstairs.

TSSDNCOP · 27/10/2021 20:02

Fret a lot about the kids next doors trampoline and its proximity to my conservatory.

I'd fret all the time if I lived in the US states that cop it every year.

mathanxiety · 27/10/2021 20:59

...tornadoes cant be planned for until you are in them.

It's always extremely exciting. The meteorologists on local news stations live for tornado season.

To be fair, this guy is very accurate.
www.nytimes.com/2011/11/25/business/media/for-tom-skilling-no-such-thing-as-bad-weather.html?pagewanted=all

We have a tornado warning siren system here. They test it on the first Tuesday of the month at 10am, which I believe is statistically the least likely day and time for a tornado to occur. There is always a first time of course, and if there was threatening weather you'd be foolish not to take shelter on that Tuesday if the siren went off. They do tornado drills in schools too.

EduCated · 27/10/2021 21:17

At short notice, would probably head to my gran’s, as she lives at the bottom of the hill, and we live at the top.

She’s also got enough tins down the cellar to see us through

happytoday73 · 27/10/2021 21:21

Nothing.. We don't get hurricanes in England...
We might get hurricane like winds very occasionally but hurricanes keep their feet in tropical water and die off eventually over land or this far north... (yes I know I'm sad 😂)

Original poster

LindaLooky · 27/10/2021 21:30

@mathanxiety the book I mentioned talked about people ignoring warnings. Apparently people see patterns where there are none eg "tornadoes never hit this street", "they follow the freeway" etc and stay put as a result. Complacency I suppose. I also read that people in the blitz did the same, their logic is that sirens go off all the time and they dont get hit, plus it's a lot of hassle to go and spend hours in an uncomfortable shelter.

Do you have public shelters or just recommended parts of your home?

OP posts:

Original poster

LindaLooky · 27/10/2021 21:34

I dont like the drizzle but I'm pleased england doesnt really do extreme weather (or killer insects). Sometimes unremarkable is brilliant!

OP posts:

Scrowy · 27/10/2021 21:49

Absolutely nothing more than I don't already do several times a year in winter.

My walls are 2m thick and my windows are small, mullioned and leaded so I'd just shut the curtains to keep the weather out.

I'd light the Rayburn, make sure the storm lamps and matches weren't somewhere silly and ensure all the torches were charged and download as much stuff onto as many iPads/ phones and charge them up as much as I could for as long as I could.

I'd boil water and put it into flasks and fill up the gallon water bottles with tap water (the last really bad storm we were without water for 4 days so this is a new one)

Id probably have a reshuffle in the fridge and pantry to make sure there was plenty of stuff we could cook easily on the stove with minimal washing up required.

Then I'd sit down and make the most of not feeling guilty about being on mumsnet instead of outsider doing farm jobs until the power inevitably goes off.

Loubiemoo · 27/10/2021 22:00

@Scrowy

Absolutely nothing more than I don't already do several times a year in winter.

My walls are 2m thick and my windows are small, mullioned and leaded so I'd just shut the curtains to keep the weather out.

I'd light the Rayburn, make sure the storm lamps and matches weren't somewhere silly and ensure all the torches were charged and download as much stuff onto as many iPads/ phones and charge them up as much as I could for as long as I could.

I'd boil water and put it into flasks and fill up the gallon water bottles with tap water (the last really bad storm we were without water for 4 days so this is a new one)

Id probably have a reshuffle in the fridge and pantry to make sure there was plenty of stuff we could cook easily on the stove with minimal washing up required.

Then I'd sit down and make the most of not feeling guilty about being on mumsnet instead of outsider doing farm jobs until the power inevitably goes off.

My walls are 2m thick and my windows are small, mullioned and leaded so I'd just shut the curtains to keep the weather out

Your Majesty…..?

curtsies

Strokethefurrywall · 27/10/2021 22:08

I live in the Caribbean, and much like the Gulf of Texas poster upthread, we get our supplies in early and hope for the best.

We got hit by Hurricane Grace in September (?) that was supposed to be a tropical storm but hit us as a Cat 1. It was fine, we lost power but we have a gas stove so I could cook.
The island sustained mostly structural damage and severe flooding, downed trees.

We basically always gas up our cars and stock up our wine fridge and wait it out. So we "go to the Winchester, have a nice pint and wait for it all to blow over..." :-)

mathanxiety · 27/10/2021 22:12

Do you have public shelters or just recommended parts of your home?

No, no public shelters. There are signs showing the way to shelter areas in public buildings and larger shops, churches, etc. Buildings both commercial and residential tend to have basements here, which are ideal for shelter in tornado conditions.

There would be no time to get to a public shelter if a tornado were to happen. They generally don't travel far enough for a warning to be issued in time for people to get to a public shelter.

Local TV station meterologists can pinpoint areas where there is a swirl in the atmosphere or where one can develop (where a layer of cold air and one of hot air begin to circulate).

Here's lengthy coverage from local Chicago TV last August featuring live shots of clouds, rain, wind damage, and also weather graphics. There's a lot of explanation of what's happening (and sadly some really annoying subtitles). Estimated arrival times of the intense storm are down to the minute.

All the areas shown in yellow are Chicago and suburbs. Cook County is basically the city of Chicago itself.