If you received a hurricane alert right now

[LindaLooky]

Where would you go? What would you do?

I like planning for non existent emergencies and it's a bit windy out.

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.

The alternative is the onsite amusements but I think the building is flimsy and there'd be too many people there to be comfortable.

I am mid Victorian terrace so I don't think my house would blow away. I have a load of long life food here anyway. My main concern would be my dog.

Thankyou for starting this thread OP! It’s made me and DH smile.

It think I’d go to our friends house, they’re just round the corner but their house is much older and I assume sturdier than ours. The rooms are also deeper so it would be easier to stay away from windows. They maybe also have a cellar 🤔

Not sure what the chickens would do though, they’d have a rough time in a hurricane

We had a 'hurricane' in Ireland a few years ago, it downgraded to a storm by the time it hit land. We had plenty of warning about the time that we all had to be indoors, and all the shops sold out of beer and crisps. I was a bit worried about the huge tree in next door's garden that was only about 3m from the corner of our house so I didn't let DD spend time in her bedroom (in that corner) until the wind had died down.

Go downstairs, cover the lounge windows somehow, or just make a giant bed in the middle of the room, kip there with all my children. We wouldn't try and flee elsewhere as it can take an hour to get them dressed, shoes on and coats. So by then we would be fucked if we left the house

I don't think a cellar would be a good idea in a hurricane, they tend to drop a lot of rain and cause floods.

Wow @mathanxiety I would be glued to that coverage all night!

Another question if you dont mind, does your insurance cover you for tornadoes? It always seems debated here as to whether storm is "an act of god" in which case no cover.

@BrumBirth just rock up to your friend's with chickens tucked under your arms and ask them the way to the cellar.

My house isnt very hurricane proof. No cellar. I suppose I'd clear out the under stairs cupboard and sit in there with my wind-up radio.

I like that we turn to beer and crisps in an emergency @BlackAmericanoNoSugar. That would be my go-to provisions too, in the absence of a kettle.

My walls are 2m thick

Do you live in a castle?

@heather2908 I dont think zombies can climb stairs. They might accidentally fall onto an up escalator but that's not an issue in the pub I'll head to.

I have beautiful trees behind me that have stood for hundreds of years. They're much bigger than my house and could take us out if one fell.
I would therefore consider moving to w friend's house!

I don't think a cellar would be a good idea in a hurricane, they tend to drop a lot of rain and cause floods

Yes, a good few people tragically drowned in basements during storms that hit NYC recently.

Basements are suitable if they are well built, with a clear drain and a safe point to exit to a ground floor area. Upper floors can be dangerous because flying debris can crash through windows. This is a big danger from tornadoes too.

@mathanxiety

...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.

Tornadoes don’t like Tuesdays??

I would stock up on all our favourite food and drink.
Then I would get cosy in my bed with DH and dd. I would make out it was an exciting adventure so dd wasn't scared.
When dd was asleep I would get drunk. 🥂🥂

Tornadoes usually happen at the hottest part of the day and into the evening.

The sirens are also for civil defense purposes. Apparently the USSR was least likely to attack on the first Tuesday of the month at 10am too.

I lived in an earthquake and volcano alert zone. Had 5 days worth of water and canned food in the basement for the former plus a ready to go bag for the latter. Never used it and to get honest it was 5 bags (tent, bag of sleeping bags and mats, cooking equipment and water filtration equipment, the food for the earthquakes bag and clothing which was generally incomplete as I raided it

I have NC for this because its very outing, on a serious note, I would check what they have called it.

So far all the worst hurricanes have the same names as myself, my partner, my parents and my grandparents.

Myself and my partner are the two worst.

So if its named after our son, I would assume the world was going to end

I live in an attic flat and all of our rooms have windows, so I’d be a bit stick (but safe from floods at least). We have a spacious carpeted hallway that would be ok to camp out in…. But it’s got a skylight . I guess I’d have to find some ingenious way to cover that!

If that’s not possible, I think I’d have to shove the spare mattress against my bedroom window and cross my fingers! Perhaps I’d bring the fridge in here…

@usingthehurricane

I have NC for this because its very outing, on a serious note, I would check what they have called it.

So far all the worst hurricanes have the same names as myself, my partner, my parents and my grandparents.

Myself and my partner are the two worst.

So if its named after our son, I would assume the world was going to end

Given you’ve name changed, please tell us your son’s name so we can be ready when it’s the end of the world.

That's spooky @usingthehurricane. I am guessing you are a Katrina.

The Spike Lee movie 'When the levee broke' about the devastation and aftermath of Katrina was a real eye opener for me. Awful.

@pinkmink if you have a bath, then lie in the bath with a mattress over you. Again the book I've mentioned upthread talked about that!

In 1989 my family and I experienced a category 5 hurricane Hugo-we were approximately 20 miles inland off the Atlantic coast. Never again-it was hell to huddle together hearing the wind and feeling the pressure changes causing our eardrums to pop. No serious damage to our brick home. No power for over two weeks in 90+ degree weather and high humidity. We had never experienced a strong hurricane. My entire family prepares well and will evacuate now. I live five hours away and have had tropical storm systems blow through this past storm season but not like '89-Hugo struck weekend of my 16th birthday.

@WhatsWrongWithMyUsername, nop because selfishly I want to use the underground bunkers :-p

@LindaLooky One of us is Katrina, the other is David

I was on Florida's gulf coast during Irma; it came ashore locally, though it was only a 3/4 by then

They have a full set of "what to do" over there, and folk right by the water evacuate to local schools, community halls, etc. My own plan if the roof looked like coming off was to decamp to the inside bathroom (no windows) with the cat and a large bottle of wine, but luckily it didn't come to that

Being America, everything was fully functioning again 2 days later - no thanks to the media, who were carrying on about "Florida being uninhabitable for 6 months" and the like