East Coasters, Pre-Prep for Earl?

any one of us that starts to prep when they see a hurricane on the news, is sadly behind the curve.

Prepping should be a regular component of your life.
 
Smash05 said:
I am assuming that sustained winds of 125mph would do some damage.
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That's the only thing that worries me. Trees around these parts get uprooted so easily, and the branches seem to be made out of glass, and I'm not even talking about strong winds either.
 
Born in 85'
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That'll explain it. During the mid to late 1970's several hurricanes landed in New Jersey or passed close by. There was another around 1986 that went right over the middle of the state.

We'd go hit the beaches after the hurricanes. All kinds of great stuff would wash up.
 
I have a question about water if you will humor me for a moment.

I have lived in Virginia Beach, VA 27 years ( basically my whole life) and have seen a few hurricanes, tropical depressions, and nor' easters. I have been without power up to 10 days and have never had an interruption in the water supply. So what can cause such an iterruption in service? I would think it would be if the main pump lost power, but don't they have backup generators?

Enlighten me please. And note, i will get more water, fill car and cans with gas, get some cash, food, and extra candles.

Also, I want to emphasize the importance of getting cash before a storm. You can often make a purchase in stores with no power, but you can't use a card nor are you likely to find a working ATM that still has money. Spoken from experince of course!
 
jnich005 said:
I have been without power up to 10 days and have never had an interruption in the water supply. So what can cause such an iterruption in service? I would think it would be if the main pump lost power, but don't they have backup generators?

Enlighten me please. And note, i will get more water, fill car and cans with gas, get some cash, food, and extra candles.
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I'm not a water plant operator, so this is sort of a classroom answer, but I think there are 2 big problems that a hurricane could cause: loss of pumping & loss of treatment.

I would say in most cases, emergency backup pumps can probably handle whatever duties the regular pumps can. That is unless the pump house is damaged or underwater.

As far as loss of treatment, there are certain physical & chemical processes that have to happen for water treatment (& wastewater treatment for that matter) to be effective. Flooded or damaged treatment tanks, altered treatment chemistry or lack of treatment chemical delivery due to road blockage/unavailability of materials/etc, or loss of biological treatment due to that altered chemistry could all cause interruption of service at the plant end.

Any damage or compromising of the distribution network could also cause interruption of service until the water can be redirected (for example by manual valves at working pump stations) or until positive pressure is restored to the lines (for example by manually capping broken lines if no valves are operable).

Loss of service is mostly a combination of large demand and coupled with an overwhelming or failure of the backup measures.
 
I would imagine that if the automatic chlorination equipment went down due to a lightning strike/power surge there would be an automatic shut down... we have lost water when there was a break in the water main and was contaminated by ground water but not to my knowledge during a tropical cyclone

I have a couple of LEO friends that went to Mississippi during Katrina and were adamant about using a Clorox/water solution to disinfect yourself if you get into any deep water...

if you use a 33 gallon plastic trash can to store water in your bathtub/shower you still have a drain, which you don't have if you fill the tub... try pouring flush water directly into the bowl and not through the tank... do it with a clean bowl and slowly the first time...
 
When I lived in FLorida and was hit twice by hurricanes within a month, water pressure was lost both times. Hydrants got broken off by downed trees. Houses were blown into the bay and their plumbing supply lines left spewing. Trunk lines which were burried in sand washed out and ruptured. When line pressure falls below a certain point, intrusion of contaminated water is possible. A lot of water supply lines cross open water on bridges which can be swept away in hurricanes.

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This is where I lived during hurricanes Erin and Opal. Pensacola Bay was on one side and the Intercoastal Waterway on the other. Utilities were out for a week. Emergency services weren't seen during that time. No one could drive in or out due to downed trees and utility lines, broken pavement. Getting to the business district when ice and a few other essentials were sent in meant climbing over trees and piles of debris for about a mile, both ways.
 
If it hit tonight without warning I would be fine, it doesn't mean that I should not, given adequate time, look to over prepare myself.
 
Thats what i was wondering. It seems flooding more than power outage causes interruption of water service, so now i'm a bit more worried since it can flood here with 20 mins of good rain. As a matter of fact, last year we had about an hour of good rain and i ended up having to walk about 20 miles to get home ( took about 5 hrs).
 
If you plan to have extra cash around, make sure some of it is in small bills. Merchants may not be able to break a twenty from the ATM.
 
There are some good suggestions above, so I won't repeat them, but I would recommend if you have a garage, or have friends that do, get a 4 by 4 and put it vertically in the center of the door, ease your car against it to hold it in place, then put the car in gear and the emergency brake on. When hurricane Wilma hit me, I saw that doggone garage door pumping and it would have been gone if not for that one piece of lumber.

A generator is a good idea and as much stabilized gas as you can safely handle. Several areas here did not have power for 3 weeks. Communications are dicey for awhile. And my stihl chain saw was busy afterwards. Rest up before the storm, you will be busy during and after.

TH
 
looking like the NE will get the worst of it.. another close call on a super major hurricane landfall in NC.. phew... we are still headed to the beach friday evening. doubt we will do much swimming lol..
 
Anyone here in the Cape Hattaras area? I am seeing some storm surge flooding there now.

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we will most likeley see some rain and strong wind. Nothing we have not seen before. I fixed the shed roof today. Horses have feed and water. Genny is ready. Truck is filled. Guns are loaded. Situation normal around here.

And i do not have to plow or shovel this one..
 
Raining pretty hard in downeast Maine, no wind to speak of. Oh well, at least I got the yard picked up. Will probably take a run to West Quoddy Head State Park after the precip stops and check out the surf.
 
Codger_64 said:
Anyone here in the Cape Hattaras area? I am seeing some storm surge flooding there now.
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the hurricane was a dud in NC, they evacuated a bunch of the coastal counties and nothing happened...im about an hour and a half off the coast and it rained for about 2 hours. thunderstorms are worse than that was.
 
I am glad this turned out to be a "non-event". Hopefully it did give some people a wake-up call that the 2010 hurricane season is cranking up. While everyone everywhere should maintain some sort of base preparations, IMHO it is especially important for folks on the Gulf and East coasts where hurricanes are not only possible, but probable.

When I moved from Little Rock Arkansas to Florida (aerial pic above), I didn't give much thought to hurricane specific prep. I had only been there about two months when the first one hit us. The second hit almost thirty days later to the day. Luckily I grew up with grandparents who lived thru the depression, and parents who lived thru WWII, all of whom believed in preparedness of one sort or another. That and my love of camping meant that I was pretty well prepared to camp "in" without power and running water. The wife pretty quickly got over the inconvenience of having cases of bottled water stored under the bed and cases of canned goods stacked in the bottom of the spare closet. The first hurricane took out the small metal storage building in the back yard, so she didn't complain when I bought mil-surp helicopter gyro shipping containers for our storage items, including my camping gear.

That first hurricane did show me what was missing from my kit though. I was better prepared when the second one hit us, and though I moved back inland not too long afterward, I tend to keep my preps up. Even here in Tennessee, disaster still comes around like clockwork. Basic preps, maintained, can turn disaster into a mere inconvenience. "Bugging in" is always easier than "bugging out", but with a little forethought, either can be coped with.

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We definately dodged a bullet on this one. It is always preferable in my mind to bug in than bug out. Those shipping containers look awful useful. Might have to locate some.
 
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