Emergency services - Trying to avoid danger of Hurricane Frances

Author

Trying to avoid danger of Hurricane Frances

poboxdc@ix.netcom.com

2004-09-01, 2:14 am

At this time (Tuesday night) Hurricane Frances is on track
to hit the coast of Florida (probable) sometime Saturday.

Since this is category 4 size (140 mph winds), shouldn't
anyone with an IQ over 80 be leaving town NOW? I cannot
understand why people insist on buying plywood, and trying to
"ride out the storm" when something this large and
dangerous is approaching?

Finally, if most people try and leave (Route 95 NB) at the
same time, they all get caught up (traffic jams) in the
storm, on an interstate highway. Not my idea of fun,
or staying safe.

KM

SkyPilot

2004-09-02, 2:12 am

poboxdc@ix.netcom.com pounded on the keyboard and wrote:

>At this time (Tuesday night) Hurricane Frances is on track
>to hit the coast of Florida (probable) sometime Saturday.
>
>Since this is category 4 size (140 mph winds), shouldn't
>anyone with an IQ over 80 be leaving town NOW? I cannot
>understand why people insist on buying plywood, and trying to
>"ride out the storm" when something this large and
>dangerous is approaching?
>
>Finally, if most people try and leave (Route 95 NB) at the
>same time, they all get caught up (traffic jams) in the
>storm, on an interstate highway. Not my idea of fun,
>or staying safe.
>
>KM

KM,

I can understand your wonder, especially with the shoddy way houses are now
built. However, I was born and raised in Miami. I lived their from 1949
until I enlisted in the USAF in 1968. I was then stationed back at Cocoa
Beach, Fl twice for a total of five years. About three years ago, I sat
down on the NOAA website and compiled a list of all the hurricanes and
storms I have been through. That list was a full 8 x 10 page of single line
entries. During all of those storms, neither me or my family left our home.
No one was injured, no flooding and very minimal damage was done to our
home. Of course my child home was made of CBS brick.... But I can
understand them not leaving if they live in a sturdy home.

Brian
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Brian J. Rueger | Hampton Div. of Fire & Rescue | "Who dares wins"
Lt./Paramedic | Fire Communications Officer | Hampton, VA.
B.S. Comm/I/SEL Pilot | MSgt, USAF (Ret.) 49199 | NREMT-P
Check out my home page: http://members.cox.net/brueger
Some of my photography: http://www.usefilm.com/photographer/34185.html
"Life's too short to drink LITE beer!"
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Carey Gregory

2004-09-02, 2:12 am

SkyPilot <skypilotnospam@writeme.com> wrote:

>KM,
>
>I can understand your wonder, especially with the shoddy way houses are now
>built. However, I was born and raised in Miami. I lived their from 1949
>until I enlisted in the USAF in 1968. I was then stationed back at Cocoa
>Beach, Fl twice for a total of five years. About three years ago, I sat
>down on the NOAA website and compiled a list of all the hurricanes and
>storms I have been through. That list was a full 8 x 10 page of single line
>entries. During all of those storms, neither me or my family left our home.
>No one was injured, no flooding and very minimal damage was done to our
>home. Of course my child home was made of CBS brick.... But I can
>understand them not leaving if they live in a sturdy home.

I also grew up in Miami and agree completely. Building codes in Florida
aren't what they used to be. When I lived there (1959 to 1969), all homes
were brick, concrete block, or similar materials. Wood frame houses simply
didn't exist, nor did siding, roofing shingles, etc. I didn't go through as
many hurricanes as you did, but I went through several, and we never once
left our home despite being barely a mile from the coast. Evacuation was
never even considered, nor was it necessary because homes were built to
withstand it.

poboxdc@ix.netcom.com

2004-09-02, 4:13 am

Carey Gregory wrote:
>
> SkyPilot <skypilotnospam@writeme.com> wrote:
>
>
> I also grew up in Miami and agree completely. Building codes in Florida
> aren't what they used to be. When I lived there (1959 to 1969), all homes
> were brick, concrete block, or similar materials. Wood frame houses simply
> didn't exist, nor did siding, roofing shingles, etc. I didn't go through as
> many hurricanes as you did, but I went through several, and we never once
> left our home despite being barely a mile from the coast. Evacuation was
> never even considered, nor was it necessary because homes were built to
> withstand it.

I can understand that, but now I've heard there are some mandatory
evacuations underway, and anyone in a mobile home is encouraged
to leave. I would also fear reptiles (alligators and snakes)
floating past me! I really hope too many people are not
injured or killed .... and hope the hurricane takes a last
minute sweep in another direction.

KM

DollarBill

2004-09-02, 10:08 pm

"SkyPilot" <skypilotnospam@writeme.com> wrote in message
news:udrcj055jojssro2k90qvi436rkp1m0hl7@4ax.com...
> poboxdc@ix.netcom.com pounded on the keyboard and wrote:
>

<snip>

Believe it or not, there are some VERY strong homes in South Florida. OTOH,
there are some very weak ones too. My hope is that people living in mobile
homes and unfortified structures are leaving. That's the problem they had
in Charlotte County was that people in trailers didn't leave. I was there
last week helping dry in FF homes. Seemed like much of the devastation was
in mobile home parks. Most of the other damage was from roof and subsequent
water damage. Even then, a lot of the homes with roof damage also had
windows missing because they didn't have storm shutters. I'm in South Dade
and I have my shutters up now. About half of my neighbors still don't have
their shutters in place. I'm on shift in the AM and have been told to
report as usual.

Ya wanna hear something really funny...and kind of sad? Watching local news
last night, one of the stations had a reporter in Marsh Harbour, Bahamas.
It's the main town in the Abaco island chain. Some cutesy little woman with
her blond hair and makeup says when asked why they were there, "Oh, we have
rental property in the Abacos and we just wanted to make sure it was okay so
we decided to come here." The sad part is, she looked like she was already
old enough to have birthed a few more dumb motherXXXXers. So the Darwin
thing will have to wait another generation to take care of that portion of
the gene pool. There are people in Charlotte County without homes and this
stupid <insert C-word here> is worried about her island rental property!!!
[vbcol=seagreen]

<snip>

And that's a HUGE problem now. I just got off the tele with a friend of
mine in the Keys and he told me they are being reluctant to call for an evac
because of the traffic situation. It seems like the forecasters are saying
West Palm Beach but they aren't real sure just yet. The latest satellite
loop shows a WNW movement, straight up towards Lake Okeechobee. So you have
people evacuating from WPB and the surrounding area, including Broward
County. But where are they going? Orlando? It's one of those get in the
car and just keep driving north until the storm makes landfall and see what
happens after that.
[vbcol=seagreen]
> I can understand your wonder, especially with the shoddy way houses are
now
> built. However, I was born and raised in Miami. I lived their from 1949
> until I enlisted in the USAF in 1968. I was then stationed back at Cocoa
> Beach, Fl twice for a total of five years. About three years ago, I sat
> down on the NOAA website and compiled a list of all the hurricanes and
> storms I have been through. That list was a full 8 x 10 page of single
line
> entries. During all of those storms, neither me or my family left our
home.
> No one was injured, no flooding and very minimal damage was done to our
> home. Of course my child home was made of CBS brick.... But I can
> understand them not leaving if they live in a sturdy home.

Absolutely. I live in a home built under the new Dade County Codes. I'm
very confident it will hold up. I crawled around in the crawl space in the
heat of the summer just to look at the hurricane straps.. Could I have roof
damage? Sure. Will the roof blow off? Probably not, unless one of those
nasty tornadoes rolls through. I'll be at work. My wife will be here with
the cats and a full magazine, and we're not talking about Life or Good
Housekeeping!!

--
Gotta Go...It's Hot In Here,
William Lyster-FF/NREMTB

kathy

2004-09-03, 2:10 am

"DollarBill" <nospambillgean@nospamearthlink.net> wrote in message news:<otydnQVpNrrz_KrcRVn-tQ@adelphia.com>...
> "SkyPilot" <skypilotnospam@writeme.com> wrote in message
> news:udrcj055jojssro2k90qvi436rkp1m0hl7@4ax.com...
>
> <snip>
>
> Believe it or not, there are some VERY strong homes in South Florida.

kathy

this is true

kathy

2004-09-03, 7:19 pm

"L." <FFSTA17NO@SPAMACCESS995.COM> wrote in message news:<SfZZc.674$Ae.578@newsread1.dllstx09.us.to.verio.net>...
> "kathy" <kathypaus@aol.com> wrote in message
> news:34618f8f.0409022123.2de9f098@posting.google.com...
> news:<otydnQVpNrrz_KrcRVn-tQ@adelphia.com>...
>
> Be that as it may, I wish all our Brothers and Sisters in the Fire, EMS and
> Law Enforcement Services and all the others who live there - safe keeping in
> this upcoming event.
>
> L.

kathy

Amen Brother Amen

poboxdc@ix.netcom.com

2004-09-07, 7:09 am