hurry cane matthew

[CJB]

looks like another union heyday, with ot galore for all of those unionized police, fire, emt, dot and ibew workers.

[AIRret]

Be safe CJB!

[yqtszhj]

Ah, thats why I left the gulf coast in 2004. I had enough in 2002 and 2003. The next 2 years brought Ivan and Katrina.

I know you know the drill, tie everything down and ride it out. Keep your powder dry.

[knkali]

try to be safe and help where you can brother.

[Alfonse]

I always appreciate electricity even more after natural disasters. Stay safe!

[CJB]

I can do without electricity, internet, phone, food for a while... bathing, toothbrush, clean clothes....

I cannot do without coffee. And TP, need dat TP!

The worst of it is over, and will be all over in another two hours or so.

Damage was "like kissin' yer sister" = "nuthin!"

The new HAM antenna weathered the storm well, no ill effects whatsoever. Was out this AM doing some final batten down of the hatches, and re battening down of the hatches (we'll teach those hatches!). The only other folks out and about, apparently not doing anything except "being out and about", were some nasty looking types. I carried the PM45, Governor, and Serbu. No chances taken! No prisoners taken. No shots fired....

I am at the very end of the line for street lighting, and that took a dump. Its wired 277v, so I may have to threaten to fix it myself to get 'em out here sometime this decade. I don't mind the voltage, I do mind climbing the @#$@#!!! pole, since I ain't got a fancy bucket truck (or any bucket truck for that matter).

A few palm fronds down, but I yanked all I could the other day and there were a few stragglers. They have straggled their last.

Got to listen to the Hurricane Matthew Ham Radio Net, which was on 14.325mhz and had periodic call-ins from hams all over the place, running the show, and taking input from locals about the conditions, passing along messages, getting emergency aid (none to speak of), and generally playing with new gear and calling it volunteer work.

And now I gotta lug all the crap that I piled high in the living room, and garage, and.... only God knows where else because I already forgot... back outside. And the litter boxes need emptying BIG TIME.

So just a rainy day inside, with the cats and some fried eggs. No big deal really.

[Bills1873]

Bro in law is in Port St. Lucie. Getting ready for the real big sh!t to hit the fan. He's gonna ride it out. Praying for him and all that are in the path. Big sucker, it is.

[CJB]

BTW, the NHC arm of NOAA intentionally mis-forcast the storm closer to land, and stronger than it was.

The storm consistently was 25 miles east of their "projected track", and folks, they're only that far off after two days of track. For 48 hours, they're almost always spot on, maybe a 5 or 10 mile twist in the course at most.

This was intentional. To make people prepare in case the storm did deviate? Oh hell no.

Instead, NHC, NOAA, Obama and Gov Rick Scott all had plan - the same plan all pols have - and that plan is to spend money.

Overtime. More equipment. More fuel. More men. More more more.... make 'em think we need a vast army (and we GOT a vast army of FPL and Georgia Power trucks already here).

There was a cop on every corner where the road was wide or busy enough for a stripe in it, or light.

There were EMT's stationed all about the place, at Wally World and Home Depot (which didn't close, BTW).

It was a governmental circus, paid for by (que the "pop" sound of a champaigne bottle opening, followed by some glugs....) "us", the little guy.

They had crews all over the place, in all sectors, doing busy work, for a storm that was intentionally mis-projected, in order to enable that very same busy work.

Its a rat race. The rats are winning!

[AJBert]

BTW, the NHC arm of NOAA intentionally mis-forcast the storm closer to land, and stronger than it was.

The storm consistently was 25 miles east of their "projected track", and folks, they're only that far off after two days of track. For 48 hours, they're almost always spot on, maybe a 5 or 10 mile twist in the course at most.

This was intentional. To make people prepare in case the storm did deviate? Oh hell no.

Instead, NHC, NOAA, Obama and Gov Rick Scott all had plan - the same plan all pols have - and that plan is to spend money.

Overtime. More equipment. More fuel. More men. More more more.... make 'em think we need a vast army (and we GOT a vast army of FPL and Georgia Power trucks already here).

There was a cop on every corner where the road was wide or busy enough for a stripe in it, or light.

There were EMT's stationed all about the place, at Wally World and Home Depot (which didn't close, BTW).

It was a governmental circus, paid for by (que the "pop" sound of a champaigne bottle opening, followed by some glugs....) "us", the little guy.

They had crews all over the place, in all sectors, doing busy work, for a storm that was intentionally mis-projected, in order to enable that very same busy work.

Its a rat race. The rats are winning!

I went through Katrina in Gulfport, MS. The "experst" under evaluated that one for sure! I think Mathew falls under the CYA clause for the gubbment.

[yqtszhj]

I went through Katrina in Gulfport, MS. The "experst" under evaluated that one for sure! I think Mathew falls under the CYA clause for the gubbment.

You caught it bad in Gulfport. I left Mobile the year before that but still had to get involved in the restoration. Gulfport, Biloxi, and that whole area was destroyed. Hope you didn't lose everything.

[CJB]

Bro in law is in Port St. Lucie. Getting ready for the real big sh!t to hit the fan. He's gonna ride it out. Praying for him and all that are in the path. Big sucker, it is.

Nada happened in PSL, other than power lines in select areas, and the typical ******* stuff, ie, large plywood "Coming Soon!" signs blown away (and causing secondary damage). I saw some live cam (beach cam) of TV crew (Fox?) in the distance, doing a report from locally damaged building on the beach in Sebastian (could have been Vero though). They had to drive around, I'm sure, to actually find an awning down, because the restaurant not 1000 feet away (home of the cam) was open for business with customers!

[CJB]

I'm not a Matt Drudge fanboy, but I do like him aggregating the news.

But, my own observations seem to match Drudge's ...

http://www.popsci.com/dont-take-weather-advice-from-matt-drudge

(http://www.popsci.com/dont-take-weather-advice-from-matt-drudge)
(snippet of story, provided under Fair Use Doctrine, italics are my own)
Hugh Cobb, Chief of the Tropical Analysis and Forecast Branch of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Association, told Popular Science that he was aware of Drudge’s comments and that while he would not comment directly on them, he reacted with a groan. Cobb emphasized that all of NOAA’s data is collected straight from the storm using reconnaissance aircraft. Aircraft have no political agenda.


And therein is the big lie. Of course, aircraft have no political agenda. And guns don't kill people. People kill people, and people fly the aircraft, and collect and report on data to other people, who aggregate the data with other people, then decide what the data says with other people.... You get the point.

The next thing you'll hear: Hurricane Matthew cost XYZ billion dollars in support from FEMA, Federal, State and Local military, National Guard and police agency manpower and equipment, EMT and Fire/Rescue manpower and equipment, and lets not forget the Coast Guard, as well as the Red Cross.

And the Dems will say "Do you think Trump would have spent that money for you? Only Hillary would!"

It behooves those in power to make the best of any crisis, with the maximization of that crisis in terms of severity, reportage, and expenditure of response dollars. When a big election is near, and the crisis happens right before that election... all the more reason to push the envelope. This is the nature of politics.

"You never let a serious crisis go to waste. And what I mean by that it's an opportunity to do things you think you could not do before."
--- Rahm Emmanuel, who tried to pawn that line off on Winston Churchill. There is no known record of Sir Winston Churchill ever using that phrase, or anything even remotely like it.

[wyntrout]

I'll be watching Matthew all day. Wind and rain picks up now and then... still almost 100 miles to the eye, though!

[getsome]

It cracks me up listening to the talking head news people reporting on the hurricane when they say really obvious stupid things like "The biggest threat the coastal residents will face will be from high winds, heavy rains, flooding and the storm surge"....No kidding, and all this time I thought the biggest danger in a hurricane was from hot lava and the ground opening up and swallowing everything.....

[Slvrbak]

I hope everyone fairs well

[AIRret]

I'll be watching Matthew all day. Wind and rain picks up now and then... still almost 100 miles to the eye, though!

So Wyn, how's your immediate area? Any damage to your property?

[jeepster09]

It cracks me up listening to the talking head news people reporting on the hurricane when they say really obvious stupid things like "The biggest threat the coastal residents will face will be from high winds, heavy rains, flooding and the storm surge"....No kidding, and all this time I thought the biggest danger in a hurricane was from hot lava and the ground opening up and swallowing everything.....

Love it...lol. Good one!

[JohnR]

No damage here, didn't even lose power. Lots of trees down and traffic lights out today. The Jax Beach pier got shortened.

[CJB]

Dang! The pier!

Looks like the front came off one of my favorite facades on the boardwalk at Daytona. The Mardi Gras fun center lost (at least) one of the "jesters" on the front.

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v214/bandersnatchreverb/MAIN/IMG_20150118_113309%20-%20Copy_zpsz8e33bu2.jpg

I know the "middle guy" has fallen off. Sad, but I'm sure the owner Dimitri will have it replaced or re-attached.

There was pictures of kids using kiddie pools and half inflated beach balls to "slide" down the sea covered boardwalk, propelled by 80-90mph winds. Not sure how "fast" they went, but it must have been a wild wild ride down that open space on top of the topped surf that made it onto the boardwalk.

[wyntrout]

We survived Matthew with the loss of our largest of two Crape Myrtles. Our driveway was not blocked and no damage to the house. I did use about 43 gallons of gas in my generator to keep all of our stuff running, including the a/c... 27 hours without power or the Internet. Thank goodness for my smart phone and 4G LTE. I was able to keep in touch mostly with Facebook and some messaging. I sent some pictures and did a running commentary on the poor Crape Myrtle. :D

We saw at least 60 mph and maybe a tad more, but no problems. I WAS worried that I had made a bad decision to stay, though. The yard is still a mess with the smaller stuff, but the back yard fence didn't blow down. I had propped up a rotted 4x4 with a board to a tree a few feet away and a bunch of screws. I wanted to wait until it's cooler before rebuilding the fence.

The generator quit a few hours before the power came back, but it was just a low-oil shutdown. I filled it up with oil and it ran even better!

The house across the street had a large oak branch break and fall toward the wind damaging the roof and wetting that room upstairs. The Crape Myrtle is on the left side near the end of my driveway in the picture.

I've had this generator for 11 years now and it has been very handy. It's 15Kwatts but I can only get 12Kw out of the largest outlet, so that's wired into the house panel with a homemade interlock allowing only the main or the generator to be selected. It will pull our 3.5 ton heat pump, but I have to turn off the water heater or the furnace/AC... works for me. I have 10 or so UPS for all of my electronics, even clocks, so that nothing is destroyed by the voltage variation as 2(in use out of 3) wine coolers, a beverage fridge, a small chest freezer, and the large side-by-side refrigerator cycle on and off with the a/c running.

Home Depot was selling them for $2,000 but I bought a returned one that someone had tried charging a battery and the battery had exploded with acid all over one side. It was greatly reduced and I bought it during a hurricane sale with a discount and no tax... under $500! I saw them selling at Norther Tool for over $2,500! The generator cleaned up nicely and serves us well.

Wynn :D

[AIRret]

I'm glad everyone on the forum made out ok.
Wynn, nice electronic preps. "Reasonable" preparations for disasters is what it is all about, wether they are natural or man made.

[CJB]

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v214/bandersnatchreverb/MAIN/AR-161008171_zpsmcqzc1z1.jpg

That would be Dewey, from the Huey, Dewey and Louie trio at the Mardi Gras. Dunno if the city will let Dimitri rebuild that iconic amusement center. The city considers the place too "low brow" for their tastes. In any official image of the boardwalk in Daytona, the Mardi Gras and other business at the south end of the pier are cropped out.... purposefully. Can't have folks seeing any low brow (and 70 year old) business. Might scare away someone.

[Bawanna]

Guess we're supposed to get big wind and tons of rain on my end of the continent tonight into the weekend. Apparently typhoon remnants or something.

Might have to go over the hill and live with Alfonse until it blows over. Big winds don't usually make it over the mountain.

[Alfonse]

Guess we're supposed to get big wind and tons of rain on my end of the continent tonight into the weekend. Apparently typhoon remnants or something.

Might have to go over the hill and live with Alfonse until it blows over. Big winds don't usually make it over the mountain.

We have showers on and off in the forecast for the next few days. Don't get flooded out when a desert is nearby. :)

[CJB]

Its sort of ironic, we had a few days of cloudy but dry and nearly windless weather here in Fl, but now I've got winds from the NE that are as strong as during the storm. Not too strong, but say 25ish at times, with higher gusts, and lots of rain again. Its your basic WTF? moment.

[Armybrat]

We've been having an Injun Summer up until now, but looks like it's going to turn cold next week:

http://cdn.tegna-media.com/kvue/weather/7DAY880X495.jpg

[AJBert]

That's not cold weather heading your way, that's our summer up here. Too hot up here lately, too. Need to start getting colder, though we did have a couple of dustings of snow in the past couple of weeks.

[Alfonse]

Tomorrow is the big day for wind and rain for Bawanna from this storm. Hang in there, or just come this way if the power, etc. is out.

[Bawanna]

We made it barely.......


http://i1138.photobucket.com/albums/n538/hopke5/Storm%20IMG_63361_zpsvn51l8ki.jpg (http://s1138.photobucket.com/user/hopke5/media/Storm%20IMG_63361_zpsvn51l8ki.jpg.html)

[Alfonse]

We made it barely.......


http://i1138.photobucket.com/albums/n538/hopke5/Storm%20IMG_63361_zpsvn51l8ki.jpg (http://s1138.photobucket.com/user/hopke5/media/Storm%20IMG_63361_zpsvn51l8ki.jpg.html)

Yeah, got gusts to 15 mph here.