Irene is slated to hit NJ really hard Saturday-Monday; I’m from the west coast and haven’t experienced a hurricane (yet). Please help! I’m 25 miles inland from the coast (and doubt I’ll be evacuated).
-At what velocity does wind cause serious damage, and what types of damage?
-My basement is going to flood, it takes on water with just moderate storms. I’ve unplugged the washer and dryer, moved stuff up 5’ off floor, and tested the sump pump. What else to do?
-My sump pump is electric. Do I keep it going until the power goes out/water level drowns it?
-My home HQ will be in my main-floor living room. Do I need to cover the windows? I have a medium-sized one and two clerestory. Okay to keep my big TV and furniture as is?
-What do I do with my firewood? I have 1/2 cord stacked on the porch.
-Where do I park my truck? My street and driveway are lined with huge trees.
-I’ve assembled five-days of food and water, flashlights, batteries, first aid supplies, battery-op radio, important papers, a “go” bag, and have the truck packed with dog crates and other supplies in case I need to leave. Truck’s gas is full, all batteries for appliances charged.
-Tomorrow I’ll fill the bathtub and add some bleach (washing and toilet flushing). Any other tricks for hoarding water?
-How much bleach do I put in drinking water I’ve stored in plastic containers (milk, ice tea, etc)?
-I have two huge oak trees in my backyard; the ground is already soaked with rain from the last two weeks and I’m concerned about them. What do I do if a tree hits the house and does damage? Are there special fire hazards I should be aware of so I’m safe to stay here?
You don’t have to if the water is already out of your tap. You only have to bleach water that is of questionable sanitation. If you have stored water out of the tap in clean, suitable containers, it is fully potable. Water doesn’t go bad.
If you need to drink water that actually needs to be disinfected because your municipal water supply is compromised and you have run out of stored water, follow these guidelines.
Seasoned Florida hurricane veteran checking in. Some of this is tough to answer without knowing your area, but I’ll give it my best shot.
Two things:
Don’t panic.
Don’t forget your towel.
Just kidding. The two hurricane rules are:
Run from the water
Hide from the wind.
You’re okay just holing up in a safe place if your main concern is high winds. If you are within a mile or two of the coast or a major river/sea inlet, you want to find a safe place to shelter that’s at least a couple miles further inland. Run from storm surge. Hide from wind.
Basement flooding does not count as storm surge.
Somewhere around 100 mph winds is when things get dicey. After 110 mph, I pack up and get the hell out of dodge. The Wiki page on the Saffir-Simpson scale should give you some idea of what kinds of damage occur at which wind speeds. Know this, though. After a hurricane makes landfall, the winds slow down considerably. They gain energy from warm water; land diffuses the energy. So, 50 miles inland the storm might not be quite as awful as it is 50 miles out to sea.
I’m sorry, but I just can’t help you here. No basements in Florida. This is one reason why. I have no clue, aside from remove anything you don’t want underwater. If you can cut power off to the basement, that seems like that would be a good idea.
Again, sorry, but I have no idea. I’m not even exactly sure what a sump pump is.
You probably don’t need to board them up. During Hurricane Andrew, we were advised to make a giant X with packing tape on each window (corner to corner). This doesn’t prevent shit from breaking; all it does is help to contain the glass in (sort of) one place when the neighbor’s lawn furniture is catapulted through your front window. We found it to be pretty much useless and pointless and really a PITA to clean up (getting all that adhesive off the glass, argh!). I think more recent hurricane preparation advisories say to skip this. Somewhere around 110-115 mph winds is where I draw the line: board up and get out. Below that, don’t sweat it beyond having a big roll of plastic and some tape in case you need to cover a window until repair guys can get to it.
You might lose some shingles. The most likely damage will be from trees coming down, taking out power lines, and flooding, especially from storm surge. Do not worry about storm surge if you are 300 miles inland. Do not worry about wind damage if you are 300 miles inland. By the time the storm gets that far in, the wind speeds will reduce considerably and Irene will seem just like a big thunderstorm. Could be lightning, hail, a lot of rain, or none of the above. **The real preparation is for after the storm: **you have to be ready to live without power for a couple weeks.
That’s probably fine right there.
You do know that’s impossible to answer, right? What about an open parking lot at a nearby shopping center or something like that? You want high ground if you’re in a flood prone area or within a mile of water. I never move my car. That’s what insurance is for. I’ve lived in Florida since 1992 (Hurricane Andrew!) and have yet to have a tree smash my car. It could happen, but that’s sort of the least of my worries.
Good job!
Get money out of the ATM – enough cash to buy ice and water or whatever you may need. Might not be power so you won’t be able to get cash.
Walk around your house with your phone or video camera and document your stuff. Make sure there’s a date stamp. This may come in handy for insurance claim purposes later.
Make sure you’ve got propane or charcoal for your grill, if you have one, especially if you have an electric stove. You may be cooking outside for a bit.
If you have an ice machine in your fridge, get busy. Make as much ice as you can. People will kill each other for ice after a storm. Hell, people will kill each other for ice *before *a storm.
Plan your escape route, and plan for alternative routes. If you do decide to evacuate, traffic could be so clusterfucked you’ll be better off taking your chances at home. You do NOT want to be stuck out on the road in the open in gridlock during a hurricane. Also, be aware of where storm shelters are being set up. Churches and schools usually do this and the Red Cross will be issuing bulletins in your area advising you where and when they will open up. In Florida, most of 'em do not take pets, so you’ll want to know if any do and where they are and about three different ways to get to them. After Katrina, the shelters started taking people with pets because they found a lot of people like me would rather die at home than abandon my pets to fend for themselves.
Sure, fill every bottle, bucket, and container you can find. Budget 1 gallon per day per person. Have enough for everyone in the house, including animals, for about three weeks. Go get ice and fill every cooler you have. If you have time, freeze as much as you can. This solves the ice problem and helps keep your stuff cold when the power goes out. It takes a lot longer for a 2-liter plastic coke bottle to thaw than it does a 2" square ice cube.
When the power goes out, eat everything in your fridge first, then the freezer, then start on your nonperishable food. The fridge will stay cold without power (if you don’t open and close it a lot) for about 12 hours. The frozen stuff will stay frozen enough for about 24 hours. Floridians grill a lot of steak after hurricanes.
I use commercial bottled water for drinking and the water I store in recycled plastic containers I will use for cleaning and flushing. So I don’t bleach that stuff. Same with the bathtub water – that’s for toilet flushing (with a bucket). [Edited upon preview: previous poster addressed this much better.] You can also get water purification tablets wherever camping supplies are sold.
Then you call your insurance company and say, “Help! A tree just fell on my house!” and they will help you get someone out there to protect your stuff, remove the tree, and fix your house. You might want a supply of tarps and rope in case something makes a hole in your roof. I don’t recommend going out in 90 mph winds, climbing up on your roof, and trying to cover a hole in the middle of a storm. What you do is hole up in a safe room – like an interior bathroom with no windows – and ride it out. When the storm is over, then you crawl out of your hidey hole, assess the damage, and figure out how you’re going to put it all back together again.
You may find that things like a generator or chainsaw come in seriously handy afterwards. More people get injured from trying to remove trees themselves (lopping off limbs with the chainsaws, etc.) and from broken glass etc. than from winds.
It’s just stuff, so worry about people first, animals second, and your stuff third. Check on you and yours, your neighbors, your friends, your animals, and then concern yourself with the tree on your car. It’s just a car.
I wouldn’t worry too much about fire hazards with this level of hurricane. If you have gas, you might want to have your gas line shut off. I don’t do this because I have a gas stove and gas water heater. I can still take a hot shower and cook even if there’s no power (electric pilot light though, you have to light it yourself).
Think like you’re going camping. Figure out which is the safest room in your house and put all your supplies in there. During Hurricane Andrew, people dragged mattresses in the bathroom, put the kids in the bathtub, and put the mattress on top of 'em. Irene is nowhere near that powerful, so I don’t think you will have to go to extremes like that. Again, my “get the hell out” threshold is around 100-110 mph. Andrew was twice that. That is why I will never ride out a Cat. 5 hurricane ever again.
As a proud survivor of the Florida hurricane season of 2004 (Charlie, Frances, Jeanne all went through my back yard) I will give you advice on your pump. Starting now, do NOT do laundry, take short showers and only if it is brown, flush it down. The ground saturates and the water has no where to go but back up your pipes and into your home. You want to limit the amount of water you are putting in it so if your electricity goes out, gravity will do its job.
I am not sure why you would add bleach to tap water that should be safe. The bleach is for if you need to use water that gets contaminated in some way.
Looks like the forecast is for winds around 60 mph to hit coastal NJ. That kind of wind carries some risk of felling trees, especially if the ground is saturated, but it is short of the level where the wind itself is damaging the house and objects in the yard become dangerous projectiles.
Your primary concerns should be flooding and power outages. Sounds like you have done all you can do to prepare. Might be nice to obtain a camp stove, although if you have a gas stove that might not be needed.
The advice I gave was for the extremely unlikely event that Irene would plow into NC/SC at a full-on 110mph, and NOT lose any power all the way up to NJ. If that happens, I am sure that monkeys will fly right outta my ass just after that.
A sump pump is to pump out ground water that gets into the basement. It has nothing to do with the sewage system.
Let the pump(s) work as they normally do – if you have no water in the space now, running them ahead of time will only cause more wear and tear on the motor unnecessarily. If it’s really bad, the pumps probably won’t be able to keep up. Any appliances in the basement should already be on cement blocks or other raised surfaces. Take any items you don’t want water damaged into higher parts of the house.
If a tree hits your house, call your homeowners insurance company as soon as you have ascertained that you are safe (if not, call 911 first!). Get a claim started, because they will have to be involved. They will offer to set you up with a remediation company (they’re legally obligated to). The remediation company will help you to start getting the mess cleaned up.
My insurance company has partnered with a company called “servpro” for remediation (here’s their website http://www.servpro.com/). Reading it over might give you some peace of mind, since they have a link about what to do until they arrive. They (and all homeowner’s insurance companies with policyholders on the east coast) are basically on high alert right now because of the hurricane. I don’t have any interest in promoting servpro, either, they’re just the one that I’ve been hearing about at work for the last few days.
Even if there aren’t many houses that are total losses, there will still be TONS of holes in roofs and trees through windows, thousands of minor damage claims to be taken care of. So don’t be afraid to call your insurance company =)
Thank you, all, for the very helpful replies and advice! I’m not actively scared, but this is a new experience and I want to keep my doggies safe (and myself, but I come second after them LOL).
I had to evacuate my house during the Southern California 2003 wildfires and in the panic I grabbed a variety of worthless crap that made the 10-day motel stay extra miserable; since then, my motto has been BE PREPARED. Thank you for helping me achieve this.
The San Francisco earthquake, SoCal wildfires, and now a hurricane. Maybe I’m a harbinger of natural disasters!
Excellent advice in this thread. Also remember to have a first aid kit handy, keep your mobile phone charged and most importantly: don’t make fun of people from the east coast when they experience their first earthquake.
Agreed. Most sump pumps are submersible anyway; they’re made to be in the middle of a pool of water in your sump, and be perfectly happy that way. Unless it’s an old (or very cheap) pump, you shouldn’t have any cause to worry about it burning out from running continually for a while – they tend to be made to handle that sort of thing.
As a former Floridian, I can tell you at 25miles inland the only problem you will have is flooding. Or possibly if a tree falls over on your home.
The after effects can be unpleasent though as it may take a long time to restore power and phone service, if the lines go down. Also ATMs empty out fast so I would get any money you may need now.
Do not call 911 unless someone is direct danger of dying or serious injury. Property damage can be dealt with later, and emergency services will be up to their eyes already.
Keep your phone on the charger until the power goes out, and do not play with it or make calls. You can call people later to let them know you are fine; most likely they will call you. If you expect a prolonged lack of power, change your message to one that tells callers you are safe and well and turn your phone off. Check it once a day, and return calls as necessary. Keep it to a minimum if a disaster occurs. Jamming is common, and there is no need to add to the issue.
Dogzilla: you ROCK, thank you for the detailed answers, they have been incredibly helpful. I’ve written a report below just b/c it feels good to sit down and write it all out after a hectic and stressful day.
I filled the truck and my yardwork can with gas, I’m making ice right now (including freezing litre bottles), and I have cash. I’ve taken photos, especially of the areas that seem most vulnerable to tree damage. I’m going to document some of my interior possessions tonight, just in case.
Practically every notification for my area warns of power outages ranging from 24 hours to two weeks. I think I’m ready for these contingencies.
I have a propane BBQ and also bought some self-lighting charcoal; I figure I can dump it in the BBQ or my firepit bowl if needed. My kitchen stove is gas with electric lighter: would it be safe, in the absence of electricity, to light the gas burner with a match? I did figure out how to light my gas water heater pilot (thank you, great advice!)
Virtually all of coastal NJ has been evacuated and a few news sites report that the gov is “thinking about expanding the [evacuation] order to inland residents.” I’m 26 miles from the Jersey shore and, as the crow flies, 47 from NYC; I’m going to use your rule of thumb for when to hunker down and when to flee. Though I’m just a half mile from the extremely flood-prone Delaware River, I’m on a ridge and the house is on a 4’ foundation. Flooding for me will most likely be a swimming pool in the basement from rain and clogged storm drains. I can’t imagine packing my four mutts in the car and frantically searching for an escape route; however, on your advice I have my tri-State maps, GPS, and doggie supplies packed in the SUV. Like you, I would rather die at home than not have my puppies with me. If things were to become catastrophic, I have friends in Western PA/Ohio I could get to in a hard day’s driving.
Good info on fridge perishables. I’m actually down to pizza, toaster waffles, and yogurt in the freezer – they’ll go first. I bought enough non-perishable to make it through four or so days.
I bought four cases of bottled water and tomorrow morning will fill every “doggable” container I can with agua for the canines. Tub fill tomorrow with a bailing bucket for potty (yick!) I’ll skip the bleach – that idea is a remnant from my camping days when we had to drink creek water.
I’ll practice saying “Help! A tree just fell on my house!” LOL. It does appear that my insurer, ccksucking State Farm, is starting to make pre-emptive noise about denying hurricane-related claims on the East Coast. Oh well. I have tarps and ropes, but can assure that this 46-year old chick won’t be scaling the roof in 90mph winds. The house is two stories and a basement, so there would be sheltering spaces. I have windows in every room, so I brought up plywood and my tools from the basement to have handy in case I do need to repair a broken window. Most of my power tools are battery-run, wahoo!
The ground here is already incredibly saturated from the 10.5 freakin’ inches of rain we’ve had recently and my real nervousness is about the enormous oak, beech, and pine trees in the backyard falling onto the house. (However, I’ve been “remodeling” my stupid kitchen for two years and perhaps a thorough crushing of just the kitchen would be a gift – just kidding, Goddesses – this is not an invitation!)
My supplies are in the living room, and I’ll set up a cozy bed on the couch tomorrow night.
Thank you, thank you. I think I’ve done all I can to prepare, whatever happens is out of my control now.
Hi Acid: my partner is a FDNY paramedic in Manhattan; believe me, there will be no reckless uses of 911 in this household! Thank you for the cell phone tips, I hadn’t thought of putting an “I’m okay” message – doing so now. We’re being told to use text messages only, they say that voice calls take up bandwidth from emergency services.
Thank you, Kenobi. I visited my electric sump pump this afternoon and gave her a pep talk. I’m making the educated guess that if the water exceeds her heighth I should cut the basement electricity.
No problem, I’m a hurricane vet multiple times over here in south florida. I’d composed a long post but the hampsters ate it, so I’ll be brief.
Animals freak out and act weird during hurricanes. Keep them in the safe room with you, and expect odd behaviour. If they look for, or wedge themselves into a hidey-hole, it’s allright, leave them be. If there is still time, take them out until you cannot deal with the weather any longer. Make them go. You will thank me for this later. After the storm has passed, take them out for walks immediately and be aware they may not recognize their home if lots of trees are down. Keep them on a leash at all times unless your yard is fenced and that fence is intact. Even the most reliable of dogs is prone to erratic behaviour in that type of situation.
During a prolonged recovery/worst case scenario, share with your neighbors but retain your own supplies (particularly water) in a hidden part of the home. Do not share what you cannot afford. The best thing you can do is keep healthy to the best of your abilities.
If one of you is armed, please clean and service your firearm and place it in a watertight baggie with the ammunition. Og forbid you need it, it will be ready and undamaged. If you are not armed and looting becomes an issue, ensure your safety over your property, it can be replaced. Secure your home as best you can and join up with some neighbors to form a watch. There is safety in numbers. Looters operate in deserted areas, so being out an about is helpful. Always lock all your doors and windows even if you accustomed to not doing this with regularity.
Do not operate any equipment you do not have experience operating this even means manual tools like hand axes. Ask a neighbor, a worker, or another helper to show you how it’s done first. More people are hurt in the clean up and recovery than in the storm. Your pride is not worth an injury in a disaster zone.
Do not waste oil/ candles lighting up a room at night. They go faster than you think. One or two is sufficient to light the room you are using, and take it from room to room.
