Agreed.  If there's even a remote chance you'll get bad ju-ju coming your way, then do everything you need NOW to prepare as if it WILL happen.  Nobody can laugh at you for being prepared.  But they'll label you an idiot if you don't when the worst does happen.

I'm coming to the conclusion no one knows what is going to happen. Just going to have to wait and see.

Famous words of every stranded, severely injured, or dieing person caught unprepared by a hurricane!

I mean what will happen with the track. I went shopping, the car and generators are filled with gas, and the shop vacs and pumps are ready to go to start pumping out the liquor warehouse beneath me. Ready if I have to be.

Good, I thought so, kinda like having y'all around here

Y'all be safe 

Latest advisory:

"SUMMARY OF WATCHES AND WARNINGS IN EFFECT...

A HURRICANE WARNING IS IN EFFECT FOR...

* BOGUE INLET NORTH CAROLINA NORTHEASTWARD TO THE NORTH

CAROLINA/VIRGINIA BORDER INCLUDING THE PAMLICO AND ALBEMARLE

SOUNDS

* WESTPORT MASSACHUSETTS EASTWARD AROUND CAPE COD TO HULL

MASSACHUSETTS INCLUDING MARTHAS VINEYARD AND NANTUCKET ISLAND"

Westport MA, that's me. 

And no, I'm not worried.  Been through every hurricane to hit this area since Carol in 1954.  The last one to seriously impact the area was Bob in '89, so we are due.

Cash only Glenn?  The last time the computers were down, they broke out the good old backup standby paper charge slips and filled them out by hand.  Took a little longer, but that was it.

Heck, in Carol, when the power was out for weeks, gas stations rigged up Briggs and Stratton engines to turn the pumps.  Of course that was in the days before electronics controlled everything.

Even then, most businesses have backup generators to run the stuff that is essential to operate even if not all the electric circuits.

That's one good thing about living in an area where snowstorms can take out the power.  It is essential to have some type of backup to prevent pipes from freezing in the winter.

The Nitro is tucked in the garage.  All our vehicles will be under cover as well.

The generator is in place and was test run yesterday.  The charger is hooked up to its battery.

If the power goes out, turn a key, flip the switches on some circuits from outside power to generator power and we're in business. 

Enough capacity to make sure we have water, heat, power to the fridge, etc.  Not enough capacity for every circuit, but will be able to live normally, like human beings.

We have satellite tv, so it will work.  If the power lines go down, we will lose the broadband internet service. 

I need to clarify - the entire infrastructure was down.  It didn't matter if the stores were on generator power (they were), they still couldn't process credit card transactions because they couldn't connect to the outside world. Same with cash machines.  Nobody has paper charge slips these days - of if they do, they still won't use them because of credit card fraud.

And that's the same reason why the pumps didn't work unless you paid by cash.

Maybe hurricane-prone areas are better prepared, but my area isn't. A storm packing 100+ winds is extremely rare in my neck of the woods.

Nobody has paper charge slips these days - of if they do, they still won't use them because of credit card fraud.

This wasn't storm related or anything, but earlier this year I bought gas and the station's network was down (couldn't communicate to CC servers) and they filled out the paper slip and took an impression of my card.

This was in the Chicago suburbs and not out in the country either.

Nobody has paper charge slips these days - of if they do, they still won't use them because of credit card fraud.

This wasn't storm related or anything, but earlier this year I bought gas and the station's network was down (couldn't communicate to CC servers) and they filled out the paper slip and took an impression of my card.

This was in the Chicago suburbs and not out in the country either.

I've had them do the same thing in the past couple of years when the electronic gizmo was having a conniption fit.

In fact, there are a couple of stations around here that still use the old imprint machines as standard operating procedure.

The latest I heard was that Nantucket "might" get hurricane force winds.  Around here they downgraded from sixty mph a few hours ago to thirty to fifty as Earl passes off the coast.

Isn't there a C & W song "Earl Must Die"?

Goodbye Earl by the universally beloved Dixie Chicks.

My neighborhood barely got a breeze and very little rain.  And that's how these storms lull you into a sense of carelessness.  Then WHAM!, the next storm hammers you. 

Wow, I think the media WAY overhyped this storm, unless you live in the OBX. That or the storm was just an underachiever!! ;D

Wow, I think the media WAY overhyped this storm, unless you live in the OBX. That or the storm was just an underachiever!! ;D

And this is one reason why these storms are dangerous. 

The simple fact is no one really knew how close it would pass, or if it would actually hit.  People think it's overhyped and then think that the next time.  When they get walloped, they weren't prepared.

Hurricane Isabell hit as a Cat 1 and passed as a tropical storm.  I was without power for 2 weeks.  I watched, and I'm not overstating, 14 trees fall from my front porch.  My neighbor's house was split. 

Years earlier, Floyd hit as a tropical storm.  I adjusted claims in Franklin, Virginia and the piles of dead hogs, polluted water and garbage made me puke.  First time a stench ever made me puke.  I talked to other adjusters who saw coffins that had come out of the ground with heavy rains sitting in people's yards. 

Had Earl hit as a Cat 3 on the same path as Isabell, or dumped any more rain that Floyd did, it would have been cataclysmic.   

You can't underhype these storms. 

You know how they name hurricanes after women's names?  Well.....

I'm just dreading the day hurricane sunflower hits land!

Run Away!!  ;D

It did suck the water down about 6', I'm going in the morning and see if we have another fish kill like we did in 02.

Funny how these storms work.  There was a waterspout a few years ago in the Chesapeake Bay that came ashore in Ocean View.  It dropped little fish all over the place.  There were little silver fish on roofs and the roads. 

-------

Glenn, I'm shocked !   ;D

Micro, we dodged a bullet this time.

I check the Virginia Dominion Power Outage Map web site and there is almost no power outages in the Tidewater area.

Keep fingers and toes crossed that this is the only storm we will encounter this year.

Micro, we dodged a bullet this time.

I check the Virginia Dominion Power Outage Map web site and there is almost no power outages in the Tidewater area.

Keep fingers and toes crossed that this is the only storm we will encounter this year.

Amen Brahh.

Just looked outside at 3:45 a.m.  Not enough breeze to fly a kite.

We had some rain, but that's about it.

Oh well, looks like the summer outdoor stuff got stowed early this year.