Tropical storm Ian

In reply to Purple Frog (Forum Supporter) :

"Will that stop my roof from flying off?"

"It won't fly off as far..."

Looks like Ian is making landfall right where Hugo did in 89.  At least it's a cat 1 but that area is a lot of lower income people that might not have the means to leave or rebuild.

The wind has picked up. Sill not too bad. Lots of rain. We still have power though it has flickered a couple of times. 

In reply to Stampie :

Not much low income in that area now. The money people have run them off. If you aren't making high 6 figures you aren't anywhere near the coast. 

In reply to Toyman! :

All the fishing towns gone?

The ratchet straps on the gable ends should be out near the edge. That's where the problems start. The soffits on the gables are made by attaching a wooden ladder looking frame that the plywood roof decking and trim are attached to. The point where the ladder is attached to the vertical wall becomes the hinge point. The soffits on the front and back of the house don't have the hinge because the roof joists are the frame and the roof joists are strapped to the walls.

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Duke claims they're working on my power. I'm really hoping I come home to my AC running....that i completely forgot to switch off before I left to go hide in the bowels of a mouse hotel...and all my windows are wide open so the cats can harass the birds. 

In reply to Stampie :

I think we have one shrimp boat left in Mt. Pleasant. Maybe a couple in McClellanville. All of that property has been bought by the wealthy people moving south to retire.

Berk my life.

Well, for me there wasn't much of a storm. Cleanup is going to consist of raking a few leaves and putting the vehicles back where they belong. We never lost power. 

Even better news, it's still 60 outside. This is by far the coldest hurricane I've ever experienced.  

My FiL just checked in finally. He is a bit banged up and his house has holes in the roof. Ran out of power as his generator developed a carb leak. Neighbors gave him a crank charger so he could finally charge his phone and call.

My wife is relieved as you all can imagine.

In reply to preach (dudeist priest) :

That's great news!!

Similar story here in summerville sc.  Lost power for 2 hours.

Gotta clean up yard debris and there is some flooding around, but basically a non event for us.

Florida Man takes hurricane bong rip:

https://twitter.com/felipe333x2/status/1575192200467853312
 

Aww nuts.

My folks have been wintering in Pine Island for the last decade or so. I don't know that that's going to happen this winter. Check out the videos of Matlache and the bridge going to pine island. Places that were built 100 years ago, washed away. 

The bridge to Sanibel is out, too. 

We went down the last couple of years for a week, glad we got to see it before it all went away. It'll get rebuilt, of course, but with modern building codes it'll never have the same vibe. 

In reply to volvoclearinghouse :

From some of the air shots of Sanibel, many of the "new" stilted home builds looked amazingly intact, even the roofs. Not all by a long shot but I'd be really interested to see if some of the codes they demand on those zones don't eventually migrate to homes farther from the coast.

Just another way to make FL a more expensive place to build.

Seems to be back and holding?  Yay?

In reply to hobiercr :

The condo my folks have been wintering at is one of the newer ones on Pine Island, on stilts and all. I think the storm surge there may have still gotten to the first floor.  

Even if their place is ok, the debris and ruin and road damage on that one road onto the island is going to take months to clean up and repair. Same for Sanibel. 

Some of the building codes make a lot of sense, and aren't expensive to implement. Hurricane clips, for example. Hell, I use them here in MD as an extra, cheap level of insurance.  We have learned a lot about construction over the past 100 years. 

Toyman! said:

If every hurricane came with a 59 degree morning and included sitting on the porch with a cup of coffee and a good cigar, I'd probably want one a month throughout the summer. 

It's kind of nice out here at the moment. 

Two years ago, a tornado passed within 400 feet of my house. An hour later, it was absolutely beautiful out. We climbed out of the basement and had dinner on the patio.

Of course, I couldn't get out of my little road for three days, and we were on generator power for eight days. 

I have heard of people having to escape into their attics and others that drowned running out of ceiling room as also happened in New Orleans during Hurricane Katrina. They should require building or retrofitting escape hatches into attic roofs in low lying flood prone areas.

In reply to VolvoHeretic :

I have a lot of thoughts about that.  First is that they should have evacuated way before.  I then think that yes there are some that can't afford to or physically can't.  I read today about a lady in SW FL that watched her trailer flood until she was inches from the ceiling.  Lucky for her Cajun Navy rescued her.  She had so many chances to get out of her house before it got to that point.  Even if it's getting just outside of it as the waters got higher.  She made a lot of bad life choices in a few short hours.  She's lucky they didn't end in her death.  I know I say hurricanes aren't a big deal in my life but if I were on that side of the state I would have made different decisions. 

Just to add to my thoughts above.  My first hurricane was Hugo in Charleston in 89.  Cat 5 that hit right north of Charleston.  IIRC 11 people died in Charleston from Hugo.  Most of them died within a half mile of my house.  They were shrimpers that took their boats as far as they could up the Wando river.  They got to a bridge they couldn't go under and anchored there.  No physical thing is worth a human life. 

My garage floods when the water backs up from the street. Despite all of the flooding around the area, we got very little rain at my house. 
I parked the Miata against the hedge on the front of the house, then surrounded it with other cars and the truck. Besides having the house serve as a wind break, they're several feet higher than the front of the garage. 

International speedway blvd was flooded on the westbound side this afternoon. Lots more flooding in Daytona. The cops were using an airboat for traffic enforcement on Nova road. 

This is my way home this afternoon. Further along, the water was too deep so they moved all of the traffic to the eastbound side.