Trying to Reason with Hurricane Season
pigflipper
The Forgotten Coast Icrontian
Tis the season folks and the first projected landfall of a hurricane in several years is in my neck of the woods. Actually, its probable path is dead center over my parents house in Carrabelle Beach and pretty much right over the top of me here in Tallahassee as well. My parents are staying to ride out the storm, they just moved the truck across Highway 98 to higher ground; they expect to see a surge of 6-10 feet which would put the water about halfway up the pilings of their house. Here in Tallahassee we are expecting large scale power outages, flooding, and drunk college kids doing stupid shit. Haven't had a direct hit by 74+ mph sustained winds in 31 years; this could be really bad, the last storm was Kate in 85 and parts of town were without power for weeks.
I will keep posting until I lose power, hopefully with pictures and will relay any pictures from my friends and family down on the coast.
Anybody else in the path of this one?
PS. I have vodka, smokes, water and canned food. I will be fine.
Comments
Stay safe man! Good luck
My mother is in West Palm Beach. I think she's outside of the danger zone.
Stay safe!!!
I'd rather have a hurricane than a tornado popping out of nowhere here in Indiana.
We're on the edge down here just North of Tampa. Rained all day yesterday, no drops all morning, and now it has been rainy for the last couple hours. There is a TS warning in effect, but the expected wind speed is 25-35 mph with gusts up to 45 mph. Fortunately, we're not in a flood area, so this is going to just be a long storm for us.
Good luck up there!
I suspect the blue/yellow is going to get bigger and redder over the next day. We're around the arrow.
Update #1- 14:13 9/1/16
Rain has started here in Tallahassee. Just heard from my parents and the water is around the dunes and almost to the house (the house its about 100 yds back from the normal high tide line, but is on the first row facing the water). Sustained winds down there are about 35mph already. They still have power but lost cable/internet about an hour ago.
These updates will probably be filled with typos and gibberish once I get into the vodka.
May the rain dry up before the vodka~
Update #2 - 15:52 9/1/16
Officially a hurricane now, still not much here in Tallahassee, the storm is moving very slowly. Just a bit of rain, no wind to speak of yet.
Does this mean you have forgotten how to relate?
Haha, no, I live in the campus/downtown area and work in kitchens, I still do stupid shit, I just don't film it and post it all over the internet.
Oh yeah?
Update #3 - 20:30 9/1/16
On the phone now, power has started to flicker so I shut down the rig. Wind and rain has really picked up in the past 30 minutes. Last heard from my parents about 2 hours ago and they had water under the house but not yet in the elevator.
We managed to get delivery booze and chicken fingers though, so the night is off to a stellar start.
I heard someone say on NPR that FEMA (I think?) colloquially has a "Waffle House" index. Green is the Waffle House is open and normal. Yellow is open but limited menu. Red is closed. If the Waffle House index is red, shit has truly hit the fan.
I am about 200 miles south of Tampa, and the water/tide peaked about 6 inches under the canal seawall cap today-- expect same tomorrow.
A few jobs ago, I had to go to Mobile, AL with the Environmental Engineers to setup the base of operations for all the insurance claims after Katrina. My boss and I ran all the IT stuff (networking, some power, servers, workstations, etc.). The only place open to eat the entire time was Waffle House. Pretty sure this is (at least mostly) true, @Linc.
Update #4 - 22:22 9/1/16
Power stopped flickering, wind and rain died down. Booted the main rig cause it looks like it won't be bad for another couple of hours. Still haven't heard from my parents but the Duke Energy outage map shows that they are without power.
I have decided to make curried spam with basmati rice once the power goes out. And drink more vodka, lots more vodka.
That is pretty much true. Basically it stems from Waffle House's reputation for being open 24 hours and being able to reopen rather quickly after a disaster.
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Waffle_House_Index
Update #5 - 00:34 9/2/16
This storm is so lackluster that I fell asleep/passed out on my Sumo for over an hour. It is kind of blowing now, 35 mph steady with gusts higher, but still have power and internet unlike most of the city. Lots of small debris being blown around, but nothing big yet.
I hope my parents are ok down on the coast, still haven't heard from them, which is probably a good sign; the sat phone is expensive to use.
Wind speed has picked up 20-30 mph since I posted a few minutes ago, rain is torrential. Power flickering.
Update #6 - 01:31 9/2/16
Shit just got real. Power is out and some bigger debris is being blown around. Winds in the 50+ kts range now with gusts close to 65 kts (hurricane strength). Eye wall is going over us, going to be a long few hours.
I just chugged from the bottle of cheap vodka. It seemed like the correct response to the current situation.
Hermine downgraded to tropical storm. In other words, still fucking dangerous.
I am picturing @pigflipper waiting up with a mean hangover to water dripping on his forehead.
Update #7 - 09:35 9/2/16
Just heard from my parents on the coast: they only lost power for a couple of hours and the water never made it into the downstairs portion of the house. They already have internet and cable back.
I still do not have power. Trees down all over town, many on cars and houses. City crews are going pole to pole to repair power lines. Could be days before power is fully restored. I should get mine back later today, but would not be surprised if i dont get service back until tomorrow or sunday.
Oh and my paycheck didnt drop so I overdrafted...fucking wonderful.
That's funny, I picture him standing on the roof, chugging vodka, screaming "IS THAT ALL YOU GOT, PUSSY!" at the wind and rain.
I prefer my @pigflipper pissing into the wind during the blackout with a plastic jug of vodka in one hand muttering 'Like I give a fuck" after taking a short drag on the cig in his mouth.
Update #8 - 14:07 9/2/16
Still no power and from the way a big ass tree took out the lines and one pole, I wont have power for a while. 80% of the city and 90% of the county are without power. The county south of us, Wakulla, has a 99% outage rate.
I just ate a cold can of Van Camp's Beenie Weenies. Much better warm, 1 star.
Just got a text that I might have to work tonight if power gets restored there, not that anybody is coming in to a place that isn $35 per person and only accepting cash. At least I would be able to charge my phone.
I didnt do something exactly like that last night, nope, not at all.
Update #9 - 17:25 9/2/16
Battery on the phone is dying, last update for a while. Still no power or any definitive answer as to when we will have power. Job I was supposed to work called and said they were not getting power until tomorrow, so no work tonight. This makes two straight days of work being closed aka I am missing out on about $150.
Had a SPAM and mayo sandwich, cold. Better than the cold beenie weenies, still not a proper meal: 1.5 stars
Hopefully I can find somewhere to charge my phone, if not, no updates for a while.
Glad to hear you made it through mostly unscathed. We just got a bit of rain down here in Orlando.
Update #10 - 22:29 9/2/16
I am now being told that I may be without power until next weekend. Hurricanes suck.
Went and charged my at my work since they have power and internet. Got a Big Daddy Chicken Sandwich with the Works (5oz chopped chicken, bbq sauce, bbq vinaigrette slaw, Alabama Twang white bbq sauce and wickle pickles): 2.5 stars as my own coworkers only had to make it 3 times to get it right.
Just to add to the shit show, there is now a massive thunderstorm dropping crazy amounts of rain and wind. Joy. Just heard even more transformers blow.
What are wickle pickles?