If you live in the south east look here!....

[Sunny Side Up]

There's no such thing as "only" a Cat 1 hurricane. Even a tropical storm can cause considerable damage. There may not be the widespread devastation that stronger hurricanes bring, but there can still be flooding, power outages, falling trees/limbs, and tornadoes spawned by the storm. Each storm has its own unique combination of characteristics that make forecasting so difficult. It can be fast- or slow-moving, narrow or wide, more or less windy or wet. A lot also depends on how recently another storm has hit a particular area, if the storm drains are clogged, if a lot of new vegetation has been planted or grown, if buildings have yet been storm-tested.

Hopefully you've stocked up on hurricane supplies in the spring & haven't depleted them yet. Prepare to be totally self-sufficient without having to leave your home for a week. Remember your prescriptions, diapers & baby food, and pet/poultry feed. Prepare to be without water or electricity for at least that long. If you are depending on a generator, have a good Plan B in case you cannot get gas to run it. Prepare a bug-out bag in case you have to flee to safety. Locate your flashlights, radios, lanterns & fresh batteries. Check out some good books from the library.

Stow away/tie down everything loose in your yard. Your poultry may be fine in a well-built coop, but make sure it won't flood. They can also ride out the worst of the storm packed in cages or boxes in a dark room, it won't hurt them to be without food/water for 12-24 hours, but they sure won't like it. If you have less birds & more room, you can give them better accomodations. Once we kept a few dozen chickens in our straw-lined back bathroom during a hurricane. If your yard is prone to flooding consider where/how you'll keep them until the water recedes.

Don't panic but be prepared, and pray that the storm's impact will be minimal.

 

[bonnylass79]

Do you remember Fay last year? It was a TS when it stalled over Melboure and caused some massive flooding. Then zig zagged across the state and dumping a lot of rain on everyone else. The storm surge is the big thing with the larger hurricanes. I'm not a big fan of 20 ft walls of water.

 

[speckledhen]

I'm sick of rain. No rain! Ack! Looks like the birds will be stuck inside alot tomorrow.

 

[StupidBird]

Everything is done that can be - feedstore was out of Layena (I wanted the higher protein this time, no, don't want to switch to crumbles) so they marked the recept as OWE ONE BAG. Truck should be in Wednesday.

Be careful of what you ask for in the South. I was in this morning for a chiro adjustment - got neck to loosen up but triggered a set of spasms that left me dizzy. so at the front desk they're asking me if I'm ok, eyes on the candy bowl I reply "can I have some sugar?". I'm thinking maybe my blood glucose had dropped too low again. I get this look from both. "weeeell, you can have some candy, but I'm not gonna give you a kiss..." We all laughed. Ok, mostly me.

 

[mjdtexan]

We might get a little rain off of it. I hope not. I was keeping my eye on it though. We have a good storm plan here. We keep a 10k generator trailer on the property plus lots of dry food. Good luck to you guys who are going to have to deal with the storm.

 

[StupidBird]

Quote:
is it a gasoline or diesel generator? I don't know much about generators, saw a gas one, new, for $150... I'd think diesel would be safer to store the fuel for. It's for the chest freezer and some medical equipment.

 

[TennesseeTruly]

Yikes, last I read Ida was supposed to hit Louisana! Hmmm I haven't had the TV on all day long. Guess I should turn it on, huh? I knew we were supposed to get rain.

Laurie

 

[shay20]

Wow hope you all are ready for that? keep safe everyone. praying it is not bad

 

[Stumpy]

It shouldn't be too bad here, but we certainly don't need the rain or the higher gas prices. After going through Ivan and Katrina, we're not concerned about this little storm.

 

[Melissakins]

I'm smack dab between Mobile and Pensacola in Baldwin County - we had rain and wind, but nothing drastic. The West end of Dauphin Island as it always does flooded. I've not seen any video/live footage or photo's of any damage since yesterday. All I saw was where they were streaming live footage of the road covered in water. I think Ida hit there first, then moved inland into Mobile county. We had gusts, etc on my way in to work this morning, but no power outages. Definitely not Ivan

Ivan was a PITA!!!!! We'd just moved to our current home a few months prior, lost power early that evening and stayed awake all night listening to things go bump in the night. Had a tornado go thru the back yard and take down a line of oaks that were about 50 yards from the back of the house. It came from across the road, through our neighbors back yard, into ours and over into the other two neighbor's yards taking down trees as it went. We didn't have power for a week! We had to cut our way out of the driveway

Thankfully, no trees on the house, just a HUGE pine tree laid down right beside it. Made the whole house shake.

Katrina killed power for a couple days for us.

We always try to prepare for the worst and hope for the best. Clean house, pick up the yard, provide for us and the critters, fill up the vehicles with gas (Gas ALWAYS goes up with the treat of a storm, like IMMEDIATELY) and do stuff inside - wash clothes, dishes, etc.

Looking thru the back yard to neighbor's yards:

Big oak roots and a shed that was destroyed:

Three houses down from us - driveway:

Looking down the road after someone had already cut some trees out of the way: