Author Topic: Hurricane logistics -- help!  (Read 7728 times)

Melisande

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Hurricane logistics -- help!
« on: October 05, 2016, 05:20:40 PM »
We live in Florida, in the direct predicted path of hurricane Matthew. Unfortunately, we are currently away on vacation (in Europe) and will not get home until a week and a half from now. We have been attempting to get in touch with our neighbor, who was supposed to be minding our house, but no luck:  she has not responded to texts or phone messages. Maybe she has evacuated, who knows?

In any case, we don't really know what to do about the situation. We are hurricane newbies, having only recently moved to Florida and don't have a good sense of everything we need to do to prepare. I do know that we need to get the patio furniture moved or lashed down. If we don't, I fear that some of it will go flying, break some windows and let the wind and rain into the house itself (definitely not a good thing). Obviously, we don't need to stockpile food and water since we are not there, but there might be something else I'm not thinking of ...

I'm also concerned about what happens after the storm. If there is major damage, I assume we need to both somehow protect the house from further damage (with tarps or whatever else we need) and also report the damage to our insurance company ASAP. But I don't even have the insurance information with us and no one has a spare key, not even the neighbors.

I have contacted two friends and asked them to step in for the house minder if she continues to be AWOL, I really hope at least one of them steps up to the plate. We have more people we can ask if they turn us down, but I didn't want to ask too many people all at the same time. But if we can't get anyone, what can we do? Can we ask the police to go check out the house for us?

Also, for those of you who have gone through major hurricanes, what else would you suggest we have done if we can get people to do it?

Fortunately, we live far enough away from the shore that we do not have to worry about storm surge.

On the plus side, at least we don't have to worry about a tree crashing through the roof and killing us, but I would like to get through this event without thousands of $$$ of damage.

Ideas?

radram

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Re: Hurricane logistics -- help!
« Reply #1 on: October 05, 2016, 05:44:49 PM »
We live in Florida, in the direct predicted path of hurricane Matthew. Unfortunately, we are currently away on vacation (in Europe) and will not get home until a week and a half from now. We have been attempting to get in touch with our neighbor, who was supposed to be minding our house, but no luck:  she has not responded to texts or phone messages. Maybe she has evacuated, who knows?

In any case, we don't really know what to do about the situation. We are hurricane newbies, having only recently moved to Florida and don't have a good sense of everything we need to do to prepare. I do know that we need to get the patio furniture moved or lashed down. If we don't, I fear that some of it will go flying, break some windows and let the wind and rain into the house itself (definitely not a good thing). Obviously, we don't need to stockpile food and water since we are not there, but there might be something else I'm not thinking of ...

I'm also concerned about what happens after the storm. If there is major damage, I assume we need to both somehow protect the house from further damage (with tarps or whatever else we need) and also report the damage to our insurance company ASAP. But I don't even have the insurance information with us and no one has a spare key, not even the neighbors.

I have contacted two friends and asked them to step in for the house minder if she continues to be AWOL, I really hope at least one of them steps up to the plate. We have more people we can ask if they turn us down, but I didn't want to ask too many people all at the same time. But if we can't get anyone, what can we do? Can we ask the police to go check out the house for us?

Also, for those of you who have gone through major hurricanes, what else would you suggest we have done if we can get people to do it?

Fortunately, we live far enough away from the shore that we do not have to worry about storm surge.

On the plus side, at least we don't have to worry about a tree crashing through the roof and killing us, but I would like to get through this event without thousands of $$$ of damage.

Ideas?

I am so sorry to hear of your situation.  I do not have any advice for you, other than to say you do not have time to wait for advice.  If I was you, I would call the police non-emergency number of your closest town and explain your situation.  They should be able to tell you what to do and when.  I would then take that list and beg EVERYONE I know to help out ASAP.  It looks like you will be hosting countless thank you dinners when all of this is over.

If you know the name of the insurance carrier, that should be enough to look up the info online.  As far as the key, if they need to get in, I see 2 choices; break a window(on the dryer side of the house), or call a locksmith. It might be too late for the locksmith. They might have evacuated already.  Ask the police when you call them.

For others, should Melisande also call her insurance company for a to do list, or would that make matters worse?

While you go through this, please remember your family is safe and sound, even though some of your "stuff" might not be.

Please update as you know more.

Mrs. PoP

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Re: Hurricane logistics -- help!
« Reply #2 on: October 05, 2016, 05:49:57 PM »
Have you tried reaching another neighbor on something like NextDoor?  It seems crazy that someone looking after your house would go MIA, so hopefully you hear from them soon.  Good luck! 

Abe

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Re: Hurricane logistics -- help!
« Reply #3 on: October 05, 2016, 06:36:21 PM »
They likely evacuated as was advised of all Florida residents in the path of the predicted hurricane. Why they aren't answering the cellphone is another question. The outdoor furniture should be brought inside (lashing down rarely works for the stronger hurricanes).

After the storm has passed, covering holes in the outer envelope will be a priority to avoid further water damage (it can rain for days after the actual hurricane passes). This can be done with tarps quite easily, if there are any available (may have sold out by now). The police are almost certainly not going to go to your house to secure it, priority now is on evacuation of occupied residences. Unless there is widespread catastrophic damage, looting is unlikely but possible. Try to get your important records secured. There isn't too much other than that; most houses built in Florida after Andrew are quite resistant to all but the most severe hurricanes. There'll probably be just a few broken windows, probably little to no structural damage and a lot of scattered branches on the lawn.

Are you sure about storm surge? In Florida, proximity to the coast is not the only risk for surge, as the marshes can flood also. If there is major flooding of the house, the main goal will be to remove all soaked furniture, carpet and drywall as soon as possible to avoid mildew.

startingsmall

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Re: Hurricane logistics -- help!
« Reply #4 on: October 05, 2016, 07:10:14 PM »
As a longtime Florida resident (not anymore, but I'm still compulsively following Matthew coverage and feeling kind of left out at the moment!), the biggest things I would do are:

- Bring in patio furniture
- Maybe board up the windows (depending on your location)
- Get important/safe papers together. (I'm honestly not sure how important this is these days, with the ease of getting everything online)

The biggest risk, in my experience, is having a tree come down on your roof. Not super-common, but it happens. (Happened to us once, and in a tropical storm, no less.) For the most part, though, longtime Floridians really don't do a whole lot of preparation aside from stocking up on beer and wine. If a tree comes down, it comes down... not much you can do about that.

What part of FL?



Melisande

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Re: Hurricane logistics -- help!
« Reply #5 on: October 05, 2016, 08:17:18 PM »
Thanks for all the replies.

I should be sleeping now, since it's 4am local time. But hubby just woke me up for un-related reasons and I did a quick quick of my email and the lax test weather report. So ...

Brief update before I go back to sleep:

1) Both friends wrote back and said they would help out as best they could.
2) The forecast for our town is now 100 mph sustained winds (with higher gusts)  and 5+ inches of rain.

We are definitely not in a storm surge area. We are East of Orlando, but not in a coastal town, much less on a barrier island. There is no mandatory evacuation for our area.


Jaguar Paw

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Re: Hurricane logistics -- help!
« Reply #6 on: October 05, 2016, 09:03:39 PM »
No need to stock up on goods, You're coming back a week after it hits which means you're super lucky! Y'all get to ride out the storm in Europe! Houston here and I got crushed by Hurricane Ike in 2008. My job forbids me from evacuating (sweet) so I got to ride out the whole storm! My apartment didn't have electricity for two weeks and had some minor water damage. The worst part by far was the electricity as it was in September and was hot. Plus I had meat in my refrigerator I forgot about...oops!

Anyways...get the patio furniture in and enjoy being away from the storm.

Cheers!

Monkey Uncle

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Re: Hurricane logistics -- help!
« Reply #7 on: October 06, 2016, 04:28:10 AM »
It may be too late at this point, but probably the most important thing that can be done is to have someone board up the windows.  Other parts of the structure should be able to withstand 100 mph winds, provided a tree doesn't fall on it.

researcher1

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Re: Hurricane logistics -- help!
« Reply #8 on: October 06, 2016, 08:39:43 AM »
We live in Florida, in the direct predicted path of hurricane Matthew. Unfortunately, we are currently away on vacation (in Europe) and will not get home until a week and a half from now.

I'm curious why you would leave the country, DURING HURRICANE SEASON, without taking any precautionary steps to secure your Florida home???

On top of that, you expect a neighbor to board up windows, put away/secure patio furniture, and potentially deal with storm cleanup???

I assume your neighbor "house minder" didn't sign up for NATURAL DISASTER PREPARATION & RECOVERY EFFORTS at your home, while you are vacationing in Europe.

Sticking your "friends" with this job is a horrible thing do to, especially when they likely have their own hurricane-related issues to deal with.

radram

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Re: Hurricane logistics -- help!
« Reply #9 on: October 06, 2016, 09:12:27 AM »
We live in Florida, in the direct predicted path of hurricane Matthew. Unfortunately, we are currently away on vacation (in Europe) and will not get home until a week and a half from now.

I'm curious why you would leave the country, DURING HURRICANE SEASON, without taking any precautionary steps to secure your Florida home???

On top of that, you expect a neighbor to board up windows, put away/secure patio furniture, and potentially deal with storm cleanup???

I assume your neighbor "house minder" didn't sign up for NATURAL DISASTER PREPARATION & RECOVERY EFFORTS at your home, while you are vacationing in Europe.

Sticking your "friends" with this job is a horrible thing do to, especially when they likely have their own hurricane-related issues to deal with.


I think this is a GREAT post ...... 2 weeks from today.  OP has to just get through it now.  I think the "recently moved to Florida" comment and this post will serve them well moving forward.

OP, no mandatory evac, but did your friends leave anyway?


honeybbq

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Re: Hurricane logistics -- help!
« Reply #10 on: October 06, 2016, 09:21:14 AM »
LOL. They should have boarded up their home ahead of time???

IMO, that's EXACTLY what friends would do for each other. I survived Rita, Ike, Allison, etc all living in Houston. Neighbors take care of each other under these circumstances.


You've gotten good advice about what "should" be done. But honestly, it's jut a house, and you are honestly lucky not having to deal with all the bullshit associated with evacuation, no gasoline, no groceries, etc. I also work in the medical field and am 'on call' until required evacuation. It sucks living in a ghost town!

I lived in Houston during Rita (cat 5 hurricane) when people 'evacuated' and made it less than a mile after 8 hours of driving.... ideally you'd bring everything outside (not tying it down, it can easily break branches or chains under some circumstances). Board the windows. Move important things away from the windows in the case they'd break. Plastic water proof tubs - put important items in there and stash in the safest place you have, preferable in a high closet if you live in a flood zone. Have an 'emergency' kit with food, water, flashlights, crank radio, etc.  If you have pets, consider them, too. Bring medicines with you. Insurance papers and numbers since you might not have internet access. Share plans with friends and family that might be worried about you and can't get through over the phone. Make sure chimney flues are closed and the doors barricaded if you have them (eg push a couch up against it). Prepare for the first floor of your house to get wet if in a flood zone. Take important pictures and breakable items off the walls and place on the floor. Put cars in the garage or in a safe space as you can.

There's more if you're 'riding' out the storm... but since you'll be an ocean away - honestly, just relax and hope for the best. There's nothing more you can do.

By the River

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Re: Hurricane logistics -- help!
« Reply #11 on: October 06, 2016, 09:47:33 AM »
You are limited to how your friends can help when no one has a spare key.  However, if your patio furniture is made from plastic, pvc or aluminum and you have a pool, throw the furniture in the deep end and turn off the vacuum.  You can fish it out when you return.  If wood, steel, or wicker, its needs to be moved inside somewhere. 

We were out of town for one storm years ago but a friend had a key and moved what little stuff I hadn't moved to the shed.  (I had left potted plants out to keep from killing them).   The biggest problem we had was returning to a house without electricity for four days and a huge stinky rotten mess in the refrigerator. 

researcher1

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Re: Hurricane logistics -- help!
« Reply #12 on: October 06, 2016, 10:07:25 AM »
LOL. They should have boarded up their home ahead of time???

IMO, that's EXACTLY what friends would do for each other. I survived Rita, Ike, Allison, etc all living in Houston. Neighbors take care of each other under these circumstances.

I never said they should have "boarded up" their home. 
I did say they should have made reasonable preparations to their Florida home before leaving the country during hurricane season.
This is basic common sense.  How can you argue that at the very least you should secure anything outside that could cause damage?

I also agree with you that "that's exactly what friends would do for each other." 
I'm simply stating that you are a pretty sh*tty friend if you take off on a European vacation during hurricane season, without any thought given to basic hurricane preparations, expecting that your friends will take care of everything for you. 
They probably have their own properties and families they would like to attend to during a natural disaster.

meerkat

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Re: Hurricane logistics -- help!
« Reply #13 on: October 06, 2016, 10:21:33 AM »
You are limited to how your friends can help when no one has a spare key.  However, if your patio furniture is made from plastic, pvc or aluminum and you have a pool, throw the furniture in the deep end and turn off the vacuum.  You can fish it out when you return.  If wood, steel, or wicker, its needs to be moved inside somewhere. 

This. Ours was plastic and a good soak in the pool was the easiest way to clean them so we occasionally did that even if there was no hurricane coming. If you're able to get a hold of other neighbors somehow they might be willing to do this so your furniture doesn't come through their windows.

OP, you say you're not worried about storm surge but what about flooding? As has been mentioned it can rain for days afterwards. You also mentioned you're not worried about trees but if there's enough rain to make the ground turn to mud, are there any trees close enough to your house that would damage it if they fell over because their roots can't grab onto mud? If you have friends willing to check on your house afterwards and there's a hole that needs covering but no tarps available, maybe an old shower curtain will help temporarily? Seconding the suggestion to call the non-emergency police line for your area to see what suggestions they have.

When you get back, check everything and everywhere for signs of water damage or leaks. Assume the power went out for a couple of days while you were gone and throw out everything in your fridge (hopefully there wasn't too much left there anyway) and take the opportunity to wipe all surfaces with a disinfecting wipe. You may also want to make an extra set of keys to leave with friends. They don't have to be your house sitter but maybe as a back up house sitter or in case you lock yourself out of the house.

TrulyStashin

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Re: Hurricane logistics -- help!
« Reply #14 on: October 06, 2016, 10:42:32 AM »
For the future, for at least one entry door, invest in a keypad door lock (something like this: https://www.build.com/schlage-electronic-door-locks/c109450?source=msn_hw_schlage%20keypad%20lock_11240875032&s_kwcid=AL!4215!10!11240875032!21204484536&ef_id=V12xGwAABCKiTpge:20161006163836:s)

Our keypad lock holds up to 20 four-digit codes.   You could add a code in there for emergencies and you could send that code to anyone, by text, at any time.  When you get home, a quick and easy re-program allows you to remove that code so it can't be used anymore.  Never again worry about who has a key.

Also great for when a (trusted) repairman needs to get into the house and you're not home.  Add a code specific to that day.  Remove it the next day.

Good luck.

Mother Fussbudget

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Re: Hurricane logistics -- help!
« Reply #15 on: October 06, 2016, 10:56:11 AM »
I lived through the outskirts of Camille in 1969 as a child, and a direct hit by Frederick in 1979 as a young adult.  Not being in a flood plain, your biggest worries about Matthew would be wind damage to your house, and damage from trees to the EAST of your house.  Primary winds at their peak will be coming almost due-westerly.  Potential damage will be from: 1) wind, 2) water.  If you have a decent roof, rain shouldn't be a big factor.  But winds could damage the roof deck, or bring a tree down on your roof - fallen trees, and tree limbs are the cause of most damage in residential areas.   

OP - give yourself a break. Florida hasn't received a 'direct hit' by a hurricane in over a decade, and Matthew will NOT be a direct hit.  It should skirt the eastern Atlantic seaboard, then move out to sea.  Depending on how far WEST of the east coast you are, you should be fine.  It's the aftermath and potential cleanup you'll have to deal with.

It's wishful thinking to hope that neighbors will cover your windows with plywood while you're away.  The expense and time needed are prohibitive.  After the storm, consider fitting your largest windows with plywood 'storm windows', and store them in the garage.  If you were home, you could put masking tape on the larger windows to prevent shattering in case of projectiles, but that's most important if you're going to receive a direct hit.  Hurricanes spawned 'mini-tornadoes' can cause lots of damage - the extremes in low pressure they generate can cause well sealed buildings to 'pop' - we always kept windows cracked open an inch or two on the leeward side of the storm (west facing windows in your case).

In Frederick, we lost 10 trees, but none of them fell directly on our home.  We were a little surprised to learn we HAD 10 trees - it didn't seem we had that many until we had to chainsaw them up and cart them away.  I bought a chainsaw from Sears, and sawed up neighbor's trees into 3-ft sections for $10/tree.  Cleaning up my first neighbor's yard paid for the chainsaw.  We lost power for 7 days, and city supplied water for 10 days.  We did okay with no power (generator for the freezer), but going 10 days without water was terrible.  Debris in the streets made normal driving impossible until 2 or 3 days after the storm.  Hard green pine cones, and roofing nails were EVERYWHERE - expect to find at least one in your tires.  We found the aftermath - which lasted for days/weeks to be much more stressful than the storm itself which roared through and was gone after a few tense hours.

EDIT:  it was fascinating to me after the storm to see 99% of the trees in the region had fallen with their tops pointing due west.  Now I know it depends on the location of the eye of the storm relative to your location.  In the case of Frederick, the highest winds were in the Northern sector of the storm that passed directly overhead.  Matthew's winds may be primarily from the NORTH or NORTHEAST depending on how far off the coast the eye passes.

All you can do is enjoy your vacation, and try not to worry.  You're in the best place you could be - evacuated, and safe.  The aftermath / cleanup is never fun.  Here's hoping you have little damage, and lots of memories.  And although Matthew organized quickly, and with little warning... be ready for the next storm.  You may even find neighbors have left  plywood sheeting in your yard... plywood that's blown off THEIR houses.  But seriously... at this point there's not much you or anyone can do against the force of nature except live through it, and have better preparation for next time.
« Last Edit: October 06, 2016, 01:11:01 PM by Mother Fussbudget »

Melisande

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Re: Hurricane logistics -- help!
« Reply #16 on: October 06, 2016, 10:46:40 PM »
We live in Florida, in the direct predicted path of hurricane Matthew. Unfortunately, we are currently away on vacation (in Europe) and will not get home until a week and a half from now.

I'm curious why you would leave the country, DURING HURRICANE SEASON, without taking any precautionary steps to secure your Florida home???

On top of that, you expect a neighbor to board up windows, put away/secure patio furniture, and potentially deal with storm cleanup???

I assume your neighbor "house minder" didn't sign up for NATURAL DISASTER PREPARATION & RECOVERY EFFORTS at your home, while you are vacationing in Europe.

Sticking your "friends" with this job is a horrible thing do to, especially when they likely have their own hurricane-related issues to deal with.

Well, contrary to popular belief, hurricanes are actually rare events in large parts of Florida, including our own. In, fact the last time the coast closest to us had a direct hit was back in the late 19th century (almost 120 years ago).  You are much more likely to be affected by a hurricane if you live on Cape Hatteras, NC than on the Space Coast in Florida. And we don't even live on the coast, we live about 18 miles inland. The last time our area was affected by a hurricane (arriving from the Gulf coast) was in 2004 and the time before than was something like 40 years ago. Not only that but we travel a lot (our only luxury). If we boarded up our place every tine we went away during hurricane season, we would be the laughingstock of our neighborhood.

That said, we could certainly have brought in some loose stuff and left a spare key with a friend. But if our house did need major prep work, we would probably still need to ask someone to do it.

As it turns out, our house sitter did get back in touch with us. It seems few people in our area were taking the eye-popping forecasts that seriously and no one was going so far as to actually board up (although I heard grocery shopping became a little difficult). Maybe their intuition was right, because last I heard, the storm was weakening and veering slightly away from the coast. Yay!

tomorrowsomewherenew

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Re: Hurricane logistics -- help!
« Reply #17 on: October 07, 2016, 08:08:26 AM »
An update for you:

We live on the northeast side of Orlando, adjacent to the UCF campus. The storm has been very mild here. We've gotten about 2" of rain, and that's been it. No damage whatsoever in our neighborhood. I'm not exactly sure where your home is located, but if it's near us, it's probably fine.

researcher1

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Re: Hurricane logistics -- help!
« Reply #18 on: October 07, 2016, 08:50:07 AM »
Well, contrary to popular belief, blah blah blah

Not only that but we travel a lot (our only luxury). If we boarded up our place every tine we went away during hurricane season, we would be the laughingstock of our neighborhood.

That said, we could certainly have brought in some loose stuff and left a spare key with a friend. But if our house did need major prep work, we would probably still need to ask someone to do it.

Come on people!  Take some responsibility and stop coming up with justifications/rationalizations for leaving the country during hurricane season without making ANY preparations!

What makes you think you need to "board up" your house every time you leave?  Stop being an extremist. 
As I first mentioned, you just need to take some simple "precautionary steps" to secure your home, like the steps you mentioned you could have done.

It would probably only take you ~ 30 minutes to store loose outside items in the garage, and put important inside items in a plastic tub. 
Since this might make you the "laughingstock of your neighborhood," just don't do anything and let your neighbors take care of it for you.  Great plan!

catccc

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Re: Hurricane logistics -- help!
« Reply #19 on: October 07, 2016, 11:41:18 AM »
IDK, I think asking someone to mind the house was enough forethought, I mean, like OP said storms this big don't come around that frequently.

Anyway, OP, glad to hear you are away from home and safe, and even better that it doesn't look like it's going to be too bad.

Felisasavage

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Re: Hurricane logistics -- help!
« Reply #20 on: October 07, 2016, 07:50:35 PM »
Ok researcher1,  you clearly aren't from a hurricane area.  Hurricane season is from June 1 to Nov 30. Do you really think no one goes on vacation for six months. 

researcher1

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Re: Hurricane logistics -- help!
« Reply #21 on: October 08, 2016, 06:47:54 AM »
Ok researcher1,  you clearly aren't from a hurricane area.  Hurricane season is from June 1 to Nov 30. Do you really think no one goes on vacation for six months.

Wrong.  On several points.

1) My family has owned homes throughout Florida for the past 30 years.
2) Peak season for FL hurricanes is August through October.  Every FL hurricane in the last 100 years has hit during this time frame.
3) It is perfectly acceptable to go on vacation during hurricane season.  Just take 30 minutes before you leave do some basic preparations.

You people make this into a much bigger deal than it is.  I can have my family's home prepared in less than an hour.  That includes putting away all loose outside items, closing the hurricane shutters (home is in FL Keys), shutting off the water, among other things.

What makes you think you can't take vacation during hurricane season?  Or must "board up" your windows before leaving?

Melisande

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Re: Hurricane logistics -- help!
« Reply #22 on: October 09, 2016, 10:09:33 PM »
Ok researcher1,  you clearly aren't from a hurricane area.  Hurricane season is from June 1 to Nov 30. Do you really think no one goes on vacation for six months.

Wrong.  On several points.

1) My family has owned homes throughout Florida for the past 30 years.
2) Peak season for FL hurricanes is August through October.  Every FL hurricane in the last 100 years has hit during this time frame.
3) It is perfectly acceptable to go on vacation during hurricane season.  Just take 30 minutes before you leave do some basic preparations.

You people make this into a much bigger deal than it is.  I can have my family's home prepared in less than an hour.  That includes putting away all loose outside items, closing the hurricane shutters (home is in FL Keys), shutting off the water, among other things.

What makes you think you can't take vacation during hurricane season?  Or must "board up" your windows before leaving?

Or, if it's not such an onerous task (in our case it involved asking our next door neighbor to take in a box of ping pong balls and paddles as well as an empty metal plant stand) you can just ask your house sitter to do it that once in 20 or 30 years when you will need to take precautions. We do not have hurricane shutters and specifically decided not to have them installed, because it is simply not cost effective in our area.

You say you have a house on the keys. That is an entirely different matter. If you have a house on the keys, you *should* expect a hurricane. If you live where we do, you just aren't in the same situation. Note, we did not actually get hit by hurricane force winds or even get that much rain and the situation turned out to be much worse in parts of GA, SC and NC. So, our area's  120 year record of not being touched by a hurricane from the East still stands.

Mother Fussbudget

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Re: Hurricane logistics -- help!
« Reply #23 on: October 11, 2016, 01:01:21 PM »
OP:  Curious... did you have any damage?

Melisande

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Re: Hurricane logistics -- help!
« Reply #24 on: October 11, 2016, 03:26:41 PM »
OP:  Curious... did you have any damage?

Our banana plant is a total mess and flopped all over our lanai. Fortunately, it wasn't heavy enough to damage the lanai and the plant itself will definitely grow back. Other than that and small and medium-sized oak branches down all over the lawn, there was nothing for us. We didn't even lose power ... or so we heard from the neighbors/house sitters who did eventual get back in touch with us. Some people we know had more damage (part of their fence was destroyed) and quite a few people lost power for a day or so, but that's all I've heard. I feel really sorry for the people in NC though. Flooding is no joke.

Jaguar Paw

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Re: Hurricane logistics -- help!
« Reply #25 on: October 11, 2016, 05:33:43 PM »
Melisande, I feel like researcher1 has to be your exhusband or something the way he is criticizing. Not that you need it, but you have my permission to go on vacation next year in September. carry on.

Capsu78

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Re: Hurricane logistics -- help!
« Reply #26 on: October 12, 2016, 10:13:38 AM »
If you want to do a deep dive into the logistics of Hurricane prep, this is my goto site:

http://www.theplacewithnoname.com/blogs/klessons/index.html

Yes, since it was written about events in 2005 certainly some aspects (communications, to name one) have changed, but for the mental gymnastics of what to think about it still holds true.


Slee_stack

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Re: Hurricane logistics -- help!
« Reply #27 on: October 12, 2016, 10:32:05 AM »
You people make this into a much bigger deal than it is.
Quoted for the hilarity.

Melisande

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Re: Hurricane logistics -- help!
« Reply #28 on: October 21, 2016, 07:37:36 AM »
Final Report:

When we actually got home a few days ago, we realized that there was a little more damage than had been reported -- a whole section of our back fence had fallen down and needed to be repaired. In any case, here is what we wound up spending thanks to hurricane Matthew:

$100 -- fence repair
$80 -- general yard clean-up
$20 -- gifts for friends who helped out.

So, only $200. Yay!

Metric Mouse

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Re: Hurricane logistics -- help!
« Reply #29 on: October 21, 2016, 10:48:20 PM »
Final Report:

When we actually got home a few days ago, we realized that there was a little more damage than had been reported -- a whole section of our back fence had fallen down and needed to be repaired. In any case, here is what we wound up spending thanks to hurricane Matthew:

$100 -- fence repair
$80 -- general yard clean-up
$20 -- gifts for friends who helped out.

So, only $200. Yay!

Glad you and your property are well!