I am not gonna deny it, I am scared some. I am placing my faith on a forecast of Category 4 and having the eye over water.
Although a Category 4 has winds between 130-156 mph, those are the speed next to the eye and they decrease as the radius from the center increases. I saw a report from the National Hurricane Center about Irma passing near Puerto Rico and it caught my attention:
Hurricane-force winds extend outward up to 50 miles (85 km) from the center and tropical-storm-force winds extend outward up to 185 miles (295 km). A sustained wind of 55 mph (89 km/h) with a gust to 70 mph (113 km/h) was recently reported at an NOS observing site in San Juan Bay, Puerto Rico.
I did a bit of math and by the time of the report, the coast of PR was 50 miles from the center of the eye and they were not even clocking a sustained wind close to a Cat 1 (74-95 mph) and if the streaming of the local radio stations mean anything, the damage was not as brutal as expected. At 1:51 am they were reporting power losses covering 1 million people. Talk shows were getting calls so it was not all the End of the World.
Am I rationalizing myself into a bit of mental peace? Perhaps. But evacuation died sooner than I expected. There were accident reports all along I-95 and congestion on the Turnpike. Gas was reported getting scarce in Central Florida and the usual staples of water and canned goods. And if you were not planning to evacuate to Alabama and points West-North West and already on your way yesterday, you are gonna be screwed anyway.
Understand that Monroe, Miami-Dade, Broward and Palm Beach Counties have over 5,350,000 million people who simply cannot be funneled north (same path as the hurricane) in three highways: I-75, I-95 and the Turnpike up to Orlando only. Being caught in the open with only the protection of your car? Hell no!
So pray that Irma’s eye stays on the water 20 miles away when it comes by Miami. That means we can get Category 2 and less winds which we know our infrastructure can withstand. I know my humble abode dealt with a Cat 3 with an old roof and plenty of Cat 2 and Cat 1.
The blog is in the capable hands of J. Kb. when (and if) I go dark. I’ll try to text him updates so he can share with you guys.
And if you feel predisposed to do so, say a prayer or two for South Florida.
I’m in central Florida now, I went through the last one (Wilma) in lovely Miami gardens. Lost power for about two weeks. Lots of fun.
I think everyone is praying for it to do the least amount of damage.
All I can say is good luck and Godspeed.
You got this.
We got this.
Fingers crossed!
[…] writing this a couple of days before Hurricane Irma smacks into south Florida. Like Miguel, we decided to ride it out. I may or may not have power this week, so updates here will probably be […]
Trump wants to do Infrastructure. Congress should want to do Infrastructure, except they won’t, because it is that icky Trump’s idea.
Here is an idea. Double the lanes heading North (and East and West) out of Hurricane Evacuation Zones. Build in lots of Rest Areas/ Breakdown Areas. Maybe even build it as a separate road in places, so an accident doesn’t shut it all down. Lots of jobs, and concrete (pardon the pun) results. Do this in TX, LA, MS, AL, GA, FL, NC, and SC.
I would rather finance that, than windmills and solar panels, or trolleys and light rail to nowhere.
(And I am in Minnesota.)
Prayers for you and all those in the path. Still hoping for a sharp right hand turn.
Can you build a bunker/ shelter inside the house?
Or evacuate a few miles to someone’s office building?
My home. cement block construction, new roof and hurricane shutters in a non-flood area.
I know it will stand Cat 3. I am praying for a somewhat far Cat 4 as worse case.
Office buildings are a bad idea, they’re all glass and in the last one (Wilma) most of the windows failed in less than hurricane force conditions.
Parking garages… those concrete monstrosities? If they have inside stairs, they are great to survive a hurricane.
They do offer with newer construction the option of building a safe room. Issue is that your house has to be built high enough above the flood levels (most of So. Fla is only 3′ above sea level). Storm surge is not going to come in 10 miles, but rain, that is a different story.
Good luck!
Good luck Miguel. I hope Irma misses you.