Just a few weeks after the west coast got pounded by Charley, it looks like we're gonna get a hit. Hopefully it it curves more to the north and away. My house is right in the middle of the projected path. I just don't wanna get worked by sumtin called Frances.http://www.nhc.noaa.gov/ftp/graphics...F/311513W5.gif

 

I am still hoping the damn thing will take a severe turn NE and go back out into the Atlantic and DIE!

I have family and friends on the Gulf Coast of Mississippi and Lousiana. What the hell is the deal with these damn storms anyway??? GO AWAY!!

 

that's why I live on the west coast..only earthquakes out here..big woop!

My advice is get the hell outta there before it gets there. Good luck to you guys back there, hope that takes a turn and heads back out to sea...

 

The only problem with that is that you can get out, but they won't let you back in.

 

Exactly right TUFF. I live on a barrier island so we have to cross 2 causeways to get out. You can't cross the causeways when winds are above 40 mph and they usually dont let you back in for days after it passes. If it hits us directly on I'm not expecting to have anything to come home to(no home for that matter).

 

man, that sux! Hope everything turns out alright....

 

Yet another reason to move to Detroit!

 

I'll take a big wind anyday. I think this one will hit. It's been my luck to have the big one miss then the little one hit. Oh I live on the other side of the pennisula so by the time it gets here it'll be very weak. Good Luck and even if your on the edge of the projected track take precautions.

 

Good luck to all of you in the projected path. I lived in the New Orleans area for 1 1/2 years, thank God there were no hurricanes in that time, a few floods but they didn't affect our home. And in Texas we had the threat of tornadoes and huge hail. And in California we had earthquakes, we were living in Novato, CA. (just north of SF) when the quake of 1989 happened. And in Idaho we had Mt. St. Helens blowing its top, with the threat of the other coastal volcanoes going off when we lived in Oregon and Washington. We're not even really safe here in Alaska, the state of Alaska has an earthquake almost every day!! Fortunately almost all of them are tiny or in remote areas but we did have the biggest in Anchorage in 1964.

No matter where you live it's always something...

 

Why isn't there some sort of huricane shelter...maybe shaped like a flattened pyramid, that you could keep in your yard...strongly-built, well-anchored...maybe would double as a storage shed?
or
A reinforced lean-to type addition to the back of your house. Just big enough for a couple of people to lie down in. Something that could take a direct hit from a tree and still be OK.
There's tornado shelters in the midwest, but why hasn't some one developed something for you Fla guys?
If Charley comes your way, I hope all of you are OK.

MR

(Not Charley...I ment Francis)

 

and people think I'm crazy for livng somewhere that gets 200'' of snow every year. No hurricanes, tornados, earthquakes, mudslides, or floods. Hope for everyones sake that thing goes back out to sea. Maybe if we are lucky it will just skip across the atlantic, sweep north and devestate France!

 

wild-mtn-rose-- It sounds like the catstophes follow you.

I was in Charleston for a while and there is a guy on the beach who has an igloo style house, built after Hugo. He claims it is hurricane proof. The way it is designed the wind has nothing to garb onto and rip off. It is entirely concrete and all of the living space is on the upper floors. He said they just open the bottom doors and windows and let the ocean in to keep it from floating away. If I remember correctly he said it could withstand something like a 20 storm surge.

 

To address the tornado shelter thing.

1: In florida you can't really build anything underground. It'll just fill up with water.

2: You know ahead of time that a storm is coming. It's cheaper to run once every few years. Just so happend Orlando area may get whomped twice in a month.


Hopefully it doesn't go south and hassle the area south of Tampa, they've had enough.

We got lucky here west of Orlando last time. Hopefully we dodge the bullet again.

I was at the local Home Depot today. There was a line that wound around half the store waiting to get plywood. I talked to one of the guys working there and he said that they were burning through they're third truckload for the day and it wasn't even noon yet.

 

I don't know if you're a fan of Neal Boortz, but he was at one of the resorts in Orlando when the last one hit. He had a nice write up about them and the clean up after the storm. He said it was great.

THere are a few hurricane proof buildings on the Mississippi coast where I grew up, and most of them have held up. A couple look like igloos, and others have the roof come all the way to the ground...it looks a little like an IHOP.

 

My house is all concrete construction with hurricane tie downs for the roof. Even with that, it can still go down. When the winds are this powerful putting plywood over windows doesnt even help. I just want it to be over with, the anticipation and stress is makin me sick.