From the crazy weather capital of the world...

[jasonrstewart79]

....a few words of comfort. As we all wait for Sandy to hit the East Coast and wreak some havoc, I can't help but think that this may be a rough time for some of our fellow reefers. As some of the other threads pointed out, this will come down to level of preparedness and location, location, location. I have a feeling that someone with a nano tank in Philly will be having a much better day than someone babysitting a 300g SPS reef on the Jersey shore. Generators are great, but no one needs a genny when there's 11 feet of seawater in your house.

With that said--this shouldn't be nearly as bad as the media is making it out to be. Sure, its scary... a "perfect" storm hitting the Eastern seaboard during Halloween party prep is almost something out of a movie--but it's akin to watching Texans freak out from a 1/2" snowstorm or Californians lose their minds when they see a tornado.

My thoughts and prayers are with everyone in the storms path, as well as those who are in the storm surge areas and making the hard decisions to stay and protect their homes, families, and pets. It wont be easy, but look on the bright side: its a Cat 1 storm. 70-80 mph winds, heavy rain, flying debris... for a guy who's seen one of the highest windspeeds recorded on planet Earth (302mph, F5 tornado in Oklahoma City) churning through my backyard, 70mph is gardening weather. Just sayin.

Seriously though, be safe everyone.

 

[nbgen12]

Good luck to all those in the crazy storm surge zones...

 

[ingtar_shinowa]

It wont be easy, but look on the bright side: its a Cat 1 storm. 70-80 mph winds, heavy rain, flying debris... for a guy who's seen one of the highest windspeeds recorded on planet Earth (302mph, F5 tornado in Oklahoma City) churning through my backyard, 70mph is gardening weather. Just sayin.

LOl right? I was in Grand Cayman once when a storm drooped about 4-6cm of hail and people were crying. Where I live a tornado tore apart a sports arena while cars pulled into the parking lot to video it. The flooding will be bad from Baltimore to New York though, stay safe indeed.

 

[Reefnut2010]

Stay safe folks Good luck with your tanks.

 

[Dave Thebrewguy]

The wind isn't really the issue here. Sandy is expected to be a cat 2 with winds to 100 mph by the time it hits land (a few miles south of my boat) but we get winds like that occasionally here. There will be trees down and this will take out some power lines. Population densities make this a more signicant issue than in more sparcely populated areas, repairs will often be more extensive and take longer. Still, we've seen it before and it's probably going to happen again in the future.
The big problem here is flooding. When the ocean is suddenly 10' higher than normal, it finds new places to go. After Irene last year, the local sub-station was under 8' of water. It really doesn't matter if the lines are still up when the sub-station is under water.
So, how high did the ocean get in Tulsa for that F5?
Edit; Time to go walk the dog and have a cigar

 

[jasonrstewart79]

The big problem here is flooding. When the ocean is suddenly 10' higher than normal, it finds new places to go. After Irene last year, the local sub-station was under 8' of water. It really doesn't matter if the lines are still up when the sub-station is under water.
So, how high did the ocean get in Tulsa for that F5?
Edit; Time to go walk the dog and have a cigar

Yeah, not so much on the flooding here in Oklahoma with the tornados. More like tons of hail, fires from lightning strikes and my truck stuck twenty feet up in the splintered shell of my neighbors tree down the block. I hope you and yours make it through this storm safely... enjoy that walk and that cigar my friend.

 

[Dave Thebrewguy]

Fortunaty, hail isn't much of a problem here. Lightning is always a problem but that can come along with any storm.
The dog didn't seem to mind the weather at all and I was surprised to see the koi come up for food when I walked past the pond.
I did move my wife's car because my neighbor's cable TV wire was beating against the car roof.

 

[Dave Thebrewguy]

Oops, double post. Touchscreens don't work so well in this weather.

 

[jasonrstewart79]

Fortunaty, hail isn't much of a problem here. Lightning is always a problem but that can come along with any storm.
The dog didn't seem to mind the weather at all and I was surprised to see the koi come up for food when I walked past the pond.
I did move my wife's car because my neighbor's cable TV wire was beating against the car roof.

Glad to hear that the dog and the koi are hanging in there! Are you guys just gonna batten down the hatches or are you getting out before the storm surge?

 

[Dave Thebrewguy]

I live further inland and I'm on the high side of town so I'm not too worried about flooding here. Hurricane Irene left about 1/2 the town in 6-8' of water from overflowing rivers and had me without power for a couple days (and most of my neighborhood in the dark for 8 days). The flooding in my case came from underneath. I had 6" of water in the basement when the sump pump went out. Now I have a generator for such an emergency.
My cable was out for a couple hours earlier but it's back on now. the lights have flickered a couple dozen times and stayed off for a few minutes twice. I went and fired up the generator about 10 minutes ago but the power was back on by the time I came inside.
Local news is reporting that the storm has made landfall about 30 miles south of my boat but it's still a cat 1 with winds around 80 mph. Looks like it will be an interesting night.

 

[jasonrstewart79]

I live further inland and I'm on the high side of town so I'm not too worried about flooding here. Hurricane Irene left about 1/2 the town in 6-8' of water from overflowing rivers and had me without power for a couple days (and most of my neighborhood in the dark for 8 days). The flooding in my case came from underneath. I had 6" of water in the basement when the sump pump went out. Now I have a generator for such an emergency.
My cable was out for a couple hours earlier but it's back on now. the lights have flickered a couple dozen times and stayed off for a few minutes twice. I went and fired up the generator about 10 minutes ago but the power was back on by the time I came inside.
Local news is reporting that the storm has made landfall about 30 miles south of my boat but it's still a cat 1 with winds around 80 mph. Looks like it will be an interesting night.

The genny will keep your basement dry I have one myself and its awesome. Fingers crossed it stays at Cat 1... shouldn't be too much tropical air hitting it anymore

 

[tylersarah]

I'd like to hear more about the 302mph winds and the truck up the tree. Pictures? What was left of your house? Did you stay in a basement or some kind of shelter?

 

[ingtar_shinowa]

Only a F2 but here how Montanan's deal with Tornadoes.

http://youtu.be/NlGsNN7TPrc

 

[jasonrstewart79]

I'd like to hear more about the 302mph winds and the truck up the tree. Pictures? What was left of your house? Did you stay in a basement or some kind of shelter?

Well, I was living just outside of Moore, OK at the time. Most of my neighborhood had "fraidy holes" ie. storm shelters or cellars in the back yard. In my opinion if you live in tornado alley and you don't at least have a basement, you're insane.

Anyway, the storm was billed as being pretty bad earlier that day but no one had any idea of the monster it would become. I was driving through Tulsa earlier in the day and I remember listening to Jim Giles (weatherman from Channel 6, now deceased) say that people in the Norman/OKC area should watch out for storms later in the day. When I got home, things were just getting crazy and I got my wife and little girl out of the house and into our storm shelter.. little did we know that the highest landspeed wind ever recorded went through our little town.

Anyone who's ever been through a tornado will tell you that its like a frieght train or herd of elephants or whatever. Underground its just dusty and loud and like an earthquake with lots of wind. Our house was gone. The grass was gone. The cars were gone. Most of our stuff was mixed in with all the rest of everyone elses stuff and spread over a two block radius, but the storm track went for miles of complete devastation.

I'll find some pics and post them sometime, but this was back in the 90s so I'll have to scan them. We had 35mm cameras and VHS tapes back then. LOL

 

[sparky45]

I lived in Florida when Andrew hit. We used to get hit by 4 to 8 hurricanes a year. Just block your windows and get enough food and water and wait it out.

 

[tylersarah]

Well, I was living just outside of Moore, OK at the time. Most of my neighborhood had "fraidy holes" ie. storm shelters or cellars in the back yard. In my opinion if you live in tornado alley and you don't at least have a basement, you're insane.

Anyway, the storm was billed as being pretty bad earlier that day but no one had any idea of the monster it would become. I was driving through Tulsa earlier in the day and I remember listening to Jim Giles (weatherman from Channel 6, now deceased) say that people in the Norman/OKC area should watch out for storms later in the day. When I got home, things were just getting crazy and I got my wife and little girl out of the house and into our storm shelter.. little did we know that the highest landspeed wind ever recorded went through our little town.

Anyone who's ever been through a tornado will tell you that its like a frieght train or herd of elephants or whatever. Underground its just dusty and loud and like an earthquake with lots of wind. Our house was gone. The grass was gone. The cars were gone. Most of our stuff was mixed in with all the rest of everyone elses stuff and spread over a two block radius, but the storm track went for miles of complete devastation.

I'll find some pics and post them sometime, but this was back in the 90s so I'll have to scan them. We had 35mm cameras and VHS tapes back then. LOL

It would be very interesting to see the pictures. Good story, I could feel the suspense in the beginning, but I can not imagine what it's like to come up from underground and see the disaster. Did you rebuild on the lot or move?

Wisconsin has tornadoes, but I've never experienced anything that rocked the neighborhood other than a few trees. Here we have domestic abuse shootings - curious, was that national news?

And back to hurricanes...

 

[paxthemax89]

I live on Hatteras island in NC and only Hatteras Villiage lost power and that was only for about 14 hours. flooding wasnt to bad only about 3-4 feet, winds were blowing about 60-70mph, felt like a nor'easter. Only problem now is the island is once again cutoff from the mainland and there is very limited and intermitant cell service and unless you find a special internet conection there is no internet. but everything is ok here.