Hurricane Irene

[soupy1957]

Essentially, Hurricane Irene will pass directly over our house (give or take 20 miles)..........

Any special considerations for the wind factor, with regard to my wood pile or my stove chimney?

No wise cracks please! (thanks)


-Soupy1957

 

[rottiman]

If you are able to get a good heavy duty cover over the wood will help keep it drier before burn season. Make sure the chimney cap is secured. Good Luck

 

[Ratman]

you can get those good screw in the ground tie-downs pretty cheap at the hardware store for the wood pile.

 

[Ron34422]

Soupy, If you have a prefab chimney take the sections apart and get the height as low as possible...cover the top with a heavy duty cover...tape completely with lots of duct tape...Don't ride it out unless you have to...go someplace safe...the weeks after a Hurricane are sometimes the hardest part...no electricity, food, etc...be safe

 

[firefighterjake]

. . . and don't forget to stock up on the Three B's . . . beer, batteries and bleach . . . useful for surviving impending hurricanes, blizzards, Armageddon, Y2K and zombie attacks . . . at least around here every time weather guessers hype a "storm of the century" folks rush out to buy those three things.

 

[Nater]

. . . and don't forget to stock up on the Three B's . . . beer, batteries and bleach . . . useful for surviving impending hurricanes, blizzards, Armageddon, Y2K and zombie attacks . . . at least around here every time weather guessers hype a "storm of the century" folks rush out to buy those three things.

I get the beer and batteries, but why the bleach?

 

[mhrischuk]

Makes fresh water.

 

[thewoodlands]

. . . and don't forget to stock up on the Three B's . . . beer, batteries and bleach . . . useful for surviving impending hurricanes, blizzards, Armageddon, Y2K and zombie attacks . . . at least around here every time weather guessers hype a "storm of the century" folks rush out to buy those three things.

I get the beer and batteries, but why the bleach?

Household chlorine bleach and medicine dropper – When diluted nine parts water to one part bleach, bleach can be used as a disinfectant. Or in an emergency, you can use it to treat water by using 16 drops of regular household liquid bleach per gallon of water. Do not use scented, color safe or bleaches with added cleaners


http://www.ready.gov/america/getakit/index.html


Zap

 

[firefighterjake]

. . . plus everyone knows you want fresh, clean tighty whiteys in a hurricane . . . those loose fitting boxers will just flap in the wind.

 

[Nater]

Ah, makes sense. I've actually done this on a hiking trip back in high school.

I am more concerned about the walls I just framed up last weekend getting blown over. I finally started rebuilding my workshop, and then a hurricane blows in....

 

[BrowningBAR]

Essentially, Hurricane Irene will pass directly over our house (give or take 20 miles)..........

Any special considerations for the wind factor, with regard to my wood pile or my stove chimney?

No wise cracks please! (thanks)


-Soupy1957

I grew up in Florida and I have sat threw my fair share of hurricanes. When it hits you in your location, based on the reports, you will receive 70+ mph winds. Tie downs and tarps usually tear, but you can try.

Keep in mind, if you are going to tarp down your wood stacks, the anchors could pull loss and become lethal projectiles. That should be kept in mind. Wet wood sucks, but if your wood piles are close to your home/windows, you might want to think about leaving the wood as is. Worse case scenario is that you might need to re-stack some wood after the storm.

 

[mayhem]

You're looking at 100mph + gusts in your area as of the forecast I heard on my way into work this morning...I wouldn't bother with tarping your woodstacks. Just about anything you do is going to get ripped off. Its just some rain anyway, it'll dry out in a couple weeks.

I'll be taking in all my outdoor furniture and battening down the hatches. Got a couple trees I'll be taking down tomorrow...they've been creaking ALOT in mild winds (which for me is 15-30 mph) and they're only 10 feet off the side of the driveway. Rather lay them down where I want them than let Irene do it for me.

Stock up on fresh drinking water and if you're on a well like me, stock up on more water so you can flush the toilets too.

 

[BrowningBAR]

You're looking at 100mph + gusts in your area as of the forecast I heard on my way into work this morning

Between skimming land mass and the colder waters, I would be amazed if the storm can maintain winds that powerful by the time it hits CT.

 

[jharkin]

So is the current thinking this one will hit New England like Gloria did?

I was a kid in CT for that one. I remember we lost power for 3 days and had a lot of trees down blocking roads. There were some tornadoes in the aftermath north of Waterbury that caused damage but nothing serious around me.

I'm going to take in the grill, put the cars in the garage, and pull the ACs out so I can close up the storm windows. I might fill some water jugs and make sure that gas can is full to run the generator for the sump pump in case the power goes out and the basement floods. We pretty much always have a week or more of staples on hand and Ive got matches/batteries/candles/water filter/FA kit etc already.


Beyond that I'm not too worried unless the forecast gets worse.

 

[Badfish740]

Between skimming land mass and the colder waters, I would be amazed if the storm can maintain winds that powerful by the time it hits CT.

I was just reading that ocean temps (off of the Jersey coast at least) are unseasonably warm right now. NOAA puts the temps at Sandy Hook and Cape May at nearly 77 degrees-usually we don't see that until darn near October. Not sure how much effect that will have?

 

[semipro]

You may want to plug your flue at the bottom if you can, especially if you can't get to the top. I guess I'm thinking of the high winds and blowing rain.

Its usually flying debris and flooding that cause most problems in hurricanes.

 

[mhrischuk]

I've lived in the northeast all of my life. I don't want to marginalize this too much but it seems every time we get a hurricane it ends up just a short term wind and rain storm. We never get the advertised wind. I seems like when they say 100mph winds they are talking about a gust somewhere. Usually up here the hurricane dies fast as it drags along the coast.

 

[soupy1957]

I have to admit that, based on current reports (Noon, Thursday) this storm is angling more inland, and may be dumping 12 inches of rain and have 70 MPH winds. That's mild in comparison to what we THOUGHT could happen.

But it's still a tad early yet, and these storms do what they want, with a reasonable amount of predictability.

Now they are saying it won't hit til Sunday night.

I'm thinking that I might very well lose my chimney and stove pipe caps in this, but not sure. I know the wife won't want me climbing up on the roof, that's for sure. I may have to defy her outright, if I'm worried about replacing the caps.
I wonder if the wood stove chimney will withstand things. Don't know.

The wood has time to dry out (I believe) and I have the tarps on the tops of the wood. Of course, the wind, if significant enough, could easily take my tarps away. I'm actually thinking of taking the tarps off altogether, and putting them in the garage, so I DON'T lose them.

Obviously I'm moving all "flyable" objects from the yard, deck, etc...I remember Gloria too!

-Soupy1957

 

[gpcollen1]

There are still a dozen or so Model runs out there...and no way of knowing exactly where it will hit land or if it will at all. If you are in the projected path, prepare for lots of rain and 50 mph winds. I am not too worried right now as a few of the models I saw had the possibility of this one curving back out to sea, which means maybe a few inches of rain and some wind.

http://www.nhc.noaa.gov/graphics_at4.shtml?5-daynl?large#contents

 

[maverick06]

The things to do are have flashlight, water and the generator handy.

I have a generator to run all sorts of stuff around the house, fridge, fans, sump pump in the summer. Suggest you also look at trees nearby to make sure nothing will come down.

I also have a water alarm in case the sump pump fails, and every spring i fill the sump with the garden hose to make sure the pump fires up.

The wood will get wet, then the sun will come out and it will dry. Keep your house dry, thats the harder part!

 

[mhrischuk]

Right now they have the eye tracking the surf up the coast..

 

[gpcollen1]

Right now they have the eye tracking the surf up the coast..

yeah, i don't like that one. It goes right over my house

 

[mayhem]

Mine too, but 24 hours ago the eye was projected to go over Boston, this morning they said central MA, now its a straight shot at Western MA. Little more and its not going to do much in New England but water my plants and flood Albany.

 

[thewoodlands]

Between skimming land mass and the colder waters, I would be amazed if the storm can maintain winds that powerful by the time it hits CT.

I was just reading that ocean temps (off of the Jersey coast at least) are unseasonably warm right now. NOAA puts the temps at Sandy Hook and Cape May at nearly 77 degrees-usually we don't see that until darn near October. Not sure how much effect that will have?

WRAL in North Carolina, with whats coming.

http://www.wral.com/weather/story/10042666/


zap

 

[Jags]

No wise cracks? Your ruining my day, Soupy.

I think you have a good idea with removing the tarps. Even if they stay in place, they are very liable to get beat up pretty bad.