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Julie Moriarty
09-10-2018, 1:18 PM
Hurricane Florence is looking more and more like a major threat to the Carolinas. Just thinking of those in its path.

Jim Becker
09-10-2018, 2:58 PM
We are not, but Professor Dr. SWMBO's brother and SIL live in Wilmington NC...which is nearly on the centerline of the currently projected path of the storm.

Jim Koepke
09-10-2018, 3:04 PM
Living with the possibility of an earthquake is nothing when compared to living with the likelihood of hurricanes. It is not my cup of tea.

jtk

Malcolm Schweizer
09-10-2018, 3:21 PM
Living with the possibility of an earthquake is nothing when compared to living with the likelihood of hurricanes. It is not my cup of tea.

jtk

You can prepare for hurricanes. Even after all I went through with Irma and Maria, I'd rather have that than an earthquake. Also I'll take hurricanes over tornadoes for the same reason, although hurricanes typically spawn tornadoes, and the worst damage we had here was from tornadoes. Still, I'd rather have one sprout in a hurricane that I prepared for than to pop up unexpected during a rain storm.

I am very fortunate not to be in the path of Florence. Bermuda also is very fortunate that Florence took a different path than initially expected. As for me, Isaac is tracking to the west, and if he keeps that track I will be OK. It is still possible for a turn to the north, which would be troublesome for me. Please pray for Dominica, where I have many friends. This is set to direct hit them, and they were badly damaged by the hurricanes last year. This is going to be bad for them. Note: This is Dominica, not the Dominican Republic. Dominica is a beautiful island in the Lesser Antilles between Martinique and Guadeloupe. They have one of the largest numbers of centenarians per capita of any country in the world. They are also some of the friendliest people you'd ever want to meet- always smiling. I believe the two are related.

James Waldron
09-10-2018, 3:38 PM
God speed all in the path. Thankfully, it's not me. I was technically (just) within the cone earlier, but it has moved north and I'm out of it now. Will probably get a bit of rain and a bit of wave and a bit of surge, but hopefully not too much.

Lee DeRaud
09-10-2018, 4:24 PM
No, but I seem to be seeing a lot more Progressive Insurance ads lately.

(Oops, sorry, wrong thread. :) )

Peter Kelly
09-10-2018, 5:38 PM
Living with the possibility of an earthquake is nothing when compared to living with the likelihood of hurricanes. It is not my cup of tea.

jtkI wouldn't want to be around for the big one: https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2015/07/20/the-really-big-one

Lee DeRaud
09-10-2018, 7:35 PM
You can prepare for hurricanes. Even after all I went through with Irma and Maria, I'd rather have that than an earthquake.I've lived in both Florida and California, and there's really no comparison of the relative risk. In 40+ years here, I've witnessed exactly two earthquakes that did what I'd call serious damage (Loma Prieta in 1989 and Northridge in 1994). Pretty much any Atlantic or Gulf hurricane that makes landfall does the same order-of-magnitude damage as both of those earthquakes combined. Not to mention the near-hits and downgraded storms that cause massive flooding hundreds of miles from their "epicenter" equivalent.

And I really question the amount of effective preparation you can do for a Katrina/Sandy/Harvey-sized storm, unless you define "preparation" as "evacuate, return, and rebuild". YMMV.

Tom M King
09-10-2018, 7:42 PM
Maybe. We have 150 acres of Pine trees that we had thinned a year and a half ago. I let them grow tall enough while they were thick until all the limbs fell off below 35 feet. The plan was to get some good, clear saw logs rather than get the maximum tonnage per acre like the vast majority of timber growers go for these days. They're still pretty spindly, with high canopies, but the canopies are still small enough that we're hoping they can survive.

My worry the first year after thinning was ice storms, but now it's hurricanes.

That stand was one of the last big log stands around, but after Hurricane Fran dropped a large percentage of it, we were either going to lose it all to rot, and bugs, or have it clearcut, and start all over again, so that's what we did.

Edwin Santos
09-10-2018, 8:09 PM
I've lived in both Florida and California, and there's really no comparison of the relative risk. In 40+ years here, I've witnessed exactly two earthquakes that did what I'd call serious damage (Loma Prieta in 1989 and Northridge in 1994). Pretty much any Atlantic or Gulf hurricane that makes landfall does the same order-of-magnitude damage as both of those earthquakes combined. Not to mention the near-hits and downgraded storms that cause massive flooding hundreds of miles from their "epicenter" equivalent.

And I really question the amount of effective preparation you can do for a Katrina/Sandy/Harvey-sized storm, unless you define "preparation" as "evacuate, return, and rebuild". YMMV.

I think you should Google the ten deadliest hurricanes of all time and the ten deadliest earthquakes of all time and compare the casualty counts.
I believe you will find that earthquakes can be remarkably more lethal than hurricanes. As an example, the death tolls from the Northridge and Loma Prieta earthquakes you mention were about 60 people each while the Tohoku earthquake in Japan in 2011 (the one that took out the Fukushima nuclear power facility), claimed over 18,000 lives. The 2004 earthquake in Sumatra that caused the great Tsunami claimed 227,000 lives.
Hurricane Katrina claimed about 1800 lives, and Hurricane Harvey about 80.
None of this is to suggest that either type of disaster should be taken lightly.
Edwin

Thomas L Carpenter
09-10-2018, 8:10 PM
I'm in the path, probably. About 20 miles southeast of Raleigh. Expecting 12-18 inches of rain. Gas stations are running out of gas here and bread is the thing of the past. I'm pretty much prepared - gas in the generator - loaded up with basic food - plenty of water - fresh propane tank. All this, of course means it will change course in the next day or so but at least I'm ready. House is surrounded by tall pines but nothing i can do about that. We're close to the Neuse River but it would have to flood around 50-75 feet to scare us. This is the third hurricane since we moved here in 2001 but the others were more a Weather Channel event than anything else. We treat each one as if it were the real thing. We just returned from a 2 week vacation on the North Carolina coast which has now been told they need to evacuate inland. Plenty of projects in the shop to keep me busy and hopefully dry.

Lee DeRaud
09-10-2018, 8:58 PM
I think you should Google the ten deadliest hurricanes of all time and the ten deadliest earthquakes of all time and compare the casualty counts.
I believe you will find that earthquakes can be remarkably more lethal than hurricanes. As an example, the death tolls from the Northridge and Loma Prieta earthquakes you mention were about 60 people each while the Tohoku earthquake in Japan in 2011 (the one that took out the Fukushima nuclear power facility), claimed over 18,000 lives. The 2004 earthquake in Sumatra that caused the great Tsunami claimed 227,000 lives.
Hurricane Katrina claimed about 1800 lives, and Hurricane Harvey about 80.Call me a chauvinist, but I thought we were comparing US earthquakes with US hurricanes: it clearly makes a lot of difference where such events occur.

None of this is to suggest that either type of disaster should be taken lightly.
As a random observation of no particular relevance, I would point out that, on average, the death tolls from earthquakes and hurricanes combined are a small fraction of the death toll from motor vehicle accidents, both here and world-wide. And no, I have no idea (1) how many people die in motor vehicle accidents during hurricane evacuations or (2) whether they are included in the total hurricane death tolls.

Bruce Wrenn
09-10-2018, 9:13 PM
We are 120 miles inland from Wilmington, and on projected center line. Told to expect 12 -15" of rain. I've seen four hurricanes here. Hazel in 54, Fran in 96, Floyd in 98, and Matthew in 16. Even though we live only couple miles from nuclear plant, we expect to loose power. In early August, contacted Duke Energy about a tall pine tree that was leaning over power lines, but as usual with Duke they did nothing. They only seem to operate in crisis management mode, unlike Progress / Carolina Power and Light. Couple years back, they did vegetation control, but left a huge limb spanning over power lines. Called them about it, and was assured they were going to take care of it. They did, but it was 2:00 AM when limb broke taking down power lines. They just put lines together, and would come back in daylight and correctly tension them. That was over two years ago, so I don't expect them back till leaning pine tree takes down lines again. As for flooding here, we are 120' above the creek, at the very top of the hill. Expect road to flood, but it does that in a heavy dew anyway. Spent afternoon repairing one generator (gas tank leak) and will get other two up and running tomorrow. Always keep gas cans filled, so that's not a problem. If cans were empty, with hurricane on the way, I probably would fill them with ethanol gas, which after event, I would run in my truck. Water isn't a problem, as we have two above ground storage tanks that combined hold 2000 gallons, and they are FULL. Gas WH, and stove, small window AC in guest bedroom, so a small (3000) watt generator will run our needs. Will spend day Wednesday tying everything down that could be thrown by the wind.. Even though we are told to expect 70+ mph winds, living in a forest, we don't get the full effects.

Julie Moriarty
09-10-2018, 9:26 PM
Just heard SC governor called for mandatory evac to all coastal counties. Hope something breaks this down before it hits land.

Edwin Santos
09-11-2018, 2:22 AM
As a random observation of no particular relevance, I would point out that, on average, the death tolls from earthquakes and hurricanes combined are a small fraction of the death toll from motor vehicle accidents, both here and world-wide.

No argument on that point!

Julie Moriarty
09-11-2018, 7:38 AM
Highest death toll comparison between hurricanes and earthquakes in the contiguous US from 1900 to date:
1. 1900 Galveston hurricane - 6-12K deaths (I read the book Issac's Storm, it was pretty grisly - You could smell death approaching the city.)
2. 1906 San Francisco earthquake - 3K+ deaths
3. 2017 Hurricane Maria - 2,982
4. 1928 Okeechobee hurricane - 2,823
5. 2005 Hurricane Katrina - 1,245–1,836 (Met a lady last week who lived there then and heard another "smell of death" story.)
6. 1919 Florida Keys hurricane - 745
7. 1938 New England hurricane - 682–800
8. 1957 Hurricane Audrey - 416
9. 1935 Labor Day hurricane - 408

When it comes to cost of damage, hurricanes win that one too. But we get far more hurricanes than earthquakes here.

Frederick Skelly
09-11-2018, 7:50 AM
Both quakes and hurricanes are BAD news. Good luck to all of those in the path of this beast.

(Julie, I read that book too. I can only imagine how terrifying it was for them.)

Fred

Keith Outten
09-11-2018, 12:00 PM
SawMill Creek is currently in an area that is under mandatory evacuation.

I will make an announcement sometime tonight concerning what may be an extended shutdown.

Ken Fitzgerald
09-11-2018, 1:02 PM
Be safe Keith! You and your family are in my thoughts and prayers.

Dave Cav
09-11-2018, 1:12 PM
Living with the possibility of an earthquake is nothing when compared to living with the likelihood of hurricanes. It is not my cup of tea.

jtk

Both of which were factors in my moving away from Houston, and later, Puget Sound. Plus the volcanoes, of course.

Howard Garner
09-11-2018, 1:48 PM
I road out hurricane Hugo in the Charleston SC area. The eye went directly over my house. 20 minutes of relative quiet. NEVER AGAIN. Once was enough.
If you are in the area, please follow the evacuation orders.

Howard Garner

Jim Koepke
09-11-2018, 2:51 PM
Both of which were factors in my moving away from Houston, and later, Puget Sound. Plus the volcanoes, of course.

By the luck of a few minutes my life was spared during the Loma Prieta Earthquake. Around the area it was often referred to as the "pretty big one" as opposed to the big one.

As far as volcanoes go, every time the view is clear when we go to town we see Mt St. Helens about 60 miles to the east. It reminds us of the geological disruptions in the area where we live. Most of the volcanoes along the west coast are sitting dormant. They usually give some warning before major activity.

In my 55+ years in the San Francisco area there were many earthquakes. Many were noticed, many passed without much more than thinking a big truck just went by.

Surely there have been years without major storms wiping out parts of the east coast. In my lifetime only three earthquakes come to mind along the west coast with major impacts, Northridge, Loma Prieta and Alaska's Good Friday earthquake of 1964. The effects of the Alaska quake caused minor damage to boats as far away as Los Angeles. In Freeport, TX tide gauges recorded waves similar to seismic surface waves.

The Alaska earthquake caused the most wide ranging damage. It was also at the time the second most powerful earthquake ever recorded. 600 miles of the fault ruptured and moved as much as 60 feet.

The Loma Prieta caused a lot of devastation, fortunately the loss of life was not as high as first thought. There is still a newspaper from the day after stashed in one of my drawers. A big difference after an earthquake is the only worries about flooding are in the coastal areas. Most people know this and will head for high ground after a big shaker.

An interesting oddity with the Loma Prieta quake is the SF Giants and the Oakland Athletics were scheduled to play the third of their World Series games. A lot of people were at home waiting to watch the game. The double deck freeway that collapsed was carrying very light traffic at a time when it would have normally been packed. My knowledge of the traffic is from having been on that section of freeway just a minute or two before the quake hit. This ended up being the longest delay between World Series Games. The previous holder of that record was the World Series in 1911 between the New York Giants and the Philadelphia Athletics.

The Northridge was also devastating. It was over 400 miles from my location so there wasn't any first hand experience.

jtk

Scott Donley
09-11-2018, 3:48 PM
The 2001 Nisqually earthquake occurred at 10:54:32 local time on February 28, 2001. The intraslab earthquake had a moment magnitude of 6.8 and a maximum Mercalli intensity of VIII
The quake injured around 400 people and was rated at a magnitude 6.8 for the amount of energy it released. Nobody died as a direct result of failing bricks or debris. A heart attack victim was the only fatality associated with the quake. Damage estimates were placed at several billion dollars.

Lee DeRaud
09-11-2018, 3:51 PM
The Northridge was also devastating. It was over 400 miles from my location so there wasn't any first hand experience.It definitely got my attention, as it lit off about 10 seconds after I hit the snooze button on the alarm. It's also the only earthquake I ever came close to getting injured: the shaking had more or less stopped and I was walking around the foot of the bed and got cut off at the knees by a 34-lb Corgi at full speed heading for his "safe space". :)

(Loma Prieta could have been a lot worse for me personally: we were vacationing in Santa Cruz the week before.)

Lee DeRaud
09-11-2018, 4:00 PM
Both of which were factors in my moving away from Houston, and later, Puget Sound. Plus the volcanoes, of course.So...how far are you from the Yellowstone caldera?

Malcolm Schweizer
09-11-2018, 4:36 PM
Please evacuate if you are in the path. The reason is not just for your safety, but also so that work crews can do their jobs after the storms, and so that rescue crews don't have to risk their lives saving your butt. We are on an island, so there was not an option to evacuate.

PLEASE READ THIS- I have been through two cat 5 hurricanes. I can tell you that if you are in a stick framed house, you are doomed. Get out. Do not try to ride it out. I live in a solid stone and concrete house with solid walls 18" thick- even thicker in the downstairs. My whole house shook. My neighbor's home is built the same and his windows blew IN- into the house- frame, bricks, and all. I saw concrete buildings leveled. Please don't try to ride this out. There is a huge difference in this size of storm. I have ridden out many storms and believe me there is a VERY big difference between a 3, a 4, and a 5. 20, 30, or 40 MPH is a lot more wind. It makes a big difference. Even if your house is a fortress, what happens when your neighbor's house smashes into it, or a tree crashes on top of it? That happened here. I saw homes literally taken off their foundations. One concrete church was blown to pieces. 90% of all power lines were down. Most poles were down. Our homes are built to withstand this kind of thing. We get hurricanes all the time and it's like a blizzard for you guys up north- the schools close for a few days, and we recover. This is different. I am telling you, with a Cat 4 or 5 a stick framed house is going to be pulverized.

Bruce Wrenn
09-11-2018, 9:35 PM
Both I-26 and US 501 were reversed today to allow both sides to be used for evacuation. Only outbound traffic, no inbound traffic. UNC Wilmington has MANDATORY evacuation for all students in dorms. Not sure where some of them are going to stay. Currently, storm track has shifted south of us, into the SC / NC border area. Flooding may effect folks as far as Asheville. Many areas east of I-95 in both NC, and SC are only a few feet above sea level, so flooding from storm surge alone could come in as much as 100 miles, plus some areas are expected to get as much as 40" of rain.

Julie Moriarty
09-11-2018, 9:42 PM
Just watched Tropical Tidbits on YouTube - definitely the best explanation of storms - looks like Flo is going to stall at the coast and maybe drift west or even possible a bit south.

Isaac is being hit by wind shear, keeping it from forming a hurricane for now.

Dave Cav
09-11-2018, 10:41 PM
So...how far are you from the Yellowstone caldera?

Probably not far enough, but no place is perfect. I'm a lot less worried about Yellowstone than I was about hurricanes, large subduction earthquakes and lahars. I rode out the Nisqually earthquake in Everett at the Port on an area of fill and it wasn't much fun.

Julie Moriarty
09-12-2018, 6:32 AM
Looks like Tropical Tidbits got it right. This morning it seems most forecasting has the storm possibly stalling right at the coast then heading west or even south. Tropical storm warnings now go down the Charleston, NC.

Malcolm Schweizer
09-12-2018, 7:13 AM
Irony of ironies- We had an earthquake last night. 4.5 offshore- not bad, but still....

Keith Outten
09-12-2018, 10:53 AM
It's unfortunate for the people of North Carolina but it seems that the storm will be taking a track away from Virginia which is good news for us. We will see some bad rain and some wind but the tidal surge will be the worst of our worries. We will still lose power but I don't expect much damage from the storm unless the storm surge is worse than our last Hurricane.

This Friday and through the weekend don't be surprised if you cannot connect to SawMill Creek. Even though I have a generator the trees take down our Internet service cable when they bring down the power lines. It sure would be nice to have a wireless secondary access point.

Rick Potter
09-12-2018, 12:22 PM
Don't worry about us Keith. Just stay safe. If it goes down, we will be grateful when the creek is back.

michael langman
09-12-2018, 8:02 PM
Thanks for the heads up Keith. I hope you and everyone else in the hurricanes path a safe event.

Jon Shank
09-13-2018, 11:05 PM
We're in the path too, a little north of Charlotte so shouldn't get the worst of it by any stretch. I've been through a bunch of tropical storm/hurricane/flooding events here and in New Orleans and Houston. We stocked up on sensible stuff but also beer/booze/chips. We'll be out on the porch having a hurricane party.

Julie Moriarty
09-14-2018, 8:37 AM
I found a YouTube live webcam located at Hotel Ballast on the Cape Fear River, right across from the Battleship North Carolina. It looks like they are in the eye right now but there's still a lot of rain and some wind. One truck and about a half dozen people appeared on the riverwalk. The wind is blowing toward the ocean right now so no storm surge at this point.

And the feed just went black...

Malcolm Schweizer
09-14-2018, 10:18 AM
I found a YouTube live webcam located at Hotel Ballast on the Cape Fear River, right across from the Battleship North Carolina. It looks like they are in the eye right now but there's still a lot of rain and some wind. One truck and about a half dozen people appeared on the riverwalk. The wind is blowing toward the ocean right now so no storm surge at this point.

And the feed just went black...

I was watching the one on the "frying pan" platform 39 miles offshore. The waves at first didn't look too big, until you realized the perspective and that the tiny railing on the platform was probably 4' tall or so, and then you realize waves were probably 20 feet, and later in the evening as the sun set they panned the camera towards the waves and they were probably even bigger, with short intervals and spilling crests.

Julie Moriarty
09-14-2018, 11:32 AM
Yeah, I've seen that one. Pretty wild.

Just finished clamping up something I'm making for the entertainment project. Checked the tube and that feed was live again. It's about 15-20 videos in the "Hurricane Florence live cam" search. This one is featured by the Washington Post and has a picture of a wooden pier in some big waves.

When I turned it on, there was a family of four, with two little kids, standing on the riverwalk in flip-flops with virtually no wind or rain. It was overcast and looked like a drizzly day. Then over on the Weather Channel they are posting winds in Wilmington, where that family was out walking, at a steady 45 MPH, gusting to 65. :confused: It's annoying how much they hype the weather. But it does look like Wilmington is right in the eye now.

Malcolm Schweizer
09-14-2018, 11:39 AM
Yeah, I've seen that one. Pretty wild.

Just finished clamping up something I'm making for the entertainment project. Checked the tube and that feed was live again. It's about 15-20 videos in the "Hurricane Florence live cam" search. This one is featured by the Washington Post and has a picture of a wooden pier in some big waves.

When I turned it on, there was a family of four, with two little kids, standing on the riverwalk in flip-flops with virtually no wind or rain. It was overcast and looked like a drizzly day. Then over on the Weather Channel they are posting winds in Wilmington, where that family was out walking, at a steady 45 MPH, gusting to 65. :confused: It's annoying how much they hype the weather. But it does look like Wilmington is right in the eye now.

It appears that when the cameras go down, it reverts back to old footage. Same thing happened with the frying pan tower, which is now offline. I pulled it up this AM and it was a beautiful, calm day, but the flag was fully intact, so I knew it was old footage.

Just reading online that 150 people are being rescued- these would be the people that were TOLD TO EVACUATE!!! Ugh.

Julie Moriarty
09-14-2018, 12:53 PM
Yesterday I saw a number of officials interviewed being asked about those who refuse to leave. They were professional in their responses but I was wishing one of them would have said, "Don't be selfish and put the lives of our rescuers in danger, too!"

This is the one I've been watching on the TV. They have been switching from Hotel Ballast in Wilmington to Broad & Front Streets in New Bern to some other place I can't identify. They have their cameras manned and they pan and zoom, which makes it more interesting while watching this unfold - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=a6GksMVm0NA

Ken Fitzgerald
09-14-2018, 1:08 PM
On those rescued after being told to evacuate. If they were unable to evacuate, give them a pass. If they were able to evacuate and didn't...would "IDIOT" tattooed in 1" letters on their foreheads be too much?:confused::rolleyes:

Bruce Wrenn
09-15-2018, 12:58 PM
We came thru just fine. A lot of small limbs and pine cones down, waiting to be picked up. Duke Energy turned power off around 11:00 AM yesterday, and turned it back on around 6:30 PM. In about an hour, a limb took it out, with power restored around 9:30 PM. Crews were down the street this morning working on lines. Road flooded down by creek, but it does that in a heavy dew. Years ago, when bridge was built, they tucked it up against the high bank on other side, allowing water to pass over road and not wipe out bridge.

Kev Williams
09-15-2018, 7:29 PM
Yesterday I saw a number of officials interviewed being asked about those who refuse to leave. They were professional in their responses but I was wishing one of them would have said, "Don't be selfish and put the lives of our rescuers in danger, too!"

I saw one phone interview with a rescue worker who said pretty much exactly that! Something to the effect of "Don't expect us to risk our lives saving those who had plenty of time to save their own.."

And I liked one FEMA guy's answer to 'what do you tell folks who tell you they're not leaving?'
-- "...we ask them to write down the names and contact info of their next of kin so we can contact them when we find your bodies."

Winston Churchill said 'there's nothing more exhilarating than being shot at, and missed'...
Maybe so, but seems to me the exhilaration would be lacking if you know the bullet is coming and you refuse to get out of its way...

John Stankus
09-15-2018, 8:55 PM
I've lived in both Florida and California, and there's really no comparison of the relative risk. In 40+ years here, I've witnessed exactly two earthquakes that did what I'd call serious damage (Loma Prieta in 1989 and Northridge in 1994). Pretty much any Atlantic or Gulf hurricane that makes landfall does the same order-of-magnitude damage as both of those earthquakes combined. Not to mention the near-hits and downgraded storms that cause massive flooding hundreds of miles from their "epicenter" equivalent.

And I really question the amount of effective preparation you can do for a Katrina/Sandy/Harvey-sized storm, unless you define "preparation" as "evacuate, return, and rebuild". YMMV.

This is typical of the folks from earthquake country. I was in Palo Alto for the Loma Prieta earthquake standing behind a 3500 lb laser table. That was only a 7 (maybe 6.9) (they don't count unless they are over 5). Every increase of 1 on the Richter scale is about 30 times the energy released. They are thinking the Big One will be 8+. Some of how destructive it will be will depend on where the epicenter is located. I was about 30 miles north of the epicenter, but the major damage was another 30 miles north of me (60 miles north of the epicenter). Ground conditions and building type make a big difference. Just imagine the 1964 Alaska Earthquake (9.2) centered in a highly populated SF Bay area or Los Angeles .

I can be a couple of hundred miles away when a hurricane hits. You can see them coming. You don't get that chance with an Earthquake. Well actually you do, I choose to live 1700 miles away from the likely earthquake location :)
Hurricanes are bad right on the coast, but live inland and stay out of flood plains and you can manage the risk. I will leave Malcolm to speak to island strategies.

One issue with some of the natural disasters are how they are reported on: either over or under report the damage. For Loma Prieta, my folks freaked out a bit since communications was limited and the news kept showing the Nimitz Freeway collapse and the Marina District (which was built on an area that was filled with the rubble of the 1906 earthquake). They didn't show that most areas were relatively ok though there was a bit of damage. On the other hand, Puerto Rico was under reported due to the difficulty of getting around the island after the Hurricane hit.

I don't think folks should be allowed to rebuild in flood prone areas, but some of that is a quirk of the Federal Flood insurance.

Also isn't "evacuate, return, and rebuild" the standard preparation for the forest fires out there?

John

Lee DeRaud
09-15-2018, 9:21 PM
And I liked one FEMA guy's answer to 'what do you tell folks who tell you they're not leaving?'
-- "...we ask them to write down the names and contact info of their next of kin so we can contact them when we find your bodies."Sort of like why the airlines want you to stay in your assigned seats: it makes identifying the bodies much easier in the event of a crash.

Lee DeRaud
09-15-2018, 9:30 PM
I don't think folks should be allowed to rebuild in flood prone areas, but some of that is a quirk of the Federal Flood insurance.

Also isn't "evacuate, return, and rebuild" the standard preparation for the forest fires out there?Yup. And I'm no more enamored of people (re)building in high-fire-risk areas than you are of people (re)building in high-flood-risk areas. That said, I would note that having a fire this year makes a fire next year quite a bit less likely...the same cannot be said of floods.

Jay Mullins
09-16-2018, 11:36 PM
One reason that earthquakes kill more people than hurricanes might be that, hurricanes are predicted usually a week ahead of time giving the people time to evacuate. Hurricanes victims many times have little warning. Many of the deaths in hurricanes could be avoided. I live in NC, and thankfully Flo is almost gone.

Jay