Moved the V away from the coast

[Walt_M.]

Well, due to the uncertain path of hurricane Ike, I moved the V inland. This the second time in 4 years I've taken this precaution. Hope it wasn't really necessary but I feel better.

[h2olawyer]

Sounds like a prudent move.  You've been dodging storms so far, but how much longer will that luck hold?  Where did you stash your V?

Sounds like kiawrench might have had a pretty good soaking as Hannah passed through Myrtle Beach.

H₂O

[kiawrench]

yes sir ,,, i got soaked,,, to my very core, water logged like a phone book in a bath-tub!!

i put the two V's up down on the airfield,, i still have access to Chambers Family storage hanger-   is old air force weapons bay   ,sort of half round "tunnel covered by dirt, both ends seal up weather tight . takes two big guys to open front door to it , bu ti get plenty of help when needed . i kept the fazer out ,, is strapped to a bike lift at work - am going through electrical system, sealing and water proofing every connection like it was a boat .  seems to hav eworked for the visions, cant hurt .
i was working  2nd  shift at Ocean Reef hotel when first rain bands hit, and after 3/4 of third shift called in stupid, i worked through the storm at hotel ,, mostly keeping tourists off the beach . once wind picked up to 70mph gusts, they settled down, didnt want to be out there - even weather channel guys were whining . it didnt last long,, but i sure earned a all day nap!   

dont believe the news, storm damage was pretty much limited to two trees down , half the town out of power for less than 1 hour , and a lot of hangovers from storm parties . Nothing else ,,,, no floods ,none of that . maybe they will get that further up the coast .   i got that info directly from police storm response team, they used our lobby as storm central , dispatch . so info is pretty darn good .

[h2olawyer]

I was thinking about you as I watched the Weather Channel whiner.  He was a bit farther north than you are, but the damage didn't look too bad there either.  The rain totals were pretty good, though.

Glad you were only soaked & not flooded!

H₂O

[Walt_M.]

The Vision is now resting comfortably alongside the YZ on our property about 50 miles inland. I was mostly concerned about storm surge.

[YellowJacket!]

I always wondered if there was some weather channel employee throwing stuff into the wind to let it blow by the reporter for effect.  ;D


David

[Night Vision]

The Weather Channel is just as bad as the rest of the gloom and doom media.....

"I make my living off the evening news
Just give me something-something I can use
People love it when you lose....."

[Superfly]

Good idea moving the bike.  You guys try to stay dry on the East Coast.  I don't miss hurricanes at all (although the hurricane partys were pretty good.) 

[Walt_M.]

I've been in the same house for 26 years and never been flooded out. Came close in 2005 with a storm, Dennis, that missed us. But it had an unexpected storm surge of 10 feet! The only thing that saved us was it peaked at low tide. At high tide we would have had 2 feet of water in the house!
Don't know how long our luck will hold, which is why we got the place inland. If that gets flooded, there will be somebody somewhere building and ark!

[Brian Moffet]

That reminded me of when we had the Loma Prieta earthquake in 1989.  We were listening to the local radio station.  That station is basically located in a small delta at sea level, within 100 yards of the coast.  They were going through the various announcements:

"And highway 9, 17, 152, and 1 are closed.  We have landslides in the Santa Cruz Mountains, and fires have been burning in Santa Cruz, Watsonville.
This just in.  There is a Tsunami warning for the coast between San Francisco and Big Sur...."


Then a long pause...

"We'll let you know if we see it...."


The Tsunami didn't happen, but they would have been the first to notice it!

Brian

[inanecathode]

The only bad thing we get here are sort of large snowstorms, and forest fires.

Fires suck, i havent been in one or seen one up close before, but you pretty much figure if it moves through where you live everything there wont exist anymore. At least its pretty final, i couldnt stand tearing down a house or totaling a car due to flood damage.

[h2olawyer]

Actually, we get not just snow & fires, but hail and flooding rains.  I've been in a hailstorm in Ft. Collins in 1979, where grapefruit / softball size hailstones were falling.  Put several large dents ant took out both the windshield & rear window of my 69 Mustang.  In 1976, there was a major thunderstorm up in Rocky Mountain National Park.  Debris in the Big Thompson River caused the water to back up.  When the dam broke, it sent a huge wall of water down the Big Thompson Canyon (US 34 between Loveland & Estes Park).  It killed 138 people.  Until earlier this summer, they claimed 139, but one of the presumed dead turned up alive & well in Oklahoma.

In 1997, a slow moving series of thunderstorms crossed over Ft. Collins.  The area had already received a few inches of rain over the previous few days, so the ground was saturated.  when the big storms started, the series took about 14 hours to build, dump rain and slowly travel to the east.  In that 14 hours, we received over 12 inches of rain.  (Average YEARLY precipitation is about 15 inches.)  Again, some debris clogging a flood control system created a large water backup.  It washed out a railroad bed, causing a train derailment, then washed through a mobile home park, killing 4.  A fifth person died a little farther downstream.  All this happened despite Ft. Collins' best efforts & even awards for it's flood control system.  A large part of the city's bicycle / pedestrian path follows that creek.  Signs posted along the flood zone show the water depth.  At the deeper points, it is 14 feet above the concrete trail - and that is below where the blockage was.

Hate to make this any longer, but my dad was called out to many large forest fires throughout the western US from the 1950s through the mid 1970s.  He was normally in charge of getting the food & equipment (everything from small hand tools to heavy equipment & aircraft) together, distributed to fight the blaze and finally collected after the fire.  He had many great stories from those experiences.

H2O

[inanecathode]

I meant here like, up here, specifically the mountains. Not a whole lot goes on meterologically. Some close lightning, and some heavy rains, but i dont see how it could flood where i live, side of a mountain. Hail wise, the biggest i've seen up here is about an inch, and thats biblical compared to what we normally get, which is none  :D
I could however see how a small creek like north clear creek through black hawk could flood. Really steep gullies, houses basically at water level, impermeable soil etc etc.

[Night Vision]

aah... the land of Fire and Hailstone eh?

possible floods?

drought?

seen any locust in your locus?

[h2olawyer]

There used to be locust throughout the western US.  Haven't been seen in about 100 years, though.  It is one of the mysteries that has baffled entomologists for a long time.  We have had a couple years of heavy grasshopper infestation recently, but nothing compared to locust.

Actually, you can get lots of rain up there, inane.  It's just that the flooding won't be bad until the water gathers in streams, creeks & rivers farther down the mountain from you.  Most of the bad floods down here on the flatlands start as heavy thunderstorms in the 8,000 - 12,000 foot elevation range.

H₂O

[inanecathode]

I'll put a shamwow in my driveway just for you H₂O
Hopefully that'll help next time theres that much rain :O

[h2olawyer]

Only if that Shamwow really does what they claim!  Those heavy rains are not common, but most meteorologists agree that it happens someplace along the front range nearly every year - yet they also call it a 100 or 500 year storm.  Guess that's statistics for you.   :D

H₂O

[YellowJacket!]

I heard that there was a worldwide shortage on shamwows for the next few months.  Rumor has it that the government bought all of them and filled a few C-5A-s with them and were going to drop them on the gulf states.  After that they were going to all be picked up and sold for half off.

David

[Kenny]

 8) I moved one of our Visions out to the Rocky mountains of  B.C. as we where afraid the sky in Ontario would fall in & ....I came back after I heard it was safe. :-* ;D  Kenny

[Walt_M.]

I'm beginning to think maybe the Florida Panhandle might be as safe as anywhere! At least we can see it coming and move around as we see fit.
Looks like 'Ike' is going to Texas.