Ever been in a hurricane?

tomcosgrave

This is a question I've been meaning to ask. Has anyone ever been caught in or been affected by a hurricane passing? I suppose a lot of people would say Charlie in 1986, but does anyone have other experiences?

The closest I've come myself was in Boston in 1996, when it looked like Boston was going to get walloped by the Category 4 Hurricane Edouard - but thankfully, it headed east. That said, the thunderstorms were intense, I remember it suddenly becoming very warm and humid, the first raindrops in particular were very large, and the wind and rain was wilder than anything I have ever experienced and staying in an apartment 16 floors up is *not* fun in those conditions (and bear in mind this was just a sideswipe)!

maquiladora

No, but it's something I'd like to experience (safely) some day.

Closest for me in terms of wind speeds would be the Christmas Eve 97 storm which was very severe down here in the southeast. We had sustained winds similar to what would be found in a moderate tropical storm with hurricane force gusts (145-160 km/h). It was the most severe wind event in this part of the country for decades and there has been nothing close down here since.

Harps

Closest I've come was the Dec 1998 storm where I was right on the coast on an island off the Donegal coast, gusts around 170-180kph and mean wind speed maxed at over 110kph at Malin Head so likely similar, if not more powerful where I was. Thats a 10 minute mean as well compared to the 1 minute mean used for hurricane classification so it was likely comparable a Cat 1 in intensity. A lot of damage around here and we were cut off from the rest of the country with no power for three days so it sticks well in the memory :pac:

Proper hurricanes I'd imagine are a different beast though with the added extremes of torrential rain and storm surges, I can't even imagine what a Cat 5 must be like. I'd love to see one some day though its always hard to justify it when you see the damage they can cause

Harps

Well I was curious so it seems this is what a Cat 5 looks like!

fred funk }{

Harps wrote: »

Well I was curious so it seems this is what a Cat 5 looks like!

Wow!

godtabh

What was the one that hit wexford many years ago? I was in that camping in a tent.

Slidey

Was on a mine site last year when Cyclone Rusty came through. By the time it got to us about 250k in land it didn't sound much worse than a bad winters storm at home.

There was a lot of rain dropped though and there was significant flooding and water damage

Dick Masterson

Harps wrote: »

Well I was curious so it seems this is what a Cat 5 looks like!

Wikipedia says that was a category 4.

TheMilkyPirate

maquiladora wrote: »

No, but it's something I'd like to experience (safely) some day.

Closest for me in terms of wind speeds would be the Christmas Eve 97 storm which was very severe down here in the southeast. We had sustained winds similar to what would be found in a moderate tropical storm with hurricane force gusts (145-160 km/h). It was the most severe wind event in this part of the country for decades and there has been nothing close down here since.

I remember being on the main street here in Wexford when that hit with my parents, roof slates flying everywhere and one or two chimneys came down as well. Was mental

greenman09

Hurricane Bertha 1996. Hit the east coast of US. We were in NC that was well hit. Just happened weekend it hit we were in Washington, D.C. Went to coast weekend after witnessed aftermath and clean up.
Was in states last year when sandy hit albeit Niagara Falls. Wet and windy at time. Put paid to NYC trip the Wednesday after it hit