Hurricane Irma - What would you do?

B.A._Baracus · 10-09-2017 07:57PM #1

Just watching CNN and it looks really bad. Meant to get even worse later in certain parts. They say power will go down and not a matter of if.

What would you do in such an event... Flee to another state or bunker down?

I ask because let's say 100,00 people leave Florida until it settles down (just a random number) now that's all well and good if you have friends living else where that you could stay with. But let's say you didn't? Hotels in neighbouring states would be fully booked. Not to mention you just mightnt have the money to get up and leave for a few days (work in a low paying job, no car, living week to week etc)

Emergency services have announced they have stopped until it's all over. So if you did have an accident you are outta luck.

Would be scary.

Mena · 10-09-2017 07:59PM

No idea. Have friends in Florida, all three and their families are staying put. Heavily bunkered down and live streaming. Hope they're ok, not sure which direction I'd go.

buried · 10-09-2017 08:01PM

Well I'm in Ireland so I'd stay. If one hit us here I'd have to stay anyways. What am I going to do? Flee to the next parish in Tubberf**k and hope it doesn't hit there?

Brock Turnpike · 10-09-2017 08:02PM

Build a fort in the sitting room, using the various pieces of furniture available to me.

keith_sixteen · 10-09-2017 08:03PM

With no money or no relatives to go to, I would be on the first bus out with my tent.

ytpe2r5bxkn0c1 · 10-09-2017 08:04PM

Same as on the other threads on the topic.....

6.3 million have evacuated.

B.A._Baracus · 10-09-2017 08:04PM

buried wrote: »

Well I'm in Ireland so I'd stay. If one hit us here I'd have to stay anyways. What am I going to do? Flee to the next parish in Tubberf**k and hope it doesn't hit there?

Well that's the thing.
Imagine if Dublin, wicklow and louth were to get hit. Sure if you know someone in Cork you could stay with you'd be grand. Otherwise getting a hotel to stay somewhere would be mental. Wouldn't be shocked to hear that prices of rooms would sky rocket too. You know yourself.

I reckon the supermarkets would be reefed out of it too.

Tzardine · 10-09-2017 08:04PM

B.A._Baracus wrote: »

....I ask because let's say 100,00 people leave Florida until it settles down

According to sky news 6.5 million people were ordered to evacuate.

6.5 million.

If they are evacuating that many then they are seriously worried

Panthro · 10-09-2017 08:05PM

Sure we've all big ass concrete block houses.
Be grand

skylight1987 · 10-09-2017 08:08PM

I would bunker down .i'm stilled annoyed that I slept through hurricane Charlie 1986 and was working in a building with a generator for the Christmas eve storm of 1997 missed the whole thing .

branie2 · 10-09-2017 08:28PM

Head for cover

Academic · 10-09-2017 08:33PM

B.A._Baracus wrote: »

Just watching CNN and it looks really bad. Meant to get even worse later in certain parts. They say power will go down and not a matter of if.

What would you do in such an event... Flee to another state or bunker down?

I ask because let's say 100,00 people leave Florida until it settles down (just a random number) now that's all well and good if you have friends living else where that you could stay with. But let's say you didn't? Hotels in neighbouring states would be fully booked. Not to mention you just mightnt have the money to get up and leave for a few days (work in a low paying job, no car, living week to week etc)

Emergency services have announced they have stopped until it's all over. So if you did have an accident you are outta luck.

Would be scary.

Yes, the poor are truly in trouble.

Some here may recall hurricane Katrina and New Orleans. The storm resulted in something like an ethnic cleansing of poor persons of colour from many parts of the city.

Academic · 10-09-2017 08:34PM

Mena wrote: »

No idea. Have friends in Florida, all three and their families are staying put. Heavily bunkered down and live streaming. Hope they're ok, not sure which direction I'd go.

Where in Florida are they?

ytpe2r5bxkn0c1 · 10-09-2017 08:37PM

B.A._Baracus wrote: »

Well that's the thing.
Imagine if Dublin, wicklow and louth were to get hit. Sure if you know someone in Cork you could stay with you'd be grand. Otherwise getting a hotel to stay somewhere would be mental. Wouldn't be shocked to hear that prices of rooms would sky rocket too. You know yourself.

I reckon the supermarkets would be reefed out of it too.

The expectation in such emergencies is not that everybody would go to hotels. Temporary accommodation is set up in halls and centres in safe areas. The price of rooms has nothing to do with anything.

Go Tobban · 10-09-2017 08:40PM

Get up on my feet, stop making tired excuses

Mena · 10-09-2017 09:01PM

Academic wrote: »

Where in Florida are they?

Key West and Tampa Bay.

Cheerful Spring · 10-09-2017 09:04PM

Damn it's bad right now on CNN, you can barely see anything with the gusts, wind, rain. This only category 3, imagine they got hit with a category 5.

Academic · 10-09-2017 09:12PM

Mena wrote: »

Key West and Tampa Bay.

Wow. Not many people stayed in Key West (interesting town, by the way) owing to the mandatory evacuation.

Thanks.

Pinch Flat · 10-09-2017 09:14PM

Panthro wrote: »

Sure we've all big ass concrete block houses.
Be grand

Yeah our Celtic tiger built houses would stop any hurricane. Top quality.

Laois_Man · 10-09-2017 09:15PM

Cheerful Spring wrote: »

Damn it's bad right now on CNN, you can barely see anything with the gusts, wind, rain. This only category 3, imagine they got hit with a category 5.

Many did get hit with a category 5. It seems to matter alot more when the US gets hit with a Category 3 though

Guy:Incognito · 10-09-2017 09:19PM

Tzardine wrote: »

According to sky news 6.5 million people were ordered to evacuate.

6.5 million.

If they are evacuating that many then they are seriously worried

To be fair, Florida is twice the size of Ireland. With 4 times the population.

6.5m is one city is proper countries

YFlyer · 10-09-2017 09:27PM

Bangbros are not recording.

metaoblivia · 10-09-2017 09:27PM

Native Floridian and experienced hurricane, uh, survivor? here (that seems like an overly dramatic word to use. I've been through 4 Cat 1s and a Cat 2).

I'm not in Fl right now, but my nuclear family and closest friends are. None of them evacuated. A lot of it depends on where you are and the quality of your home. My people are about 40 miles inland and live in well built homes that have come through other, similar hurricanes with minimal to no damage. They got supplies last week and are hunkered down waiting out the storm. The yards will be a mess, they'll probably have a power outage that may last a few days at most, but outside of that and a few downed trees in the neighborhood, they're not expecting major damage.

Homes on the coast, homes in flood prone areas and cheaply made homes like mobile homes are always the places that bear the brunt of these storms. If you're in one of those, get out (unless you've got some serious hurricane prep on your home - which many of the nicer homes in places like the Keys do). And evacuating doesn't necessarily mean going out of state - it can mean going to your local shelter, which will be staffed.

Academic · 10-09-2017 09:28PM

Laois_Man wrote: »

Many did get hit with a category 5. It seems to matter alot more when the US gets hit with a Category 3 though

Plus, they are forecasting that in many respects the greatest damage will be done in some cases by the storm surge, which follows behind the hurricane and will be arriving tonight after dark. It's particularly bad for the keys, which in many cases are only a few feet above sea level.

Edit: The surge is predicted to be between 10 and 15 feet.

Academic · 10-09-2017 09:36PM

I should add, however, that many homes in the keys are built on stilts, so they're essentially one-storey off the ground.

B.A._Baracus · 10-09-2017 09:36PM

Israel Happy Marine wrote: »

The expectation in such emergencies is not that everybody would go to hotels. Temporary accommodation is set up in halls and centres in safe areas. The price of rooms has nothing to do with anything.

So no one, at all, who has left the state has booked in to some hotel some where?

Also don't be green. Supply and demand. If thousands of people need hotels you hike up the price. Simple business. Happens even here during the summer.

Academic · 10-09-2017 09:46PM

B.A._Baracus wrote: »

So no one, at all, who has left the state has booked in to some hotel some where?

Also don't be green. Supply and demand. If thousands of people need hotels you hike up the price. Simple business. Happens even here during the summer.

It's been reported that many hotels in surrounding states have been fully booked for several days now.

The_Valeyard · 10-09-2017 10:20PM

You know what I wouldnt do?

Shoot guns at a hurricane, cause, you know, common sense and all.

http://abcnews.go.com/US/sheriff-warns-people-shooting-hurricane-irma/story?id=49741491

http://www.sun-sentinel.com/news/weather/hurricane/fl-reg-shooting-bullets-into-irma-20170910-story.html

MadYaker · 10-09-2017 10:46PM

There are structures in Florida which are rated for cat 5 hurricanes. Stadiums, schools, university buildings, community centres etc. This is where all the people who haven't the means to leave the state end up. If necessary the authorities will help them get there. They aren't allowed much belongings because there's no space. Enough clothes to last them a few days is all they are allowed to bring, there's space for pets too but it's almost refugee camp like conditions. My aunt has a house on the gulf coast of Florida but she's in Ireland at the moment so she's one of the lucky ones. She's still not happy though. At this stage if the walls of her house are still standing that'll be a positive outcome. They've had hurricanes before but this is the worst in the 20 years since they bought the house.

MissShihTzu · 10-09-2017 10:50PM

My cousin was caught by Irma in Antigua. She got through it OK - just some windows smashed and of course, no power. She managed to send a video of the aftermath. It wasn't pretty - The whole place has been smashed to smithereens. The island of Barbuda has been flattened. Literally nothing left.

Now they're bracing themselves for Jose and Katia...

Pugzilla · 10-09-2017 10:54PM

The Hurricane is the size of France, if it hit Ireland directly then there would be nowhere to hide from it.

Hurricane Irma - What would you do?

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