Slashdot Asks: Are You Preparing For Hurricane Sandy?

Forecasters are tossing around words like "unprecedented" and "bizarre" (see this Washington Post blog entry) for the intensity and timing of Hurricane Sandy, which is threatening to hit the east coast of the U.S. early next week. Several people I know in the mid-Atlantic region have been ordering generators and stocking up on flashlight batteries and easy-to-prepare foods. Are you in the projected path of the storm? If so, have you taken any steps to prepare for it? (Are you doing off-site backup? Taking yourself off-site?)

Comments

Of course

[sarysa]

I plan to avoid scuba diving in Monterey Bay this weekend. Hurricanes are most dangerous in coastal areas, after all...

Re:Of course

[fm6]

Unfortunately, your joke is unclear to the 99% of the population that's geogrphically challenged.

Re:Of course

[sarysa]

Speaking of geographically challenged, this question.

(on the bright side, I finally get to side with all the europeans and aussies gripe and moan in the US-centric articles)

Re:Of course

[Anonymous Coward]

Unfortunately, your joke is unclear to the 99% of the population that's geogrphically challenged.

And not humorous to those that understand the joke. Except maybe for those under the age of 12.

Re:Of course

[Anonymous Coward]

(on the bright side, I finally get to side with all the europeans and aussies gripe and moan in the US-centric articles)

Is this a joke?

Have you somehow missed seeing all the worthless Aussie non-stories that flood Slashdot these days?

Christ, I know Australians who now moan about the lack of non-Aussie stories on Slashdot.

Re:Of course

[sarysa]

Unfortunately, your joke is unclear to the 99% of the population that's geogrphically challenged.

And not humorous to those that understand the joke. Except maybe for those under the age of 12.

It does seem to be a miss. Misdirection can work on an older audience, and I tried to enhance its subtlety by not mentioning California outright, but for an older audience it probably requires more setup. (versus the one liner I put out) Jimmy Kimmel does it all the time, and yet his formula still works after all these years.

Then again, you won't get A material out of a first post. Scroll down about halfway and comments get really interesting, albeit unnoticed.

Re:Of course

[rockout]

thanks to you, we now know how painfully unfunny things get when a nerd thinks he's channeling Jimmy Kimmel.

Re:Of course

[sconeu]

I'm not preparing for Sandy. I'm just locking down for the Santa Anas and the red flag warning.

Re:Of course

[Anonymous Coward]

Geographically challenged? To those of us not from the USA that's practically an 'in' joke.

Re:Of course

[Anonymous Coward]

How dare you, you insensitive clod. My life has been destroyed by hurricane Sandy. I tap this out on an android phone as I am whipped by gale force winds, atop my trailer which is now floating on a huge biblically proportioned flood of houses, cars, econolodges, krispycreme outlets etc. destined to be hurled out into the gulf...what? I'm writing from the future, OK? What do you mean, live in a less volatile region?

Re:Of course

[cayenne8]

*sigh*

A tropical storm...weak Cat 1 Hurricane?

Sure, you need to be prepared, but this isn't catastrophic storm, doomsday scenario coming here....geez, live on the Gulf coast awhile...and learn what real storms are...and which ones are just going to be a PITA with mostly a bit of power outtage a few days to a week or so...

You just have to prepare to be inconvenienced for a bit.

Re:Of course

[sconeu]

My post meant that I live in SoCal.

Re:Of course

[cayenne8]

That's cool.

I was speaking more in general...the tv media is blowing this one out of proportion a bit, I'm thinking.

yeah

[thePowerOfGrayskull]

yeah those 40-mph forecast winds as we get 'slammed' on the east coast are terrifying.

I'd take this more seriously if the media didn't hop all over *every* storm as if it each one was the End of the World as we Know It.

Of course I've done basic prep - but no, I'm not cowering upstairs crawl space in fear of the lower floors getting flooded out.

Re:yeah

[Anonymous Coward]

60 MPH. This storm in uni.... oh, Jeopardy is on.. sorry.

Re:yeah

[pixelpusher220]

I was in Charleston, SC a few years after Hugo (cat 5, direct hit) when another hurricane came out of the carribean with the same size speed strength, etc. Forecast wasn't bad as the steering currents were set to move it offshore.

Still that town got up and LEFT en mass.

Being the stupid 'damn' yankee that I was(am?) I of course stayed to watch ;-)

Re:yeah

[gstoddart]

Well, it's one of those things that if nothing happens, we all say the weather people were over-reacting.

But a bunch of years ago, in the aftermath of hurricane Juan, most of my family was without power for about a week or more. People had to spend an awful lot of time cutting down all of the felled trees just so they could get out of their streets. My parents lost the contents of two fridges and a freezer because there was no power to keep stuff cold.

My father now has a generator wired into the house, and set up so they can run the furnace, and a couple of outlets (run the fridge for a while to keep it cold), with enough gas to run it for most of a week. They already have a bunch of oil-lamps, and make sure to keep them fueled. They keep several gallons of water in the bathroom to flush with (they're on a well, no electricity means no water to flush the toilets, which is pretty nasty).

Extra water, and some extra provisions set aside just in case. An old Coleman camping grill they've had for years and a propane tank so they can still do some basic cooking. The barbeque as well.

It's easy to say "oh, nothing will happen, they're over-reacting", but anybody who has lived through the aftermath with no power, running water, heat ... well, it's not all that difficult to keep a few things handy just in case it goes south. Sure, you may never actually need it ... but once you've been burned once, you figure it's worth keeping it around just in case.

A few years after Juan, they did have a storm big enough to knock out power for a few days. Dad just fired up the generator, turned on the oil lamps, and just rode it out until everything was back to normal. It wasn't exactly the lap of luxury, but they could cover the essentials for a few days. He hasn't regretted the generator or any of the preparations since.

They still call every impending storm as if it's the coming apocalypse, but the few times it's been big enough to cause problems, they've been quite well prepared. If you've got heat, some basic lighting, and enough electricity to keep the fridge from spoiling, you can ride it out a whole lot easier.

Re:yeah

[kannibal_klown]

In their defense, last I heard they were saying the gusts would hit 75MpH in New Jersey. Which, considering how many of the trees still haven't shed their leaves yet, COULD be bad. Last Halloween, NJ got dragged over the coals by a freak snow storm. What made it so bad was the amount of leaves on the trees, causing things to fall ALL over the place.

But I'll believe it when I see it. When they call something "Franken-storm" while it's still days out, it's still a bit premature.

Re:yeah

[kannibal_klown]

In New Jersey, which last I heard is in its path, last year around Halloween we got nailed. A windy freak snow storm came out of nowhere.

Trees went down all over the place.

My house was without power for 6 days and 15 hours.

That was the first time in over 20 years of living there that we were without power for more than a couple of hours.

Trees went down all over the state. A couple went down on our property. The top part of a tree fell on the power lines in front of our house AND blocked the main road.

And really, prior to the storm they didn't make it sound like it was going to be too bad. Meanwhile LOTS of NJ were without power for days.

Re:yeah

[fm6]

I wouldn't recommend cowering even if I could guarantee that the storm was a combination of the Camille and the 1991 "perfect storm".. But is the fact that a hype-prone media is hyping the storm the way the hype everything a good reason not to take it seriously? The fact that the boy keeps crying wolf is not a reason to doubt that wolves exist.

Re:yeah

[Anonymous Coward]

Remember it was merely 14 months ago that parts of the area were without power seven days or longer. I'm a Long Island boy and some areas of my town were out nearly a week, I had four days without. Had to go to check in on my IRC friends from my cell phone.

My friend in CT was without power a week, and internet two. The power company is calling customers here telling them to be ready for power outages lasting several days and NJ power company says a week or longer.

This time I have a more power efficient phone, and a backup charger with two to three cycles worth of juice, and a laptop with one charge cycle but that's small relief compared to using a desktop or laptop for Internet.

For me, just going to be like the olden days, just a man and his books in the daylight here if it comes to that. Or maybe I'm lucky living right outside NYC i could spend some time in the library there, they won't lose power because the cables are underground.

Re:yeah

[hawguy]

My father now has a generator wired into the house, and set up so they can run the furnace, and a couple of outlets (run the fridge for a while to keep it cold), with enough gas to run it for most of a week. They already have a bunch of oil-lamps, and make sure to keep them fueled. They keep several gallons of water in the bathroom to flush with (they're on a well, no electricity means no water to flush the toilets, which is pretty nasty).

Since they have a hardwired generator, why not put the well pump on the generator? My parents have a 5KVA generator that has enough power to run the well pump as long as no other big loads are powered on (the startup current on the well pump is apparently too much current draw when combined with other loads). Once the well pump fills the pressure tank, he can turn it off and has 15 - 20 gallons of usable water before the pressure drops too low.

If I had a generator, I'd never use oil lamps - rechargable batteries and LED flashlights are much safer, you can get a fast charger to recharge AA's in 30 minutes or so, which is less time than you'll need to run the fridge. Or get a D cell LED lantern - it'll run for 48 hours or so on a set of non-rechargable alkalines. Or use your rechargable AA's in a D-cell adapter and you can still get a few hours of lifetime from it before you need to recharge.

I saw someone knock over an oil lamp once in a garage - the wick holder came off and oil seeped out onto the plywood it fell onto, it created a sizeable fire before someone brought in a fire extinguisher to douse it. Not something I'd want to have happen in the living room during a hurricane disaster.

Re:yeah

[Anonymous Coward]

Forgot to sign in.

But yeah, it was Hurricane Irene. Now they're saying this could be an even worse "historic" storm.

It was just a year ago this happened dude. Why think it couldn't happen again?

Re:yeah

[thePowerOfGrayskull]

I think my flippancy has caused some misinterpretation.

Like I said, I've done basic prep. Candles, flashlight, plenty of food, standing supply of bottled water, etc.

But I also know that the absolute worst that will happen is my house will fall down, in which case we'll need to find somewhere else to be. The vast majority of the preparations I can take won't make any difference to the storm.

If we lose power, we lose power. THe world won't end, I have plenty of dry food and enough water packed in my freezer that it'll be a couple-few days before it's a problem, and dried food enough for two weeks easily. Also plenty of food on hand for my animals.

The usual "run in circles, scream and shout" routine won't help anything. Nor will joining the throngs at the store for the next three days who buy every last scrap of bread, water, and whatever else.

Re:yeah

[thePowerOfGrayskull]

Indeed; like I said, I've done basic prep. We'll be fine if we lose power for a week or even longer. But most of this stuff is stuff I have on hand *anyway* - not a reaction to the hype. Just a little common sense and foresight - understanding that because things are a certain way *now* does not mean this will be true *tomorrow * - is all it takes to be prepared for most reasonable emergencies. Without buying into the hype...

Re:yeah

[jittles]

Sandy is blowing outside right now. It is no big deal down here, but you never know what will happen when it heads north.

Re:yeah

[gstoddart]

Since they have a hardwired generator, why not put the well pump on the generator? My parents have a 5KVA generator that has enough power to run the well pump as long as no other big loads are powered on

Much smaller generator than you're thinking of ... small portable Honda which will run a couple of 120V outlets for a couple of hours at a time or so (possibly longer, never asked). But wired into the panel by a cousin of my mom's (industrial electrician so done right).

That, and the well pump is 100' away and pushes the water to the house, power is strung to it, and is a bit of a draw.

If I had a generator, I'd never use oil lamps

Again, same reason -- smallish generator, but enough to cover the absolute basics. And, really, lamp oil is cheap, and if you're rationing your emergency power, why waste it on batteries? He collects antiques, so he already had the hurricane lamps, which also have the benefit of throwing heat.

Use the generator just a little to run the furnace and run the fridge for a while, oil lamps for that homey feeling and some extra warmth. Last time they had to ride out a few days, I'm not sure they even really noticed except they didn't watch TV. They just hunkered in and hung out. My mother probably read just as much as she always does. Dad probably napped or did yard work.

I saw someone knock over an oil lamp once in a garage

Fair comment. But my folks have been using them for decades, and aren't exactly running around near open flame. That doesn't make it 100% safe, but they're not that dangerous if you're not mucking about with them.

Re:yeah

[tom229]

Please let the hurricane kill situation....

Re:yeah

[SvnLyrBrto]

> That, and the well pump is 100' away and pushes
> the water to the house, power is strung to it, and is
> a bit of a draw.

One thing to consider...

When I lived in hurricane country, we were on a well too. But in addition to the electric pump, we also had an old-timey hand pump on it. Close the valve to the electric, open the one to the hand pump, and you've got all the water you need. Just pump it into a jug. 100' isn't very far to carry it.

I know you specifically mentioned flushing the toilets, so you're talking non-potable water there. But long-term storage of potable water has its own issues and lots of people forget to cycle their stockpile.

Re:yeah

[TempestRose]

The only people who misinterpreted that were the dolts who do NOT leave when are clearly told to, and the ones who go out and buy 5 dozen eggs, 4 gallons of milk, and 27 loaves of bread when they ARE told to. I got you just fine.

Re:yeah

[war4peace]

Yes, it is a good reason not to take the MEDIA seriously. Instead, people should visit whatever official weather websites are there for that area, read the data and make informed decisions.
Here, media cries wolf every time temperature changes by more than 5 degrees Celsius during one day. Just a few months ago, a regular storm hit the city; a few trees and commercial panels were brought down, a couple underground passages were temporarily flooded and some scaffolding fell over an unlucky guy, killing him in the process. Expected stuff for a city with 2M people. But the media made it like the mother of all global storms had passed. "KILLER STORM" and whatnot.

So whenever I read news and they look inflated (that's most of the time), all I can say in return is "bitch, please!"

Re:yeah

[Anonymous Coward]

Have you ever seen a hurricane track west after it starts arcing up into the Atlantic? I haven't. I'm not sure if it's ever happened. It's certainly incredibly unusual.

So I for one will take the warnings seriously on a hurricane like this with no track record.

Re:yeah

[TheLink]

So stop being so superior.

Actually I'd rather more people be superior. And that includes not being assholes (rather than being superior assholes ;) ).

Re:yeah

[serialband]

The longer term solution is to build out of concrete and put power lines underground, but we Americans like to buy cheap products that are made in China from their nearest Walmart. Wooden homes are just too cheap. There's no way we're going to spend the extra money now to save money years down the line.

Also, Americans seem to be wholly unprepared for disasters even though they happen every year and we live in rickety wooden homes. We're a first world country, yet we don't seem to want to fix that. We have annual hurricanes, but we keep rebuilding out of wood. I've lived in both quake and hurricane zones and have always had my supplies ready and rotated. You don't have to do much to keep your supplies fresh. Just buy food before your fridge and pantry get below half empty. Same goes with candles, lanterns and batteries. If you have a bathtub, it's quick enough to fill them just before a hurricane. In a quake zone, you should have extra jugs of water ready.

Tornado alley --> Should have homes remade of concrete after the disaster, so they don't have to keep losing their homes.

East coast --> Hurricanes annually. If you're above sea level, you should rebuild homes out of concrete so you don't have to worry each year. If you're below sea level, the homes should also be on stilts and have stairs up to them.

Earthquakes on the West coast. --> should build homes out of concrete so they will withstand quakes.

Contrast this to:

Japan -- > Gets both Typhoons and Earthquakes, yet they generally don't have their homes blown away and aren't quite as unprepared as we are.

Guam --> US Trust Territory. Gets quakes and typhoons just like Japan and they've rebuilt homes with concrete as the wooden ones blew away. Only the occasional super typhoons really cause major problems there now. They just ride out the storms and get back to work the very next day, unless it was a super typhoon or 8.5 quake. In "ancient times", along the low lying coastal areas, their homes were raised up on Latte Stones so they wouldn't get flooded or washed away.

In the west coast, people are more prepared for quakes, but if the winds pick up to even just gale force levels, some people are out of power for up to a week or two. If a big quake ever hit the East coast or the Mississippi basin, we'd pay for it for years. There's something just missing in the psyche of the American people.

Re:yeah

[riverat1]

I presume where you live is not subject to serious flooding from storm surge or waterway flooding. If not then it may be foolish to stay in place no matter how well prepared you are.

Re:yeah

[Anonymous Coward]

... in fear of the lower floors getting flooded out.

Civil engineering allows a certain amount of rain in the concrete jungle. I live in a storm-prone area that has recently been upgraded to 'once-in-a-century deluge' standard of readiness. One day, a couple hours of torrential rain caused the drains to flow backwards. Anything at the bottom of any hill got flooded. Even the flat areas of town had a foot of water rushing over them.

Re:yeah

[Anonymous Coward]

You must be insane. People are going to get killed by this storm, dude. The power will likely go out over large metropolitan areas, which means no grocery stores and no gas stations. Police responses will likely be minimal while the roads are being cleared out. There will likely be small scale looting and social turmoil until basic services are restored. Get your shit together now man while you still have time. You are putting yourself in peril otherwise.

Re:yeah

[sulphurlad]

"Long Island Boy". I hope Long Island in the US fairs better than Long Island in The Bahamas.

Re:yeah

[Anonymous Coward]

My parents live thousands of miles away, you insensitive clod!

Re:yeah

[Anonymous Coward]

I presume where you live is not subject to serious flooding from storm surge or waterway flooding. If not then it may be foolish to stay in place no matter how well prepared you are.

Hurricane preparedness 101: flee from water, shelter from wind.

During Hurricane Ike, I lived in a house at the bottom of a U-shaped road. Previously I had noticed the odd property that we never had any breeze, it seemed that wind blowing up the sides would meet in front of our house and cancel out. After Ike, trees and roofs up both ends of the road were gone, I lost a couple of shingles. Had no power for two weeks, that blew chunks (but gas service was working and I knew how to cook without a microwave), but everything else was OK.

I've since moved into a corner lot, and I can get a really strong breeze through the place by opening windows on two sides, so I'll have to bother boarding up the windows next time.

Re:yeah

[Anonymous Coward]

Speaking as someone who lives on the US east coast, I can actually explain why concrete isn't a standard building material, in my region at least.

Concrete is a strong material, but it's fairly porous. If you subject it to a damp environment with rapid freeze/thaw cycles (like much of the Northeast), the outer layers start cracking off like an onion, until there's nothing left.

High quality sealants can slow that down, but the concrete structures in my area need maintenance *every* spring.

Re:yeah

[hawguy]

If I had a generator, I'd never use oil lamps

Again, same reason -- smallish generator, but enough to cover the absolute basics. And, really, lamp oil is cheap, and if you're rationing your emergency power, why waste it on batteries? He collects antiques, so he already had the hurricane lamps, which also have the benefit of throwing heat.

Power used by LED lighting shouldn't be a concern - oil lamps still seem like a lot of fire risk for little gain. Especially if he has small children (his, or neighbors that have come to share his power) or extra pets in the house. If you're using the generator to run the furnace, you don't really need heat from the oil lamps.

A Honda 2000i generator is rated to burn .11 gallons/hour @ 500W output, which equates to 1 KWh for .23 gallons

each 2000mAh AA NiMH battery holds 2.4Wh, figure 3Wh to account for charging inefficiencies.

So, if you go through 8 AA batteries each day, that's around 25Wh, which would use .005 gallons of fuel, or a bit more than a tablespoon of fuel. Or, another way to look at it, if you traded a gallon of lamp oil in storage with another gallon of gasoline for the generator, it would provide enough power to recharge the 8 AA batteries 173 times.

Re:yeah

[HornWumpus]

You just need to build a wooden house around the 'crete to protect it and make it not look like a prison.

GP should build his house out of 'crete and mind his own business.

Missing from GPs list:

Haiti. Built out of 'crete. Not exactly prepared.

I'm guessing from GP's attitude that he is a kid. He knows a lot about his mom's house.

Re:yeah

[teknikl]

Yeah well last year we had a little TS Lee drop 15 inches of rain us in a few days. We were out of power/internet for 3 days, unable to leave town due to flooded roads for 4 days and had no water for 10 days as the water plant was submerged. This is 2.5 hours west of NYC into PA. Well inland - its not wind its the concern for the rain and worries that the storm might just stall out and park into day 5-6. We just came around the anniversary of the storm and people are taking it seriously here. No its not a hurricane, but a massive pile of rain is bad enough.

Re:yeah

[hoggoth]

Help me understand the bottled water thing. If I lose power, why would my tap stop serving water?
Along the same lines, why would my gas stove stop burning?

Re:yeah

[thePowerOfGrayskull]

Well - I have an electric stove, so if needed I'll have to use the side burner on my propane grill.

That aside, the water is more a concern related to contamination - large amounts of flooding in the wrong places will render water undrinkable for a time.

Re:yeah

[Anonymous Coward]

You're a dick and you got called on it. I don't know why you got modded up and all the replies didn't. "Don't panic" is good advice, but people die in storms a lot less forceful than this one.

Being appropriately prepared is not running in circles. Having some supplies so you don't have to risk flooded roads when you run out of milk is a sensible precaution.

Re:yeah

[tragedy]

Depends on where your water comes from. If it comes from your own well, then, unless it's a flowing artesian well, you'll need power to run your pump. If your water comes from municipal service, then it still depends. If you're below a large water source like a reservoir, then you probably won't lose power. If, however, your water is pumped into a water tower, then flows down to you then the pumps will stop working if the power goes out and the water tower may run out fairly quickly. Even if you have a reservoir uphill, the water may end up contaminated, or inlets may end up clogged from material dumped into the reservoir from the storm. Aside from that, flooding in some areas may damage or outright wash away buried water mains.

Some of the same arguments apply to gas supply. Washed away lines, insufficient pressure in some areas from pumps going down. Also, if your gas stove also uses electricity to light, you may suddenly discover that you have no matches or lighters in your home. I don't know about you, but many people these days lack the basic skills to make fire without special tools. Also, most gas stoves these days have electric thermostats, so the oven probably won't work, even if the elements on top will.

Re:yeah

[tragedy]

Civil engineering is the cause of most flooding in the first place. Ok, that's an exaggeration, but it invariably makes it worse. It's one of the reasons that 100-year flood levels can be almost worthless as predictors of future flood levels.

The reason I say this is simple. On any building site, something any engineer worth their salt is concerned about is drainage. Everything is built to channel water away. That's all very well and good for the site. The problem is, what _used_ to happen to that water is that some of it would drain, and the reset would soak into the ground and end up slowly travelling underground to streams and rivers, etc. The results was slower and longer-lasting floods that were also smaller. Thanks to all the development, floods come faster and are much bigger, although the actual duration may be reduced.

Re:yeah

[tcubed]

If I lose power, why would my tap stop serving water?

Water pressure should remain high during a power outage. That's why they sell water-powered sump pumps.

And your natural gas supply should be just fine. Used to be your phone service would remain up, too. But central battery supplied tip/ring circuits are becoming historical curiosities.

Re:yeah

[thePowerOfGrayskull]

You're a dick and you got called on it. I don't know why you got modded up and all the replies didn't. "Don't panic" is good advice, but people die in storms a lot less forceful than this one.

Being appropriately prepared is not running in circles. Having some supplies so you don't have to risk flooded roads when you run out of milk is a sensible precaution.

See above where I said I took basic precautions - but also see where I said I take these precautions anyway, because unforeseen things are unforeseen.

I got modded up because I'm right - the media blows this out of proportion, the same way that they do every time there's a "Weather Event" to talk about. They build up hype and hysteria to the point where otherwise-reasonable people are out getting in fist-fights over the last of the D batteries. And you're buying into it.

I'm not saying that there's no cause for concern - I am saying that the world's not ending, and if you're calm and take *reasonable* precautions, your world will still be here tomorrow.

Re:yeah

[gstoddart]

oil lamps still seem like a lot of fire risk for little gain. Especially if he has small children (his, or neighbors that have come to share his power) or extra pets in the house. If you're using the generator to run the furnace, you don't really need heat from the oil lamps.

Well, since my parents are senior citizens ... neither children nor pets factor in.

They're not going to go out and buy LED flashlights, and they only run the furnace enough to add a little warmth and keep the pipes from freezing if it's cold enough to worry about it.

It's my Dad's disaster plan, based on what they went through after being without power for a week, and it works for them.

They're sure as hell not looking to be charging batteries and the like, they're not interested enough in electronics to really care about that.

But when they do have an extended power outage, that's what they do. It seems to work for them.

Yes!

[Anonymous Coward]

but I'm fairly sure it's influence over central illinois it probably already covered by my current preparations.

Yep.

[Anonymous Coward]

I've got my shotguns, my highway flares, some barbed wire, and an axe.

Wait, I've been following the Zombie Survival Checklist???

Uh-oh.

Re:Yep.

[pixelpusher220]

Beer, you forgot beer!

Re:Yep.

[Lumpy]

Heating a modern TV is not recommended, it will cause the electronics to fail prematurely. you should remove any heaters right away.

Re:Yep.

[Anonymous Coward]

Beer is a staple good for all purposes, not just emergencies.

Also, a beer may not get you a shotgun, but a shotgun can always get you a beer.

Re:Yep.

[Anonymous Coward]

Beer is a staple good for all purposes, not just emergencies.

Also, a beer may not get you a shotgun, but a shotgun can always get you a beer.

Trade the beer for a shotgun... and get your beer back. Just make sure it comes with shells... the shotgun, not the beer.

Re:Yep.

[roc97007]

"Warmed up" used to mean waiting for the temperature of the vacuum tubes to stabilize. (Yes, I am that old.) Later, this was reduced to only the CRT.

The LCD model I have now will not stay in the mode I used it in the last time it was on. When powered up, it'll sit and think for a moment, then switch to the on-air TV guide, despite the fact that it is seldom used to watch actual TV. [1] (Most especially not for news -- I get what I need online -- except for really spectacular events like hurricanes, where the larger screen and big speakers are an advantage.) So, when I turn it on, I have to wait half a minute for the internal programming to stabilize in the mode it wants to show me (which is always wrong) so I can then switch it to the mode I need at that moment. I still call it "warming up" for old time's sake.

[1] Kind-of like the tardis in this respect, on power-up it does thousands of calculations and then switches to a form that's absolutely useless.

Re:Yep.

[Anonymous Coward]

so i guess your one of the people I'm going to see on the news...complaining theres no power/water for a week. but this could have been prevented if you used some common sense.
yea, this storm may do nothing. but then again, it may do nothing, but stall here, making it dangerous to drive anywhere until the storm ends. by not preparing yourself, your relying on ME or the govt to help you. and you know, i wont. these are MY supplies. and the govt wont either.. we can hope everything goes well for you.

Re:Yep.

[HornWumpus]

You have found the flaw in your own approach. Better to start with the shotgun and take the beer.

Re:Yep.

[roc97007]

so i guess your one of the people I'm going to see on the news...complaining theres no power/water for a week. but this could have been prevented if you used some common sense.
yea, this storm may do nothing. but then again, it may do nothing, but stall here, making it dangerous to drive anywhere until the storm ends. by not preparing yourself, your relying on ME or the govt to help you. and you know, i wont. these are MY supplies. and the govt wont either.. we can hope everything goes well for you.

Yep, I don't have an ounce of that there common sense thing. My house isn't on a flood plain, is not in the known path of either tornadoes or hurricanes, has good drainage and a rebar-reinforced retaining wall. I'm on the same part of the grid as the local Intel fab plant, which has some kind of special deal with the local electric company. (All these choices were deliberate, and the result of research before hand.) As a result, in 19 years living here, I've had one (1) outage when the cable guy dug up the electrical with a backhoe a few years back. I have a battery powered radio, to supplement the radios in the cars and on my bike, and hurricane lanterns which have frankly never been used because the power never goes out. Also other emergency and medical supplies, which I've never used but still inspect occasionally. (Probably not often enough.)

I have three modes of heating the house -- gas, electrical and wood. I've never had to use the electrical, and I use the gas very rarely, usually to take the sting out of the air while the wood stove is ramping up. (I used to work for the local gas company, so got a pretty good deal on plumbing out the house and putting in gas appliances.) Yes, I know where all the cutoff valves are.

In theory we could cook on the gas burner or in the woodstove, but we've never had to because the power has yet to go out.

I have 6 months of food storage in the garage, for which I am routinely ridiculed by my wife and child. Yes, I do rotate it. Yes, I did think of dog food, and crystallized ascorbic acid. (It has a longer shelf life than vitamin C pills.)

I have solar panels in the back yard topping off a series of marine batteries, attached to a circuit with 12 volt (RV) lights, and an industrial grade inverter. I currently use solar power exclusively in a detached workroom but could use it in the main house if the power ever fails.

And no, I did not make this mistake.

Fuel is somewhat of a problem. I don't have a solution for that yet. I don't believe the local ordinances will allow a fuel storage tank.

But yeah, I guess I don' have any of that there common sense.

So, facetiousness aside, when disaster strikes, it's usually not here, and even when it is (we have flooding, wind storms and the occasional ice storm) it has not been a problem, so far. And so, natural disasters are generally something I watch on TV.

Re:Yep.

[tragedy]

That's the kind of reasoning that works in the short term, but in the long run means no more beer.

News For Nerds?

[heptapod]

Man, this place has gone impossibly downhill further since Taco left. Makes me yearn for Roland Piquepaille's slashverts and Michael's political polemics.

Re:News For Nerds?

[Penurious Penguin]

Living in Florida, I hope your disappointment has at least some credibility to it. From all the buzz, it seems this may be a big one. I've been here most of my life and have seen more than a few hurricanes. Aside from awe-inspiring and occasionally catastrophic, they are fascinating. Also, in case you were unaware, CENTCOM is located in Tampa, FL.
I don't know what things used to be like 'round here long ago, but this particular topic seems pretty ripe for interesting conversation. Meteorology isn't exactly for morons, and colossal storms are one of its more exciting elements. And if you are sorely nostalgic for political polemics, there's already a fuss on the "tubes" about the hurricane and what it implies for presidick1 vs presidick2.

Preparations

[El_Oscuro]

After being without power for several days last July I learned a few lessons. I picked up a car iPhone charger and will probably get the WTOP app. I will also probably get extra ice and beer, both commodies which were in short supply after the storms last summer.

Already prepared.

[Anonymous Coward]

Maryland here, not too far from DC. I have a 2kW generator with a transfer switch I wired into my breaker box on my furnace's circuit. I always keep a couple of months of food and four 5 gallon cans of gasoline around. I have plenty of oil lamps and fuel. I might loser power, internet, and some perishable items but honestly I'm more concerned about potential property damage than a few days off of work catching up on reading and housecleaning. I'm sure we're not talking about roving gangs of marauders here or anything. The only thing I really need to stock up on is beer. I'll be fine.

Re:Already prepared.

[penix1]

I have a 20 kW whole house generator with ATS wired in. 30 seconds after the power goes out the generator kicks on. 30 seconds after that the house is powered again. I live in the boonies where it can take days to fix power outages for regular thunderstorms so it benefits me to do so.

Re:Already prepared.

[hawguy]

Maryland here, not too far from DC. I have a 2kW generator with a transfer switch I wired into my breaker box on my furnace's circuit. I always keep a couple of months of food and four 5 gallon cans of gasoline around.

What fuel stabilizer do you use, how long do you keep the gas, and what do you do when it expires? Just curious since I've thought about getting an emergency generator, but want to know how to keep fuel ready for it. The only gasoline burning machine I have at home is my car - do you just burn the fuel in your car before it gets too old?

I have plenty of oil lamps and fuel.

I asked this above, but why use oil lamps? Alkaline batteries are cheap (or NiMH's can be recharged from your generator), LEDs last forever, and oil is a big fire hazard if you knock a lamp off the table. the last thing I'd want during a hurricane disaster when power and phones is out is a fire in my house and no way to call the fire department.

I might loser power, internet, and some perishable items but honestly I'm more concerned about potential property damage than a few days off of work catching up on reading and housecleaning. I'm sure we're not talking about roving gangs of marauders here or anything. The only thing I really need to stock up on is beer. I'll be fine.

Charge the Kindle now!

Re:Already prepared.

[Anonymous Coward]

Yup, when I went Geothermal I kept the underground 500gl propane tank and used it to feed a 17kW Kohler (beats dealing with fuel stablizers). I replaced the main panel with one with a built-in ATS. The second we lose power, the generator starts, and within 15 seconds after power goes out the light comes back on. When line power returns, it takes about 5-10 minutes for the ATS to "trust" that things really are ok before it will switch back and turn off the generator.

The geothermal is on a separate line and I saved some $$ by putting that on a manual transfer switch (really just an interlock between the panel's main breaker and a dual-throw breaker in the first position). If the power is out for a few hours I go and manually switch the geo to get the heat and hot water back online.

After getting a few storms-of-the-decade every 18 months, with multi-day power outages, the generator has been the best thing I ever did.

My weakest link, as it turns out, is a $!#%@ eight-hour battery on a pole that has the closest Comcast repeater. The power usually cuts out upstream from that repeater, so if we are without power for more than eight hours, bye-bye land line and broadband until the power comes back.

Re:Already prepared.

[Anonymous Coward]

I live in a rural area about 40 miles from the DC beltway. I gave some serious thought for along time about getting a generator and I can not understand how people justify getting one.

My house is 100% electric including my well pump. First, I would have to buy a generator and always have a reasonable supply of gas, the ones I looked at burn 0.5-1 gallons per hour. That is a lot of gas to keep around. To maintain any semblance of normal, I would have to be able to power my stove, refrigerator, well pump, heat pump/air handler, and some lights. I guess I could buy a smaller generator and adapt those things for manual shifting of power around as needed but that is a major PITA. Plus when I run out of gas, I'd be screwed and have to get more or resort to other methods to provide those functions.
My solution was to make sure I always have a little more of the things I normally have anyway.
- I have two propane tanks for my grill which has a side burner, as soon as one gets empty, I swap and refill it. This helps out even when there is no storm, I never run out of propane at the wrong time.
- We have candles all over the house and a few wall mounted and portable oil lamps. Not the safest things to use but they are there if needed. If I'm in the kitchen for a while and using one, I place it in the sink with the stopper in place. Same with the bathroom. We already have these, I just buy a quart of lamp oil every couple of years.
- Flashlights. Tons of them. My main ones are a 3 cell mag light and two sears Cratsman 19.2 volt rechargeable ones (one florescent and on led spotlight). I already have the batteries because I use various other 19.2 v Craftsman tools throughout the year. We also have various other small AAA and AA LED lights from home depot after Xmas sales and so on. Living in the country where there are no streetlights and city lights in the sky, it is always dark so we use them all of the time.
- Heating. A 22K BTU kerosene heater. It requires no electricity at all and it is big enough to take almost the whole house up to 65-70 even when it is 20F outside. It also gives off a lot of light and if you are EXTREMELY careful, you can reheat a big pot of food on top of it although I would not suggest this even though I've done it. You fill it up with 1.6 gallons of Kerosene and it runs for about 12 hours and requires you to not touch it again. Say you want about those heaters but I've used them my whole life and so have my parents. If you have experience with them, you can start them and shut them off without a huge smell.
- Water. This one is a little tricky. We always have a few cases of bottled water around and some one gallon jugs. If I know a storm is coming, I fill up some 7 gallons jugs we use for camping and random pots and pans before a storm comes. For toilets, I scoop water out of the pool and dump it in the toilet tanks as needed.
- Entertainment. We have several cheap mp3/fm players that last for 24+ hours of continuous use and some cheap portable speakers that take AA batteries. Decks of cards, board games, a portable DVD player..

We always have paper plates and forks spoons around for some reason.

Other things If used on occasion. I have a lot of cars. Each has a car battery that can be used to recharge cell phones and players. I brought a battery from a car or my tractor into the house and usied it there for charging and also a power invertor just in case. Also, a 12v portable LED light.

Sure, I lose my cold food if it goes on for more then 2 days but that is cheaper than buying a generator and keeping it running trying to meet all of our needs.

I've been doing this for 20 years and I lose power a lot.

Re:Already prepared.

[jafiwam]

Quick and dirty: ROTATE your gas, OIL lamps produce HEAT too, BOOKs come on paper too.

Re:Already prepared.

[Powercntrl]

I asked this above, but why use oil lamps?

The lamps and oil pretty much have an indefinite shelf life. They'll be ready to use when you need them. Can't really say the same thing about batteries and flashlights. Secondly, they give off heat which can be useful to warm up foods (some lanterns can have small pots placed on top). Finally, they also run fine on gas station kerosene, which can be burned in heaters and stoves. One fuel and you've got light, heat and the ability to cook - can't really do that with batteries.

Re:Already prepared.

[dch24]

Just out of curiosity: have you ever wanted to go sneak a power cable to the repeater and surreptitiously charge the battery? :-)

Re:Already prepared.

[Tintivilus]

What fuel stabilizer do you use, how long do you keep the gas, and what do you do when it expires?

Every 6 months, dump the stored gas into your car and refill the can(s) at the station. Even better, get a manual transfer pump so you can refill your gas can from your car's tank in a pinch. My "emergency" generator fuel supply is ~16gals in each of two cars.

It's a good idea to fill up before a major storm anyway in case you need to evacuate.

Re:Already prepared.

[TheLink]

Maybe if he puts a solar charger on it and labels it official-looking enough - asset tags, stickers etc, they might think it's one of theirs and leave it there. ;)

Re:Already prepared.

[Gordonjcp]

Even better, get rid of the silly petrol engines and use diesel. It's too heavy to evaporate.

Re:Already prepared.

[Anonymous Coward]

Believe me, it has occurred to me more than once to ask Comcast whether I could provide a rotating set of batteries to that pole during these outages. The repeater isn't all that high up, and how hard could it be to change the battery and bring the other back for recharging off my generator?

But, of course, the answer to that question is obvious. :-)

So in the meantime I just switched to MobileShare on our two iPhones, and soon the two iPads. That gives us tethering, which should hold us fine for a few days if it comes to that.

Re:Already prepared.

[Anonymous Coward]

To maintain any semblance of normal, I would have to be able to power my stove, refrigerator, well pump, heat pump/air handler, and some lights ...and that's your problem. If the power goes out, IT'S NOT NORMAL. Your genny should keep the fridge/freezer working, and give you a couple of lights, not keep your entire house going non-stop for days. You shouldn't me using the indoor heated pool, running the AC, or using an electric oven/stove while on generator power.

Re:Already prepared.

[adolf]

Diesel also goes bad in storage, and old diesel is harder for most people to get rid of than gasoline.

Re:Already prepared.

[Gordonjcp]

Diesel goes bad over *decades*, rather than months, and if you want to get rid of it just chuck it in your car and let that burn it.

Re:Already prepared.

[adolf]

"Most people" (as I said) don't have an easy way to get rid of old diesel.

None of my cars are diesel. Most other folks' cars in the US are also not diesel. And TFA is about the US.

Re:Already prepared.

[Gordonjcp]

Are they quite old cars? I didn't think anyone still made cars with petrol engines. The only petrol vehicles I've got are at least 25 years old.

Re:Already prepared.

[adolf]

You must live over there, then. Over here, diesel-engined consumer vehicles consist of the following:

- Giant redneck pickup trucks that seem to exist only to produce noise while blanketing entire city blocks in black smoke

- The occasional TDI Jetta or Golf

- Tired, old Mercedes diesels.

That is all.

Re:Already prepared.

[Gordonjcp]

Yeah, over here the only petrol cars you see on the road are 20 years old or more (like mine) or tiny little 600cc econoboxes.

A couple of points :

[TechnoGrl]

1. It won't be either a hurricane or even a tropical depression when it hits the upper east coast next Tuesday according to the National Weather Service( http://www.nhc.noaa.gov/refresh/graphics_at3+shtml/205618.shtml?5-daynl#contents )

2. Total Rainfall potential predicted by the NWS for the Pennsylvania , New Jersey, New York and Massachusetts areas is estimated to be - wait for it - a whopping 3 to 7 inches FOR THE ENTIRE FIVE DAYS through Wednesday. ( http://www.hpc.ncep.noaa.gov/qpf/zoom/Rainfall_Days_1-5.gif )

Didn't we go through this last year with the storm of the century that was supposed to flood New York but never really materialized and aren't we all a bit tired of the ridiculously overwrought news stories that get propagated all over the internet in order to drive page views?

When the NWS puts out a Frankenstorm warning then maybe it's time to get concerned but until then ...

Re:A couple of points :

[sjames]

While the last one would have made a really bad nature's revenge film, it did cause significant problems all over the area. Enough so that some preparation was in order and those who did were a lot happier than those who didn't.

Re:A couple of points :

[Anonymous Coward]

Look at the link you posted again. It shows it as making landfall as a hurricane, and downgrading from there to a tropical depression (the H's and S's).

Re:A couple of points :

[SpinyNorman]

3-7" of rain would be fine if it was all nice and spread out and just soaked into the ground, but water has a nasty habit of flowing downhill and finding its way into rivers...

The local river in northern NJ here raised its level by at least 10' during last years storm, resulting in the local highway being under 4' of water.

Re:A couple of points :

[mps01060]

A couple of points:

1. Precipitation:
You have to consider that the land types are different for the northeast states compared to southeast states such as Florida. Florida has soil in which the rain drains out of much quicker. In addition, engineering designs are different for states that generally get less rain than the southern states. The HDSC calculates precipitation Recurrence Intervals for engineering design purposes. For example, Florida sees a mean annual maximum precipitation of about 5 inches in 24 hours compared to 2.5 inches in 24 hours in the northeast. This discrepancy is much larger when you look at recurrance intervals of >10 years (9 compared to 5 inches). This event has the potential to drop 100 year rainfall on the northeastern states. It will last a few days, but MOST of the rain will fall in one day.

2. Wind:
This will likely transition into an extratropical cyclone. extratropical (mid-latitude) storms have weaker winds than hurricanes, but are over a much larger area. Most hurricanes have severe wind damage only a few miles from the center in the eye-wall. Tropical storm strength winds extend out further, but even those don't usually extend out far in most storms (obviously there are exceptions such as Hurricane Ike). An extratropical cyclone's winds will cause moderate damage over a very large area. The other thing to consider are trees. Trees in the north are much less resistant to the wind, especially since most still have their leaves this time of the year. The winds in this storm won't be as deadly as a hurricane's, but will be a HUGE issue for damage and power outages.

Storm surge:
This is a page with estimated storm surge. This storm will also stick around for a while, so it will be able to pile more and more water up against the shore, as well as have a chance to coincide with astronomical high tides. There are many places in NYC that will flood (although they will be properly evacuated).

3. People
If the center hits around southern New Jersey, this storm will directly affect Washington DC, Baltimore, Philadelphia, NYC, etc. This is a very large amount of people to worry about. These people are used to Nor' Easters but this should be much stronger than a typical Nor' Easter.

I do understand why you think this is being over-hyped, especially when you compare it to the smaller but much more powerful hurricanes that strike the south. Overall, I don't expect this storm to cause many deaths; I think the people will generally be prepared. I do see this storm causing a lot of damage and long-lasting power outages. When you have these affects over such a large area, it could take time to get back to business as normal. Lastly, you should look for more information on Irene because it was very damaging, especially with the flooding in NY and VT, where both the infrastructure and the land type is not used to that kind of rain.

Re:A couple of points :

[ColdWetDog]

Also add that tides will be up because of the full or nearly full moon. Even more fun!

Re:A couple of points :

[bws111]

Weird how a storm which "didn't materialize" (Irene) managed to be the fifth most destructive Atlantic hurricane.

It materialized, and caused significant damage to New York, Connecticut, Massachusettes, Vermont, and New Hampshire. Just because it didn't cause major problems in NYC doesn't mean it "didn't happen".

Re:A couple of points :

[crywalt]

That would be the "astronomical high tides". I don't think that was supposed to be hyperbole; it's a technical term for when the tides are higher due to the orbit of the Moon.

Re:A couple of points :

[WuphonsReach]

Irene wasn't a lot of fun last August. Mostly because of downed trees and power outages. The first 2 days are different, as you do clean up and figure out if the office has power.

After that it gets to be a grind as you go day after day without power.

Sorta hope the power *does* go out...

[Anonymous Coward]

We have a gas stove and the freezer is stocked with ice to keep the beer and food cold for a week or so if needed. We don't need to worry about flooding where I live (they do where I work, but that is not my problem). Outside of that, if the power goes out, I'll just have to enjoy the quiet and read and catch up with the missus. Periods without tech can be nice so long as a tree doesn't take out my house.

Re:Sorta hope the power *does* go out...

[sarysa]

I was about to reply with something like "there's a national park nearby calling you", and then the poignancy of your comment REALLY struck me...

Re:Sorta hope the power *does* go out...

[Fly Swatter]

"enjoy the quiet"

That's a laugh.

In my experience being without power is more noisy than with power. At least until the generators run out of gas, chainsaws run out of fallen trees to cut, etc.

Re:Sorta hope the power *does* go out...

[TheLink]

His catching up with the missus might not be that quiet either... Assuming they're doing it right... ;)

Checklist

[Anonymous Coward]

Wetsuit? Check!
Tiny board and fin? Check!
Tiny sail? Check!
Windsurfing in 40mph wind? Priceless.
Bring on FrankenSandy!

Re:Checklist

[ColdWetDog]

Wetsuit? Check!
Tiny board and fin? Check!
Tiny sail? Check!
Windsurfing in 40mph wind? Priceless.
Bring on FrankenSandy!

Cost to fly US Coast Guard HH-60 Jayhawk - about $4000 / hr - not so priceless.

Re:Checklist

[jittles]

a Floridian was killed by Tropical Storm Faye after he was impaled on a pole when his Sailboard was picked up and thrown onto land by the wind. I think he went flying over 50 linear feet before he fell.

Re:Checklist

[TheLink]

Well a lot of them do it on purpose (usually not the dying part, but with some of them it's hard to tell).

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5oOahULB08E
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gRp8mjYzBwI

They might need to come up with better tech for the real big storms - e.g. special quick releases that work even if you get tangled up a bit.

Re:Checklist

[Maow]

Wetsuit? Check!
Tiny board and fin? Check!
Tiny sail? Check!
Windsurfing in 40mph wind? Priceless.
Bring on FrankenSandy!

Cost to fly US Coast Guard HH-60 Jayhawk - about $4000 / hr - not so priceless.

--
Can I make a suggestion that doesn't involve violence, or is this the wrong crowd for that?

Wrong crowd. Can you cost an Apache gun ship or something please?

Re:Checklist

[Anonymous Coward]

they need more sharp edges.
anyone who 'sports' doing a large storm needs more corners and sharp edges, and no protective gear. thats for wimps.

Re:Checklist

[Jason Levine]

Don't even count on the coast guard. Two kayakers decided to go out on Long Island Sound without life vests on. They encountered trouble. ([sarcasm]Who would've thought that a hurricane coming could mean trouble on the water?!![/sarcasm]) One man was rescued, but the search for the other had to be called off.

http://www.ctpost.com/policereports/article/One-kayaker-rescued-another-still-missing-in-3988519.php

If someone is stupid enough to go windsurfing during Sandy, I hope they enjoy the ride. It'll probably be the last thing they ever enjoy.

Yeah....

[BLKMGK]

Been through some storms so I've added some munchies, bought some water, charged a spare car batt for a frend's sump pump and to charge phones, and I cleared the gutters out. I also chatted with my neighbors, we're prepped to help each other out if needed. Pissed I skipped installing the generator I considered last month, betting I'll need it...

Yuck it up but 8inches or more of rain will fuck things up pretty good. Oh, I RainX'd my car windshield too :-)

Nothing new here

[Constantin]

Is it a good idea to have your offsite backups in place? Sure, but why wait for a predictable natural disaster as opposed to a man-made one? The whole point of a viable backup strategy is not to have a single point of failure, including a reliance on predictable events.

In an ideal world, I'd have several heavy-duty chain saws at the ready, dripping in anticipation of cutting down wayward trees. But this being the real world, I'll leave my big boy chaps, kevlar gloves, etc. in fantasy-land and hire a professional should a tree make a unexpected entry into our home.

In fact, we're pretty carefree here... spoiled by the reliability of the electrical grid, with the longest off-line period being 23 hours thanks to a neighbor cutting the roots on a street tree, allowing said tree to tumble into the street and taking out two electrical poles in the process. So, no gen set, for example. Living on the edge...

Re:Nothing new here

[couchslug]

I've cut plenty of wayward trees, but if one falls on your home GET PICS for the insurance adjuster before ANYONE fucks with it.

Re:Nothing new here

[BenEnglishAtHome]

Lucky you. I'm in (roughly) the middle of a very large metro area (Houston) but happen to live in a neighborhood at the end of a mile-long road with no other way in or out. We are at the terminus of our part of the electrical grid and there are only a couple of hundred homes. In short, we're low priority for power restoration due to our small population and in a location where falling trees along that mile-long entry road can take out our power in a heartbeat.

The power goes out in my neighborhood regularly. "Maintenance" took it out for 6 hours 2 days ago. It was out for over a week the last time we had a big ice storm. It was out for over two weeks during the last hurricane. It goes out for some time, maybe a few minutes or maybe several hours, during every big thunderstorm. And as for tree removal, after the last hurricane the county cleared our main road in after a week but people who had to hire private contractors to remove trees that had fallen through their houses often had a 2 or 3 week wait to get an appointment.

You better believe that whenever there's a hint of serious weather, we either get a generator (there's almost always an evacuating neighbor who wants us to watch their house and feed their cat and is happy to lend us a generator in exchange) and a ton of supplies or we get the heck out.

My poor grandmother in only semi-rural Alabama was once without power for over 6 weeks after a hurricane.

People should take weather more seriously. I swear, if I had the money I'd get a NG-powered fuel cell, feed a bank of batteries, and run my house off that, completely ditching the electrical grid. Where I live, it's just too unreliable.

Re:Nothing new here

[gstoddart]

It was out for over a week the last time we had a big ice storm.

An ice storm in Houston? Really?

Obviously, I believe you, because you live there and I don't ... but as a Canadian, I guess I figured most of Texas would be too far south for stuff like that.

We had a big giant one back in '98, and it basically shut the entire city down for about a week. People were without power, and trapped on their streets because trees end electrical wires were down all over the place. In places, they literally had to call in the army to get people out of their homes and into shelters, and to clear some of the roads.

Re:Nothing new here

[BenEnglishAtHome]

We've had several ice storms over the years, though only a couple were really bad. See: http://www.wxresearch.com/almanac/houice.htm

The 2007 storm is the one I was talking about. There were tens of thousands of trees downed or just bent double. It was amazing to see. I personally know two old guys, former tree maintenance company owners, who came out of retirement just to rake in cash for the next year doing cleanup all over the metro area.

Re:Nothing new here

[ColdWetDog]

Further, I'd recommend getting pictures of anyone attempting sexual relations with the tree. /b/ needs new stuff!

Re:Nothing new here

[Anonymous Coward]

Generators are obviously a hot topic here. It depends on what you need to power, but often its financially prudent to rent vs buy. This website has options for either, regardless.

  http://www.wpowerproducts.com/search-rental-No-Inventory.php

Re:Nothing new here

[Megane]

There's usually at least one day a year of ice storm in Texas. It's because of rain that is cold enough to freeze as it hits the ground, but not cold enough to freeze into snow/whatever before it hits. Super-chilled but no nucleation sites or whatever. You can end up with everything coated in a thick layer of ice in a really bad one. Most of the time it melts by noon because the temperature goes above freezing, but if it doesn't, you're fucked until it does.

Snow is nice stuff, you can still get traction. But ice that forms right on the roadways/sidewalks makes transportation impossible. Also, even without an ice storm, highway overpasses get chilled from the wind underneath them and will freeze up. (At least most divided highways in Texas have surface frontage roads, and we have some nice gravels that are good for overpasses.)

A little

[YrWrstNtmr]

Cleaned the gutters, brought in or strapped down lawn furniture, trimmed a couple of overhanging branches, got a couple of books from the library.

Anything else is already handled. In coastal VA, this is prepped all summer. Water in the secondary fridge and freezer, there is always enough food for a few days (no power? ha!...that is what the grill is for)

So...nothing special.

Re:A little

[dch24]

Can I ask --

What good books? I'm always looking for good recommendations!

Re:A little

[YrWrstNtmr]

I'm not sure about 'good', but just a quick random selection from the local library:
Lost Gate - Orson Scott Card
Deep Black: Death Wave - Stephen Coonts
The Judas Gate - Jack Higgins

Looked interesting to me, YMMV. (I literally just finished the last unread book in the house - interesting to me anyway)

Reading these comments...

[Anonymous Coward]

I'm convinced Armageddon will start with a shortage of booze.

Obligatory xkcd

[Anonymous Coward]

Obligatory xkcd

Re:Obligatory xkcd

[Jeremy Erwin]

The text is taken from actual advisories.
epsilon
zeta

Re:Obligatory xkcd

[Anonymous Coward]

epsilon's url needs a final 'l'.

like this

Quite well prepared actually!

[Chas]

Considering I live in the Chicagoland area.

If a hurricane can push THAT far inland, I guess I deserve to get drowned/blown away/etc.

Terrify Wallstreet

[Anonymous Coward]

Guess the right approach is to pray or join the church of climate change. Sandy is from the Terrify Wallstreet movement.

Drinking more than usual

[Anonymous Coward]

I don't know if that counts as "preparation" though

I think I'm good

[Eightbitgnosis]

I mean I'm no meteorologist, but I don't think hurricane Sandy will hit the Pacific Northwest

Re:I think I'm good

[Anonymous Coward]

damn, you beat me to it:) , Alberta should be fine too

Sell out

[Anonymous Coward]

We just purchased a quarter of beef that is in the freezer. My wife was insistent that we buy a generator. To humor her (and because its wise to make large purchases such as this when they are spousal authorized), I stopped by a local hardware store to check their inventory (sold out, except for a $4000 cadillac model), and a local big-box store (completely sold out). Another local hardware store was sold out of gas cans even..

So with an economy that is still weak, where does the general populace come up with the $500 - $4000 to buy a generator, that they may never use? Current plan is to try and pick one up AFTER the hurricane (or no-icane), on Craigslist, on the cheap..

Re:Sell out

[Culture20]

Turn the freezer temp down extra low before the storm, and pack with extra salt-water bottles (or regular water if you plan to drink it as it melts).

Re:Sell out

[couchslug]

If considering a genset, get a Miller engine-driven welder such as a Bobcat and use that. They provide generator power, are commercial machines, and weld nicely too! Parts are more easily available than for consumer home shit gensets should you need one.

"Current plan is to try and pick one up AFTER the hurricane (or no-icane), on Craigslist, on the cheap.."

Worked for me after Hurricane Hugo via the local trade paper.

Re:Sell out

[jafiwam]

Put the contents of the freezer in a contractor garbage bag. Put it back in the freezer. Put a bowl of ice on top. If the ice melts, or the ice is flat and not cubes when you get back, the freezer was off and you take the entire bag out to the garbage. Also, throw as many water bottles in it as fit. The extra thermal mass will help keep it cooler longer.

No.

[ballpoint]

There's a f*cking ocean between the question in the headline and me, so no.

Re:No.

[gstoddart]

There's a f*cking ocean between the question in the headline and me, so no.

So, you live somewhere where 1cm of snow will shut down the entire country then? ;-)

Meh . . . Yawn

[Anonymous Coward]

Unless it comes ashore as a strong Cat-2 or Cat-3, it's pointless to get excited about it.
Most of us who are used to them simply ignore anything smaller.

OMG Tropical Storm winds !
OMG Rain !

-Runs in little circles-

where ever it lands will be power outage

[Anonymous Coward]

it doesnt matter where it comes on shore, if your not ready to be without power for 3 days, your being lazy and hoping someone else will help you. there has not been a bad storm for a few years in this area, so when one does happen, more dead branches than usual will fall. so even if it is weak lil 40 mile n hour winds, youll most likely be without any power. most people in apartments cannot get things like generators, but i dont want to turn on the news and see how many people were completly unprepared and want me to donate them something.

theres 15 inch or so of rain expected here, and its coupling with a nor-easter. sorta like that 2000 movie, a perfect storm.

preparation H

[Anonymous Coward]

lol
H for hurricane

Preparations include

[Anonymous Coward]

Bread and milk

s'ok. We'll get through this too

[tamarik]

FWIW... I'm tied to a dock on the GA/FL border. In a boat. With no motor. Sparrow is a sailboat who has weathered far worse than this. We, my 2 cats and I, have weeks of food and full water tanks. Winds here are getting up to 20 knots or so and quite gusty. Am I worried? no. We had a hardy home and sufficient supplies. As I write this, we're rolling around a bit and wind is making the rigging sing. We are warm, fed and safe. I'll put on foulies in a bit and wander the docks to see if all the other boats are ok. Maybe a line has chaffed through or a fender has gunched up. S'ok, these are things easily repaired. And then shed the foulies and enjoy a warm cuppa in my nest...

Re:s'ok. We'll get through this too

[fm6]

Your complacency reminds me of the joke about the guy who jumped off the Empire State Building. As he passed the 20th floor, he said, "I don't get why everyone thinks this is so dangerous..."

You're seriously claiming that you've weathered worse than what you'll face? Storm surges that can lift your little boat and deposit it miles inland?

Re:s'ok. We'll get through this too

[Anonymous Coward]

This is dangerous. Boats can break free and rampage around the marina. Boats inspired by wind can break things. But... I've been here before. Beryl, Fay, to name a couple. Vigilance saves these vessels. I'm here as the owners of the other boats are not. I, we cause I'm not alone here, will do our best to save their boats, too. I've seen broken fingers. strained backs and rope burns from this. Those of us who's homes float look out for the rest of the 'slip renters' around us.

My kits are wondering what all the emotional fuss is about. No rain, yet, so they can't get the towel, and they've had evening chow-chow. They want me to wander about w/ them. My beautiful posse.

Re:s'ok. We'll get through this too

[Lumpy]

A good old sailboat with a huge keel will weather even a mean storm without effort. A+ to you!
I had a 36 foot hunter with a 2 ton keel.. it survived the november storms of Lake Michigan and superior, a wimpy hurricane is nothing to worry about,.

Re:s'ok. We'll get through this too

[Anonymous Coward]

Clearly you have never weathered a gale, tropical storm or hurricane on a boat. 20 kts and gusty is nothing but a weekend breeze. When you get up around 60 kts, laying her on the beam and your boat is bashing your dock, then post how your fenders are chafed and are enjoying a cup of tea....

Poster is a troll... +3? really??

Re:s'ok. We'll get through this too

[Anonymous Coward]

Heh. Never saw 'wimpy' and 'hurricane' in the same sentance before (TMK). Sparrow is a '59 Rhodes Bounty. 10' wide and 40' long. Full 8k keel at 28' LWL. Yea, we're safe, even if a couple boats come crashing into us. There are 8 or so at anchor out here and half have folks aboard. We'll see. Every couple hrs me and the kits walk around and check. Carry spare 1/2' braid as I find it and tye stuff up. Ladders on the boats in the yard here are falling over. Never would'a thunk it afore...

Re:s'ok. We'll get through this too

[Lumpy]

You never saw november storms on the great lakes. Makes hurricanes look like a summer rain storm. 60 foot waves and not rain from the sky, torrential chefs knives of ice that coats the boat and will sink you fast.

Re:s'ok. We'll get through this too

[tamarik]

Methinks today we'll get on a Lindenberg 26 and go for a ride. Boat I've been on many races. I'm 250 so I get the main. Roy is old but his boat and he steers. Now for Gina on the bow and we're off! The Cumberland Sound is 4' - 5' and if we can make it out the jettys we'll have a bang-up day.

Never faced Ice. I don't like hard water; that's why I'm down here. Bouncing off chunks of boat breakers ain't my kind of fun. I just bought my 1st pair of long pants in 2 years last week. They chafe and are hot. And long sleeves get wet and sticky. Bah!

When we wear 'foulies' we put on our oldest t-shirt, shorts and sneakers. Many of them can be stowed in the dry bag. Save the good stuff for the bar....

Thanks for the perspective, Lumpy (where'd that come ffrom?). I appreciate where I am so much more.

Re:s'ok. We'll get through this too

[fm6]

I have two cats that I love so much it hurts. If a hurricane were bearing down on me, I'd get them to some place safe and fuck a bunch of boats.

Submitted at 4:20?

[NinjaTekNeeks]

I'm guessing I know how Timothy is preparing for the storm. Geez, isn't this supposed to be news for nerds? This storm is the front page of CNN, if I want news like this I'll go there...

PBB all the way

[Anonymous Coward]

Buying peanut butter and beer...

If you are referring to Irene

[Giant Electronic Bra]

It actually did a real number on us in Vermont. In fact it was the worst flooding since 1932 in many places, and the worst ever in some places.

Of course this whole thing may turn out to be nothing. It won't reach hear until Monday and I don't really put a huge amount of stock on weather predictions 3 days in advance. Anyway, we're ready, around here if you're not living in town you are probably always ready.

Re:Stupid article lookat this quote:

[sjames]

And someone should tell you that the moon's orbit is only more or less circular so the tides do get stronger and weaker over the lunar cycle. I guess someone just did :-)

Re:Stupid article lookat this quote:

[mbstone]

The pros at the National Hurricane Center disagree with your analysis:

Winds as high as hurricane-force are expected to lash exposed areas of the
Northeast/mid-Atlantic states (the coast and topography)...leading
to potentially serious coastal erosion and coastal flooding. The
timing of the full moon and the build-up of tides over multiple
tidal cycles should exacerbate the situation along the
coast...particularly in corners such as the New York bight.

Yes But Not Seriously

[Anonymous Coward]

I experienced Hurricane Irene. The hurricane itself was laughable. Just a bit windy. The following 6 days were hell. No power meant food lasted a little longer than the ice cubes did. It meant no internet. It meant my only means of entertainment was whatever battery life I had left in my Kindle.

But I have a laptop now with two batteries and an MP3 player and my Kindle will be fully charged before this hurricane hits. Now all I have to do is stockpile some pornography and the next week or so will be a breeze.

Re:Yes But Not Seriously

[Lumpy]

Next time, go to the store and buy a 6 pound brick of Dry Ice and place it in the freezer. a standard top freezer fridge with a 6 pound block of dry ice in it will actually get colder for 5 days and then last another 6. If you don't have power restored, or haven't stolen the neighbors generator by then, you deserve to lose the food.

Re:Stupid article lookat this quote:

[tftp]

"That storm surge will only be magnified by the full moon this weekend to make it a "dangerous period," Uccellini said."

He is obviously concerned about incidents of licanthropy. They are directly caused by the full moon, as everyone knows.

Vigilance and Preparation

[American AC in Paris]

To all my fellow Baltimorons and Delmarva folks:

This summer's derecho had peak gusts of 66 mph at BWI. That storm lasted a few hours.

Sandy is currently forecast to be right on top of us at 2 on Tuesday afternoon with 65 mph sustained winds. If we're really unlucky, those winds are going to turn through 180 degrees as the core of the storm blows through.

There's every chance that this will turn out to be nothing to write home about. That said, it's a really weird storm that has a lot of non-talking-head meteorologists raising their eyebrows. Take the handful of really stupid simple steps to prepare--make sure you have a few days' worth of non-perishable food and water, have a flashlight with batteries, fill up your gas tank, charge your devices and keep 'em off if the power goes out.

Hope this all putters out, but be ready for a bad one. It could well be.

Re:Vigilance and Preparation

[kvnslash]

I fully expect power to go out for a few days or a week if it hits the DC/Baltimore area as predicted. As I'm sure you're well aware, above power lines suck balls, and they are everywhere in this area.

Re:Vigilance and Preparation

[argStyopa]

If you haven't done these sorts of things, well, then Darwin appreciates your effort.

And I guess so does posterity.

Re:Vigilance and Preparation

[epSos-de]

One super good advice for you: clean the drain holes, where the water from the roof and the street are running down. It is autumn, the leafs have fallen down recently. I would bet that the heavy rain will cause some type of flooding in areas that are heavily polluted with concrete or pavement. Walled terrace roofs might be flooded too, if the water can not flow out, becasue of the leafs. Here is one picture with a Canadian woman that is begging you to clean away the leafs: http://www.tosports.ca/wp-content/uploads/2009/07/leafs_babe1.jpg

Re:Stupid article lookat this quote:

[gstoddart]

Full moon? what a fucktard. Someone should tell him that when its 1/4 moon, or a half moon, the whole fucking moon is STILL THERE.

Are you at least aware of the fact that tides are higher during a full moon?

It's called a spring tide, and has to do with the geometry of things and gravity. So if you're already expecting a higher than usual tide, and combine that with storm surge, it will amplify it even more.

Or, do you just feel the need to continuously act like a crusty old bastard who thinks the world is populated with idiots?~

We all know the entire moon is still there (well most of us do), but the geometry of the gravity changes with position -- New Moon and Full Moon leading to the highest tides. So, maybe the expert actually knows more than you do.

No!

[wonkey_monkey]

I'm British, you insensitive clod!

Re:No!

[Skapare]

Well, at least you need to put off trying to regain the colonies for a few days.

Re:No!

[Anonymous Coward]

I hear a lot of wind is produced in Parliament.

AWS

[Skapare]

I'm moving my instances and volumes from us-east-1* to use-west-{1,2}* just to be safe. The us-east-1 region has been rather unstable this year. I don't think will survive this.

Uh, not in the way

[Anonymous Coward]

Hmmmm...I'm in Louisiana and this one is not near me to worry about.

I plan on preparing tomorrow....

[Ogre332]

first stop: my local liquor store.

there was a hurricane?

[Anonymous Coward]

i live in Florida. Melbourne to be exact. There was a hurricane?

Nope, just following normal procedures.

[digitalmonkey2k1]

"Several people I know in the mid-Atlantic region have been ordering generators and stocking up on flashlight batteries and easy-to-prepare foods."
Emergency supplies are always on site, including satellite phones (for some reason the idiots in charge think they'll work in a hurricane) and generators undergo monthly testing.

"Are you in the projected path of the storm?"
Yep!

"If so, have you taken any steps to prepare for it? (Are you doing off-site backup? Taking yourself off-site?)"
Automatic nightly incremental backups to a server that is automatically backed up to SAN, which has an off site mirror. Combine that with good vendor response times, and you're set.

Re:Nope, just following normal procedures.

[Lumpy]

"stocking up on flashlight batteries"

This one blows my mind. a good LED flashlight, like my 6 D cell LED unit will run for 14 days on one set of batteries. so for normal flashlight use that is about 4 months.

Do people buy garbage 1980's technology flashlights still?

Re:Nope, just following normal procedures.

[Anonymous Coward]

How often do you replace your flashlight?

Re:Nope, just following normal procedures.

[digitalmonkey2k1]

My "garbage 1980's technology flashlight" is from the 80's, how old is your flashlight?

Re:Nope, just following normal procedures.

[Gordonjcp]

This is what I don't get - why would the power go off just because it's a little bit windy? Don't you guys know how to put up power lines?

Re:Nope, just following normal procedures.

[garyebickford]

I'll just step in here - where I live is 6 miles from the nearest store, along skinny New England country roads where the power poles AND trees come right up to the edge of the pavement. It's not that the wind takes out the power lines, it's that the wind takes out the trees, and they fall across the power lines - and in a good storm there can be trees down every hundred feet for the whole six miles. Since these roads are not main roads and the population served is relatively small per square mile, they come last in the priorities.

Before you laugh about the road engineering, and as a recent arrival in NE, I will say that the roads were designed by cows in the 1600s and 1700s, and the property lines were defined at the same time. There's no money and little inclination to widen the roads to accommodate such things as bike lanes or shoulder to walk on - it would often require major surgery to people's houses and other property. And, I think, the towns have the view that narrow winding roads with trees hanging over them tend to keep traffic speeds down - for them it's a win-win.

So last year an unusual early snow storm hit while the leaves were still on the trees. One tree about two miles from my house fell across the lines. The lines didn't break but were pulled down to within a few feet of the ground (two poles were bent or broken, don't know which) - I think the connection was broken, or automatically shut off (we didn't have cable either). With all the other problems in the region this one didn't get fixed for a week. For most of that time we had to drive on the opposite shoulder to get around the tree, which was down enough to block one lane.

Re:Nope, just following normal procedures.

[Gordonjcp]

Up here at 57 degrees north, we try to design power lines that don't run through the bits with trees on them. We did have an issue last year out where I live where a large tree fell and clobbered a transformer in a substation, which took out the power for pretty much a whole day.

Re:Nope, just following normal procedures.

[Anonymous Coward]

I have an LED flashlight, but I prefer my incadescent flashlight, in an emergency. The warm, reddish glow is much more soothing.

Supplies

[Anonymous Coward]

First know that flying glass is a huge killer in wind storms. That is why you need to be away from all windows as they may give suddenly.
              People go nuts trying to buy food before a storm. Few think to have a sterno stove or some other easy way to heat canned food. Do not cook until all winds have stopped. There is no fire department, no police, and no medical care for days or even weeks. Do not start charcoal fires inside the home.
              Realise that grocery stores tend to be hit hard due to their large roofs. In our last Florida storm I had to drive 85 miles one way to buy food as all local stores had caved in or blown off roofs. You may not have electricity for weeks or even months after a storm. Generators will hurt your wallet as it takes a lot of fuel to keep them humming. Keeping enough fuel to power a generator would in itself be risky unless you have a very large lawn. Gas stations will close for weeks and the ones that do sell fuel may have all kinds of water and crud in the product.
                The best plan is to leave an area at the first hint of trouble and get hundreds of miles out of the zone. Very few will do that or can afford to do that. If things get really bad having a firearm and knowing how to use it may be a great comfort to you and your family. Frightened people who suddenly are cut off from the world can act out in their fear. Most people are helpful but some get really dangerous.
                      I speak first hand as being in Florida for over 50 years I have been in high winds all too often.

Re: Supplies

[Anonymous Coward]

Most canned food that I've bought should be able to be eaten without being heated. I eat sardines straight from the cans. No problems so far.

You can eat stuff like rolled oats without cooking them. I quite like them that way actually.

MurderDeathKillDIE

[Anonymous Coward]

We're all gonna DIEEEE. Get all the MILKS andTP first.

Re:MurderDeathKillDIE

[Lumpy]

Mis read that. I thought you were stocking up on MILFS there for a second and was wondering, "wow and his wife is ok with that..."

the end is near

[Anonymous Coward]

Downloading my copy of the interwebs right now!

Don't be so cocky, you could regret it!

[Anonymous Coward]

If there's one thing I've learned over my 19 years, it's that YOU CAN LITERALLY NEVER BE TOO SAFE! I plan to spend the duration of the storm cowering in my Portland Oregon attic with a wind up flashlight, weather radio, bottled water, and sealed tin of hard tack biscuits praying the rosary (I'm not actually Christian, let alone Catholic, but I also can't prove that doing this won't help). IT'S IMPOSSIBLE TO SAY WHAT COULD HAPPEN SO BE PREPARED!

Do you want the rescuers to skip saving you because you were that jerk who didn't take the storm seriously and prepare? Do you!?!? Ask yourself what your life and safety are worth!

Prepared vs Extemporaneous

[Penurious Penguin]

Whatever you do, folks, do not be prepared. For preparation is terrorism and extemporaneous is patriotism.

Do not be seduced by the evil temptations of self-reliance. Trust in the one, the only, Authori tuh.

Re:Prepared vs Extemporaneous

[roc97007]

I'm sure I'm on someone's list. Which is definitely superior to starving on a rooftop. Daughter looked over my stash recently and said "that's it. Come the zombie apocalypse, we're throwing canned goods at them."

Re:Prepared vs Extemporaneous

[Penurious Penguin]

'cause even a zombie won't fuck with a can of Spotted Dick sponge pudding.

Re:Prepared vs Extemporaneous

[Anonymous Coward]

thats stuffs pretty good....

Buy multiple wireless data cards

[Miamicanes]

The most likely mode of failure for internet access during Sandy is likely to be "the storm knocked out commercial power, then persisted longer than the battery backup power at your service provider's facility or tower".

From the research I did, it looks like the best bet for datacard/hotspot #1 is Verizon. Apparently, they have 8-10 hours of battery backup at all of their cell sites, and 85% (in Florida, at least; not sure whether the statistic was specific to Florida or applies nationwide) have on-site generators that fire up automatically & have enough on-site fuel to run for a week. They also apparently allow you to buy an unsubsidized data card or hotspot on eBay, and activate it for $15 per day (250mb data per day) in a completely adhoc manner, with no strings, minimums, reactivation/inactivity fees, or other sneaky charges.

For some reason, they seem to explicitly NOT allow "day pass" use with PCMCIA/Cardbus/ExpressCard devices, and I'm still trying to find out whether you have to activate it before the storm (or at least have working phone/internet service by some other means at the time you activate it), or whether you can literally buy a $13 EVDO datacard on eBay, throw it in a drawer as a really cheap insurance policy against loss of internet access during a storm, then pull it out, plug it into your laptop, and do the whole process -- payment, activation, and all -- using only the connectivity provided by the Verizon datacard itself.

Apparently, AT&T has a similar "day pass" deal. I didn't bother to research it, because I already have an AT&T phone (Galaxy S3), and since my whole goal was to find cheap "backup plan" options for getting online if my AT&T cell phone lost data service during a storm, I didn't bother to look into them.

For a longer outage, especially if you have Cable internet (which tends to go out shortly after commercial power is lost, and stay that way until the day after it's restored... at least, going by everything I've ever seen from Comcast in Florida), you might want to look into something that's cheaper and less stingy with data, like maybe T-Mobile. I wasn't able to find anything specific about their backup power situation besides references to them having a fleet of portable generators, which suggests that they're worse than Verizon (who already has fixed generators on-site, in place, ready to go), no better than AT&T (call it a hunch, but I suspect that whatever Verizon does, AT&T probably pays lip service to doing as well), and probably at least a little bit worse. My assessment: T-Mobile probably won't stay up until the bitter end of the storm, but if your cable internet is going to be down for a few days or more, they're probably the best option for days #2 and beyond. I'd expect that even if they go down during the storm, they'll be up and running within a day afterwards.

One caveat about used T-Mobile devices... I'm not sure exactly why this is apparently a problem unique to T-Mobile (or at least a bigger problem with them), but apparently it's possible to buy a used T-mobile device after getting T-Mobile to verify that the ESN is 'clean', activate it with your own SIM, use it for months, then have it unceremoniously blacklisted by T-Mobile for something the seller did long after it was sold to you. For example, if someone buys a device on a 2-year contract, replaces it with another, sells the first one to you, then later defaults on the contract. Apparently, Sprint and Verizon keep track of transfers, but T-Mobile just indiscriminately blacklists whatever ESN was on file under the original contract without bothering to investigate further to avoid collateral damage).

Right now, I can't recommend Sprint under any circumstances. Their 3G network sucks so badly right now (with the possible exception of the 3 or 4 places they've semi-finished upgrading), power loss is almost the least of their problems. After Isaac strafed Miami (taking down Comcast and U-verse for about 6-8 hours), I ran speedtest on Sprint & got

Re:Buy multiple wireless data cards

[Anonymous Coward]

Longest post in the entire thread and it's advice on how to stay online after the storm...

I suppose congratulations are in order for keeping your geek priorities straight, but I still feel that is a bad sign.

Re:Buy multiple wireless data cards

[Anonymous Coward]

Better yet, unplug the shit you don't need and enjoy a front-row seat to nature's fury for a few hours. Have a few drinks, some conversation, and take the time to think about how the net will cope just fine without you, and you without it.

Re:Buy multiple wireless data cards

[Miamicanes]

Oh, for ${deity}'s sake, this is going to hit as a 2-day windy rainstorm, not fsck'ing Hurricane Andrew. It's most likely consequence is the largest power outage in American history, not the wholesale destruction of the northeastern US like a wet, soggy nuclear bomb.

Just remember this: you can buy generators from Amazon.com with $3.99 prime overnight shipping.

OK, a few more tips:

* Harbor Freight's latest sales flyer has $89 generators again. If you don't own one, and can't afford a better one, go buy one. Don't kid yourself -- it'll probably be in throw-away condition by next week, and won't run much more than your laptop, some lights, your phone chargers, and maybe your DSL modem (see the next point), but if you're reading Slashdot, those items are the essential items of life, without which you'll be unrelentingly miserable.

* If your DSL modem doesn't work, but you have dialtone, you might have to double-convert your power. In other words, plug a 12v adapter into the generator's 120v, and feed its output to a cigarette lighter socket. Plug a 12v-to-120v inverter into that socket, and plug the wall wart from your DSL modem into the inverter.

* Don't bother trying to use a UPS with your generator. it won't work. Seriously, it won't. Generator power is good enough for running almost anything you care about, but UPSes are picky about things like AC line frequency... and sadly, picky about it for no really good reason, besides the fact that 20 years ago, line frequency was something that was easy to measure and a good proxy for the electricity itself. Your laptop's PSU doesn't really care whether the line frequency is 60hz, 50hz, or actually just abuot anything between 42hz and 65hz. Unfortunately, your UPS will see the generator's frequency wobble, and will kick the UPS into battery mode. What? You have an expensive, huge, inverter-type generator? Great, but it's still not going to work. The moment the UPS is happy with the line power's quality and takes it off battery power, the surge load is going to make the generator stumble for a cycle or two... and the UPS will notice, and instantly switch back to battery power. Then a moment later, it'll decide the current's stable, and try to switch back. Stir, rinse, and repeat until the UPS's battery runs out as you stand there swearing at it. This is a common problem. Unless you're literally a company the size of a Google data center with your own private power plant that has a huge flywheel design, your likelihood of success with any generator+UPS combo is roughly nil, almost entirely due to the line-frequency-UPS-freakout problem. Please, for the love of god, will someone who works for APC please read this and let us have a UPS that's frequency-tolerant?!?

You need two ice chests and an igloo cooler. Fill the igloo cooler with ice. Ice for drinks comes off the top. Cold melted water comes out the tap. No need for crates of bottled water you'll never drink, because you don't actually drink water anyway ;-) The first cooler is for drinks. The second cooler is for food. Have both full and ready at least 6 hours before you're likely to lose power, and DO NOT open the refrigerator or freezer until power comes back on unless you're planning to throw away everything inside. On the other hand, if the power's off for more than 2 days, clean out the refrigerator on day 3 or 4. If you don't, it'll turn into a real, honest to god biohazard before that first week is over, and you'll end up having to throw it out because you'll NEVER be able to safely decontaminate it once it turns into a mold colony. And it will, quickly. Oh, if possible, for 'drink' ice, buy bagged ice that's not random chippings -- they tend to melt together into a monolithic block that becomes useless for drinks. Cylindrical ice is the best.

Do all of your laundry NOW. You can run a washer off a generator, but unless you have gas, your dryer is gone until the power's back on. In a state like Florida where it's 99% humid outside, clotheslines don't wor

Re:Buy multiple wireless data cards

[compwizrd]

I have a 6000VA Smart-UPS RM XL at the office with 5 battery packs attached.. runs the servers at 50% load for about 3 hours, and i can shed over half the load once the desktops croak. Either way, it's hooked up to a Cummins 5500 watt generator we bought from Costco. If i remember to push the choke in, the generator spits out about 245V at a decent enough frequency for the ups to be happy with it and even recharge its batteries. I did set the upper and lower bypasses to 265/184 to handle flakiness, and output is set to 230V, but frequency is still set to 60 +/- .1Hz. I did find that all our consumer ups's, both APC and Cyberpower tend to not work on the generator output... my solution was to just plug them into the 120V feeds off the 6000VA unit.. I just make sure we don't go too high on load. The big UPS filters out the line enough for it to work. In a longer term outage I'd remove the desktop ups's from the big generator and run the desktops directly, but we haven't had more than 6-7 hour outages.

Re:Buy multiple wireless data cards

[Anonymous Coward]

Most Verizon sites go into emergency mode when mains power disappears. Unless you have a device authorized to bypass it or you're calling 911, don't expect to be surfing the web.

Re:Buy multiple wireless data cards

[adolf]

Don't bother trying to use a UPS with your generator. it won't work. Seriously, it won't.

Might work. Just might. It depends on the UPS.

We lost power for about a week this past June. I used my ~2kVA Tripp-Lite full-time inversion UPS to run any particularly fancy electronics, including the BFT and the stereo (and of course computers), mostly to isolate them from any funkiness with the generator.

It worked fine. No complaints from the UPS, at all.

Generator was a 5 or 6KW Troy Bilt thing, nothing fancy. I burned up a lot of gasoline that week, keeping the beer cold (ice was hard to find), reading Slashdot, running the dishwasher, sometimes a window air conditioner (or three), etc.

Again, no complaints. And if in doubt, test things first: You don't want to find that your well-laid plans just don't work.

Re:Buy multiple wireless data cards

[Miamicanes]

What's your exact model number? I'm intrigued, and might want to buy one. I was under the impression that TrippLite's UPSes were among the most intolerant (of frequency deviation) out there.

The most tolerant UPSes I'm aware of are supposedly APC's, IF you explicitly kick them into 'tolerant mode'. I believe they're still rigid about frequency, but will tolerate voltage sags a little longer before kicking in, so it might prevent thrashing with an inverter-type generator.

Side note: only APC's high-end and business-class UPSes officially support 'tolerant mode', but from what I've seen, even their consumer-grade models have the capability... it's just not something you can enable from their official management/monitoring software. However, if you open a serial port and blindly send the right sequence of bytes to the UPS, you can probably enable it on their consumer models, too. I know that I have an ES350, and was able to trigger it just fine. Unfortunately, it didn't fix the problem for me (it made it thrash a tiny bit less, but it still thrashed).

Re:Buy multiple wireless data cards

[Miamicanes]

I doubt it, or at least doubt that they'd instantly go into such a mode the moment commercial power were lost. Otherwise, they'd have lots of REALLY angry customers who'd be furious about being unable to call anyone besides 911.

At worst, I could see them load-shedding the fiber or microwave link and falling back to a single T1 if the power situation became dire (or the fiber/microwave link lost its connectivity due to some upstream problem anyway), but prohibiting everything besides 911 would cause them more problems than it would solve. Especially when you consider that during a real hurricane, calling 911 is almost pointless anyway, because they aren't going to risk the lives of police/paramedics/firefighters by sending them out in 100+mph winds with trees and live power lines down on the road.

Still, I guess this means I should also look into buying an old rootable & reflashable GSM phone on eBay while I'm at it. I remember reading somewhere that there was at least one guy working on implementing a v.92 "VOIP-mode" 2400/4800/9600 baud modem for Android that would work by taking direct control over the phone's audio hardware and bitbanging it in realtime, just like a Winmodem would. I think the original intent was to let you do things like send faxes to real-world fax machines straight from your phone, but I don't see why it couldn't be used to connect to a modem bank somewhere, too.

Before someone mentions that modems don't work over cell phones, I should mention that there ARE a couple of modes that were newly defined sometime around v.92 or v94 that are basically high-bandwidth low-bitrate modes that try to trick VoIP or wireless codecs into thinking that they're speech plus loud background noise that can't be separated out or compressed away, and overwhelm the codec into giving up and encoding the content at a higher bitrate than it would ever use for straight 2400 baud.

The idea is that if you try to send straight 2400 baud tones through something like a GSM codec, it'll try to encode them with the equivalent of 1200 bits per second and you'll end up with garbage. But, if you encode 2,400 bits per second along with 48,000 bits per second of Reed-Solomon error correction, and do it in a way that totally overwhelms the compression algorithm, it'll grudgingly end up encoding it with a much higher bitrate, and leave you with enough to recover the original 2400 baud data at the other end. It's mostly used now for fax machines and credit card processing, but in theory it could also be used for straight dialup internet.

Yep.

[roc97007]

Beer. Check. Popcorn. Check. TV warmed up. I'm ready.

always ready

[Anonymous Coward]

In the eye and always prepared for a storm such as this.

Always

[Anonymous Coward]

We live out in the country. We're always ready. Lack of preparedness is a city thing.

Not at all...

[Lumpy]

Do your worst mother nature... in fact I DARE YOU to make the hurricane come right at me!

Guarantee she cant make it to michigan... PBBBPBPBPBPT! Mother nature..... you aint got the GUTS!

Re:Not at all...

[Anonymous Coward]

Watch it. mother nature will send down a tornado at 3am to take care of you.

She's done it before to michigan.

Re:Not at all...

[Miamicanes]

Doubtful. This damn hurricane didn't even give us a waterspout or funnel cloud. Isaac was kind of a flop too, but at least it lit up the Miami and Fort Lauderdale TWDR like a Christmas tree with tornado vortex signatures (TVS) for a couple of hours as it approached. Sandy? I think I saw maybe a dozen TVS over the span of 3 hours between KAMX, TMIA, and TFLL, before I got bored and went to bed.

Actually, there WAS one thing about Isaac that was *very* cool. When I was driving to work, I noticed about 20 cars pulled over to the side of the ramp from eastbound I-595 to northbound I-95, and I quickly discovered the reason: for the first time I can remember, jets were making "Kai Tak" landings at Fort Lauderdale airport. there was a major rain band further west, so they couldn't use the normal "straight in" approach to runway 13 (31?). Instead, the jets made their final approach by flying south (directly above I-95), cleared the bridge over the New River and the tall bridge for State Road 84, then made a 45-degree hard left turn above the cheering crowd standing on the ramp from eastbound 595 to northbound 95. (aerial view: http://goo.gl/maps/kojPF )

I enjoyed the festivities for a few minutes (the jets were coming in about 1 every 2 minutes), then got back in my car and headed to the office, timed to see one jet approaching the bridge as I drove over the river, and another jet flying by overhead near Oakland Park. It was very cool. It's a shame they're getting rid of that runway next year. Personally, I think the airport's making a mistake, because without that runway, they would have been forced to shut down the airport completely for most of the day when Isaac was passing over.

Not here

[kilodelta]

The chances of wind are .2 - and we all took statistics right? It means more than just somewhat less likely to happen.

We might get a little blowjob Monday into Tuesday though. That's at .35.

So no need to go prepper crazy. My amateur radio gear is all charged and ready if the shit does in fact hit the fan. And I have ammunition.

Re:Not here

[Anonymous Coward]

We might get a little blowjob Monday into Tuesday though. That's at .35.

Man, why did I move away from the East Coast? :(

Tuesday of DOOOOOOOOM!

[buckadude]

I hear it should hit us on Tuesday, as I reside near Worcester, MA. Currently I have taken care of my barn yard and two greenhouses with my brother. We intended to get a jump start on the "action". Tomorrow we will split wood (which has to happen regardless) then get gas for the generator, check and run the generator, prep the chainsaws, gas the trucks, fuel the tractor, field-strip/clean/oil our firearms, get beer, get scotch, cook dinner, yada yada. Then do whatever else is required (I think shower, but my girlfriend is currently not around... sooo if a tree falls, right?) but that really isn't much of a change of habit. I just hope my chickens and crops do ok with the 6-10 inches of rain predicted to hit.

Hotel living

[Anonymous Coward]

My wife and I travel a LOT for work. We live in the Philly area and are currently commuting to Boston (Westborough) for my long term assignment. I recently bought an '05 Jeep Grand Cherokee to be sure I could commute through just about anything this winter. Didn't think I would be testing its capabilities so soon. I also recently finished my ham radio "go box" -- an 8U Gator hard case with all my ham radio gear installed inside. Only problem is I hadn't gotten around to the battery power yet. I still carry a 100' extension cord.

Current plan is to get to the hotel a little earlier than usual this Sunday and bring enough food for my wife and to survive in the hotel without power for a few days. I need to get back home by Friday evening. The hotel sits on pretty high ground but all routes to Framingham tend to flood. I have a strong suspicion I will be working from the hotel Mon-Wed and some of my peers may be sleeping in airports for a day or two.

Re:Stupid article lookat this quote:

[i.r.id10t]

I'm married to a redheaded puerto rican. *every* period is dangerous.

Yeah, I've got puts on all my stocks

[Anonymous Coward]

No wait... that was for the election. Hey! It's dual purpose. Sweet.

The FT857d and the trailer are loaded....

[darkharlequin]

...and I'm getting the ft817nd charged and set up for NVIS operation. Of course, I'm in cape may county, NJ, so basically I'll be flattened.

Stuff

[bobbutts]

generator wired into house comcast cable internet verizon 4g tmobile 4g beer Went through the eye of Charley, and was actually scared for my life. Not to worried for this one, but being cutoff and no power stinks, hopefully the above will perform as designed.

Years ago, a radio blooper told the truth. . .

[Salgak1]

Denizens of DC Metro know WTOP News Radio, an all-news/weather/traffic station. Typically, the storm reports are "Brought to you by Giant Food", one of the major local grocery chains. . . . starting ~48 hours before the expected storm. And of course, the stores get slammed with people buying bread, milk, TP, beer, etc. . . But one night, about 10 or so years ago, they let the truth slip out. . . . "This storm is brought to you by Giant Food. . . "

Re:Years ago, a radio blooper told the truth. . .

[thePowerOfGrayskull]

Ah, and thus we go right to the *real* heart of the matter.

Yes and no...

[GiMP]

Basically, I haven't done so yet, but I need to get serious about storm preparations tomorrow. I'm in Philly where we expect to get hit hard, and my wife is 9 months pregnant.

We're electric everything here without any gas backups. I'll run out tomorrow and grab propane for the grill, and I've got charcoal and cast-iron, if I need it. We've lined up a generator rental, since we can't find one for purchase, and we're discussing if we want to go forward with it. More likely, I'll get myself an indoor-rated, portable propane heater and some extra tanks.

Not much in the way of dry and canned foods, but I'll pick up what I can tomorrow at the store. Perishables tend to go quick, but the items that actually matter such as cans and UHT pasteurized products, don't go quickly at all. UHT milk will stay good on the shelf for >6 months. Plus, we have enough to last us the next week if I rationed (my wife can't, being pregnant)

Overall, not prepared, but will be... I hope.

Re:Yes and no...

[riverat1]

If your wife it 9 months pregnant then you'd better have some plans about how you're going to get to the hospital if it becomes necessary.

The plan.

[sidragon.net]

Buy enough supplies—canned food and bottled water—before Monday to keep me self-sufficient for months. All the while not realizing that any disaster so severe as to require their use leaves me screwed either way. Then I will go to Starbucks on Tuesday morning for my usual $5 coffee ritual. Remainder of the week is spent around the water cooler discussing the once-in-a-lifetime Perfect Storm that caused many rather severe nuisances. Forget about all the nonperishables I bought until the next holiday food drive pops up months or years later, and give it all away. Repeat the process next time it rains or snows.

Re:Stupid article lookat this quote:

[Anonymous Coward]

It has more to do with the synergistic effects of the gravity of the sun and the moon.

The very strongest tides are at new moon, when the sun and the moon are on the same side of the earth; next strongest is at the full moon. Lowest tides are at the 1/4 and 3/4. Look it up, geekoid.

US paranoia

[Anonymous Coward]

Why is it that people in the US are whipped into a state of paranoia so easily? An appropriate response is having a few days of fresh water. In the unlikely event that the damage is severe, you can go a long time without food, and even longer without the fucking internet. Harden the fuck up you drama queens. Your founders would bitch-slap you.

PORNOFUD

[Anonymous Coward]

it's coming, oh my God...oh...oh...harder...oh my God...

Re:Stupid article lookat this quote:

[riverat1]

Tides are generally highest when there's a full moon or new moon because that's when the Sun and Moon are in alignment and augment each other.

linear feet

[rossdee]

"he went flying over 50 linear feet before he fell."

The only time I have seen the unit linear feet is in flooring or other material pricing (to differentiate from square feet (area)
So it doesn't make sense in this context (unless you could fly over 50 square feet.

Re:linear feet

[Anonymous Coward]

I think he meant "50 feet measured in a straight line along the ground." Which is pretty far, but it doesn't take into account the vertical distance traveled; which should just add to the terror.

Re:linear feet

[Anonymous Coward]

No, no, the unit you're looking for is cubic feet. He was 50cu.ft before he got stretched out.

I live in the Bahamas you insensitive clod!!!!

[sulphurlad]

This girl has power, and is not in a big hurry to leave. We are still getting 35 MPH + gusts in Nassau this Saturday morning. Had massive storm surges on the coast, with some roads, hell even a police car, buried in the sand, and just generally just want that tourist to leave the islands.

Some of the Family Islands, Eleuthera, Abaco, Grand Bahama, Cat Island, the islands to the east of Nassau/New Providence, took the brunt of the Storm.

If you fly a parabolic trajectory

[Anonymous Coward]

If you fly a parabolic trajectory you may land 50ft further along the ground but took yourself up to 100ft altitude before then. Total distance travelled nearly 250ft.

But if people didn't see your arc, all they know is that you travelled the 50 feet linear distance from your starting point to the end.

There are more things in heaven and earth than are dreamt of in your philosophy.

Sure thing ...

[Anonymous Coward]

by not living in the US but Europe :D

Learn from experience

[smartin]

Last year we got slammed by Irene and the October snowstorm (the snow storm was 10 times worse). Afterward I created a storm preparation list which I've reviewed this week and was surprise by some of the things that I wrote that I would not think of now. .e.g. spare fuses for generator, charge cell phones, etc.

During Irene I learned exactly what happens to my house as the amount of rain piles up. We can take 6 inches or so but after that the water table rises and my basement starts to leak in certain places. So we are clearing out those places and are prepared with mops, shop vac, backup sump and generator.

This time we won't be able to change what happens, but since we have experience, we know how to at least limit the damage.

Meanwhile in Italy..

[Anonymous Coward]

... scientists predict the hurricane may completely change its course and wipe out the whole nation perhaps even separating Italy from the rest of the continent :D

Re:Meanwhile in Italy..

[epSos-de]

You stick to us please. I have booked my rental flat for next summer already.

Really?

[rossdee]

I am over a thousand miles from the sea (in any direction) so I don't think I will even notce.

What, my ex-wife?!

[yumetoinori]

I've been avoiding Sandy for over a year now. Why do I suddenly need batteries or water or... Oh, the hurricane. I'll take that any day over the ex. Three stores were completely out of real (ie, not tiny key chain-like or slightly bigger) flashlights when I went out today. Might try to grab some head-mounted spelunking lights from Costco tomorrow but if all fails we have plenty of candles and fire is cooooooooool.

my preperations entail:

[Thud457]

making a big bowl of popcorn seasoned liberally with schadenfreude, since I'm in Florida.

can't fool mother nature

[Thud457]

some tropical storm winds.
and rain.

and rain rain rain.
and rain rain rain rain rain.
and rain rain rain rain rain rain goddam will the rain ever stop?!!!
and then some more rain.
Then it's still raining on Saturday.
Now the rain from the backcountry is draining your way.


Mix in the fact that you're not in Florida, so : a) all that rain can't just wash out to sea, and b) the land is less than flat, collecting the rain in low areas, causing every little creek to be engorged and turgidly overlfow it's banks. You might have a bit of a problem.