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...

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

[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

[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

[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.

Obligatory xkcd

[Anonymous Coward]

Obligatory xkcd

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?

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: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.

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: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: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: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.

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.

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

[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: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:Nothing new here

[ColdWetDog]

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

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:Prepared vs Extemporaneous

[Penurious Penguin]

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

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".