Hurricane Season 2019: Who's Ready?

[snappy]

I’m not sure the latest. The last I’d heard was they didn’t need to do it as soon as they thought. I think we’re all fine as long as we don’t get a storm. It’s crazy though b/c the water table is so high here. We need our pool replastered but with the water table so high it’s too dangerous to do & we are probably about 2 miles from the levee. I heard in BR water is seeping up through concrete like around River Road by LSU’s campus.

It’s definitely seeping by the Vet school. It happened a few years ago too but somehow that doesn’t make us feel any better.

 

[LSUmiss]

It’s definitely seeping by the Vet school. It happened a few years ago too but somehow that doesn’t make us feel any better.

I heard the Riverbend subdivision too which is even further up (I think). I work on river rd here & there is a ship that sits in the river that the bottom of the ship is eye level with the 2nd story I work on!

 

[luvflorida]

You are welcome! If you do a search here on Dis, there are past threads of hurricane tips.

Hopefully this season will be a mild one.

This was a thread that was started last year that has a lot of helpful tips.

Hurricane Tips Here Comes Florence

Thanks so much! I'll definitely check out the hurricane threads!

We just moved to Marco Island at the end of July 2017. Six weeks later, Hurricane Irma made landfall here on the island. We didn't have any shutters, impact windows, nothing. Our house was built in 2000, so the roof was older, the pool cage screening was older, etc. We got back from our evacuation and found lots of shingles gone, but the roof basically intact. The pool cage had screening missing (or in the pool) about 60%. We didn't have any water intrusion (that's what we were worried about the most since they reported we were going to have 20 foot surge) and the power and utilities were on and working absolutely perfectly. We got a new roof, added impact windows and front door to the front of the house and shutters on the other three side and replaced the screening on our pool cage.

Irma was a different hurricane since it was so wide and affected almost the entire state. So Orlando did get affected. I don't think you have too much to worry about other than tornados as offshoots of the storm. And any rain if the storm lingers over the state instead of moving out quickly. You'll want some water stashed if you lose water pressure, some food that you can prepare if you lose power, etc. Make sure your insurance is up to date. I know our homeowners' insurance didn't cover the pool cage, so we paid out of pocket for those repairs. Check with your neighbors to see if they have flood insurance or not. When we first got flood insurance in Louisiana, we were not in a flood zone, so it was only about $270 a year. After we made two claims, it jumped up to about $2400 a year. Our flood insurance on the island which is a flood zone, is higher than what we paid at the beginning in Louisiana, but not nearly as high as it was after our two claims.

So did all the metal pieces on your pool cage remain intact, and just the screening need repairing? Our neighborhood is not in a flood zone (even though the houses on our side of the street all back up to a lake) so I think we're all set as far as flood insurance. I'm going to get out our home insurance papers, though, and make sure.

We have vacationed in Florida for many years, but have never been here during a hurricane. We are now here permanently, though, having bought a house last December. Being from New England, we are used to blizzards! This summer will be a whole new experience for us!

 

[wgeo]

Thanks so much! I'll definitely check out the hurricane threads!



So did all the metal pieces on your pool cage remain intact, and just the screening need repairing? Our neighborhood is not in a flood zone (even though the houses on our side of the street all back up to a lake) so I think we're all set as far as flood insurance. I'm going to get out our home insurance papers, though, and make sure.

We have vacationed in Florida for many years, but have never been here during a hurricane. We are now here permanently, though, having bought a house last December. Being from New England, we are used to blizzards! This summer will be a whole new experience for us!

I'm a few miles inland from the gulf, we stayed in our house (with hurricane shutters) during Irma. We lost one shingle and that was because a tree branch kept hitting that same spot and worked it lose during the day. We did lose a number of the screens on the pool cage, the metal cage itself was perfectly fine.

Our house is surrounded by very large oak trees. For years we trimmed them ourselves but now have a service come and "thin" them out for us, keeping them healthy and also not too "top heavy" means the wind can go through them and not push them over - at least in theory.

It is absolutely important to be prepared, but if you are in the Orlando area you should be just fine. I know a number of people on the coasts go TO Orlando as a safe place to evacuate to during a storm.

 

[jalapeno_pretzel]

The biggest risks where I am are downed trees and power outages. We don't prepare until we hear something is on the way, and preparation is not really much different than how we would prepare for a winter storm. Buy extra food, fill cars with gas, secure deck furniture, make sure the grill has sufficient propane.

 

[Aimeedyan]

We moved to FL 2 months before Irma and were woefully unprepared. We thought we'd just buy what we needed once the storm was on the way and that was WAY too late. None of the stores had supplies, Amazon was hugely delayed in package delivery, even the propane places were out of propane a week before it hit!

We dodged a bullet but no power for over a week threw us for a loop - esp with senior dogs. So I've got to do better this time and not just wait until the storm is coming.

(In all honesty, if another one comes aimed at us, we are heading to Disney - by the time we realized we may take a direct hit, there wasn't an available pet friendly hotel room to be found from here to S Carolina. I called so many...)

 

[eileenjez]

We rode out Florence without too much damage. We did lose 4 trees but no real damage to the house. Things we learned was if you don't have a generator think about getting one. Make a list of all the things you would use on a daily basis that if you had no power or water what you would need. Disposable cups for coffee, paper plates, plastic dinnerware. Baby wipes if you can't shower. I filled up gallon size bottles of water, some for drinking some for washing. Froze some to keep the freezer items cold. Filled the bathtub with water. We have battery powered lanterns, a generator, and enough gas cans to keep the generator going for at least a week. A local TV station has a list of what you might need. Here it's WECT.

 

[DisneyWorldMimi]

Our house isn't even repaired from Hurricane Michael. Our whole community is still recovering from it. Many people still have no place to stay and a kind woman has opened up her property to create a tent village with about 30 people staying there. There are blue tarps on roofs all across the county. The bill to get disaster aid to us was finally passed by the house, but now has to wait for Trump's signature. 236 days since Hurricane Michael to get Disaster Relief Bill signed. The longest for any disaster relief EVER!
We live 5 miles from Tyndall AFB, which received damage to EVERY SINGLE BUILDING on base. Some funds to help rebuild have been put on hold effective June 1. Those that were already allocated to projects can still be used for those projects, but money for other projects hasn't been approved.
So, no I am not prepared. We no longer have a Red Cross Office in town as it was destroyed. I knew the Director and have no idea where he is working.

 

[Deb & Bill]

Thanks so much! I'll definitely check out the hurricane threads!



So did all the metal pieces on your pool cage remain intact, and just the screening need repairing? Our neighborhood is not in a flood zone (even though the houses on our side of the street all back up to a lake) so I think we're all set as far as flood insurance. I'm going to get out our home insurance papers, though, and make sure.

We have vacationed in Florida for many years, but have never been here during a hurricane. We are now here permanently, though, having bought a house last December. Being from New England, we are used to blizzards! This summer will be a whole new experience for us!

Yes, the cage itself was in great shape and we only needed screening. It was 17 years old and needed to be replaced anyway.

Make sure you get a bug service to treat your yard/house for waterbugs and other crawly things. When it's dry outside, the waterbugs will get inside looking for water. Just suck them up with a hand vac and empty them outside.

Actually, you should be fine in Orlando. With Irma, there was a lot of power outages throughout the state because it was so wide. And trees down. We only have palm trees on our property now because we lost
the one deciduous tree that we did have on the corner of our lot.

 

[SaintsManiac]

Well we are having some serious flooding in the BR area. Hope all is well @snappy!

 

[Deb & Bill]

I bet with all the flooding they had upstream in Iowa a few weeks ago. It just heads south. Keep dry and don't drive into high water. It's amazing how many people think they can drive through that water.

 

[snappy]

Well we are having some serious flooding in the BR area. Hope all is well @snappy!

All good here now! We did get caught out in it early this morning. Raining so hard I couldn’t see so I just parked in a parking lot. I am told there are a lot of abandoned cars around in various roads. All normal routes were impassible. It drains fairly fast though and we made it home. Not a relaxing morning.

 

[SaintsManiac]

I bet with all the flooding they had upstream in Iowa a few weeks ago. It just heads south. Keep dry and don't drive into high water. It's amazing how many people think they can drive through that water.

There were several rescues of course. Stalled cars all over the place. We even had some tornadoes.

 

[snappy]

There were several rescues of course. Stalled cars all over the place. We even had some tornadoes.

Oh my didn’t hear about tornados. We had to go wayyyy across town on Florida at 7 am. Outside our normal area. Had to wait to get to the garden district and then back to LSU area. It’s amazing how it fast it drains compared to Metairie where we used to live.

 

[SaintsManiac]

Oh my didn’t hear about tornados. We had to go wayyyy across town on Florida at 7 am. Outside our normal area. Had to wait to get to the garden district and then back to LSU area. It’s amazing how it fast it drains compared to Metairie where we used to live.

I moved here from Metairie during Katrina and my co-worker moved here from Chalmette. We were just talking about how fast the water drained compared to NOLA area. It's already drained over here at work (Siegen area).

The tornadoes were in Prairieville area, but thankfully not near my house. One of them hit Exxon.

 

[fla4fun]

I am as ready as I will be, but after riding out Irma, I don’t know if I am brave enough to ride out another one. Even though we had minimal damage (mostly tree limbs in the yard) the storm itself was terrifying and there were many times I wasn’t sure the house could take it even though it’s solid concrete.

 

[hereyago]

So, I may need to invest in sand bags.
I am not in a flood zone, however last couple days we have had hard rain and live in an apartment that part of it is actually under ground, but the back patio is at ground level.
It has rained and the back yard area
started to flood because the water has no where to go.
I can see with extended or large amount if rain it could creep up to patio.