Hurricane Irene

A more appropriate response to an earthquake is to get under something strong, to prevent things from falling on you.

Good choices that I can think of, and you only have a moment to think:

1. Under a desk or table.
2. In a doorway.
3. In a hallway at home.
4. Up against a strong wall.
5. Away from power lines.
6. Away from light poles.
7. Away from un-reinforced masonry.

Duck and cover. Roll up into a ball and cover the back of your head/neck with your hands, just like you would do in an unscheduled aircraft crash landing. We were all taught this in kindergarten.

Bricks should only be used as a surface material on an exterior wall. Never depend on a brick wall to hold anything up. For a home, the brick is up against the wooden wall that supports the roof. For commercial buildings the brick is probably up against a concrete wall. For a retaining wall the brick is up against the concrete wall that is supporting the load.

People laugh at the construction of our California homes. The walls are 2x4 with a sheet of 4x8 siding or plywood on them. This is quite strong and allows the building to sway with the motion.

I have cathedral ceilings in my home, about 16 feet high. The two walls in the middle of the house have plywood under the Sheetrock. This is what provides the shear support.

When Loma Prieta hit in 1989 our children, then 9 and 6, were afraid to go to bed. We put them in the hallway in sleeping bags and that satisfied their fear. In a hallway, you have two load bearing walls around you.

When Loma Prieta hit, my wife's uncle was at the Giants/A's ball game at Candle Stick Park. He jumped onto the field. Security threatened to arrest him. He said go ahead, I set the concrete forms for this place and I don't trust the concrete.

In San Francisco, the fire department ladders can reach up to the 8th floor. Buildings 12 stories and less are built rigid. Buildings taller than 12 stories are built to sway in the wind or during an earthquake.

Some earthquakes are a vertical bounce. Some are a horizontal motion. Earthquakes can cause a wave to roll across the earths surface. This is visible if you happen to be coaching your kid's soccer tame when the quake hits. Between vertical and horizontal earthquakes, I do not know which ones can cause a rolling surface.

I was at home for Loma Prieta. I did not lose any water in my swimming pool. A neighbor 2 doors down lost 3 feet. Apparently the orientation of the length and width of the pool, relative to the direction to the epicenter has something do do with it.

During Loma Prieta my wife was on the phone with someone in Los Gatos (close to the epicenter). My wife was about 10 miles further away. My wife heard her friend say "Oh my God, earthquake" and then she hung up the phone. My wife thinks to herself, "what earthquake. I didn't feel anything." Then it hit her location. So it took approximately 10 seconds for the quake to travel 10 miles. One mile per second, 60 miles per minute. 3,600 mph.

The big difference between earthquakes, tornadoes and hurricanes is that tornadoes and hurricanes come with some warning. Earthquakes provide no warning.

1906 was a major quake in San Francisco. The next major one was 1989. So statistically, we get a significant quake every 80 years.

Is there anywhere on the eastern seaboard, especially the southern part, where you would expect a significant hurricane to occur not more often than 80 years? Is New Orleans exempt for the next 75 years?

In tornado alley, if a house is destroyed by a tornado and is rebuilt. Would you expect it to be another 80 years before a tornado hits the same house again.

Northern blizzards are another dangerous event. But they are trivial to prepare for.

I'll stay in California. I feel much safer here.

Now about our fires...

I hope I have shed a little light with my east coast friends regarding earthquakes.

Disclaimer: I am not a seismologist. I did not look any of this up. This is my experience and information from conversations with friends over the years.

[tgpmd1]

I'm out here just north of D.C. and having been born and raised in S.F., knew exactly what to do. Grab the boy and cat and run to the doorway inside the house. If the boy and I could have fit under my desk in the den we would have stayed there. Some people were telling other people on Facebook that they should have run outside and not stay in the house. Ugh. There are so many older houses like ours that are brick and stone and lots of glass. Don't even get me started on the danger of tripping or getting hit by chimneys running out of the house. Go outside AFTER the shakin' is done. We were lucky that there were no major injuries.

Now debating if we should cover the TM or the storm or not. DH says that it would just tear up the cover more than it is now (darn that ADCO cover, tore at only only two months old). Since no hail expected, may just leave closed and uncovered. I just finished a repair to the right side top caulk just in time.

Seems like the media people are hoping for the worst, and over dramitizing. At least I hope that is the case. Most of them sound like they will really be disappointed if there isn't a lot of damage.

We were just on the outer banks in June, I can't imagine thousands trying to get out of there on that 2 lane road to the mainland. Wishing only the best for those having to deal with Irene.

[Barb&Tim]

Had to fold ours up today, will open it back up tomorrow after Irene gets past. We are on the good side of the storm and far enough away that hopefully, it will not be as bad for us as Hugo was a few years back.

We were getting ready for a trip to WV so Irene has kinda been a hindrance.

Tim

[B_and_D]

I'd leave the cover off, ours have ripped in the past mostly because of the wind.

I hope that all of our TM friends on east coast are well prepared and hopefully have been able to evacuate if needed. The TrailManor is an ideal bug out trailer, as long as it's well stocked.

We also went through the Loma Prieta earthquake (about 10 miles from the epicenter) and it was not fun. We had no power for 3 days, and we are on a well, so it was very hard to clean up after. We are much better prepped these days. We moved from the house into the cabover camper in the driveway because there was broken glass and things spilled everywhere and our daughter was 20 months old. The aftershocks were the worst thing, 3 at 5.4 and above quite soon after the main quake.

I'm praying & thinking positive thoughts that the hurricane goes out to sea and away from the US coast.

[tgpmd1]

I'm praying things are going to go better this time. With hurricane Isabele, a 120' tree fell on our house and caused over 35K in damage (the insurance covered $35k, but it cost us over $45k once all was said and done). It took over 9 months to get house repaired. It was a real nightmare. There are many drawbacks to having so many trees on one's property.

I hope that our TM, cars and home will be safe. We hear that it will be worse on the east side of I-95. We are a few miles to the west of I-95. Stocked up at Sam's club today and it was CRAZY. We have a generator, so we are prepared if we lose power (which happens more often than one might expect in the D.C. metro area). We rec'd a robo call from Pepco, the local power company to expect power outages. Fun times...

[countrygirl]

Had to run in to St. Augustine today and we passed massive convoys of Electric Crew/trucks/and gear on 95 headed North.

All Maryland State Parks east of Fort Frederick are closed until Monday Aug 29 due to Irene.

[Barb&Tim]

Only leaves & pine straw on our TM this morning, no big tree limbs. The eye is passing about 120Mi east of us so we are only catching the outer bands. Still getting some wind gusts that are pretty strong but should be dying down soon.

We wish the best of luck to those north of us that are in or near the path!

Barb&Tim

The real threat of this storm is that with the internet connections down and chat groups and social networks unavailable, people will actually have to talk face to face! Horrors! Will they even know how?

Keith