what are you doing to prepare for Isaac?

[smiley]

I am just curious what other Gulf Coaster MMers are doing to prepare for Isaac.

I haven't had a chance to get to the store yet but I need to go and get some water / non perishables / batteries etc. I don't plan to stock up for the apocalypse but we haven't been shopping in about two weeks so we are low on everything.

This is the first Tropical Storm / Hurricane Watch that we have had since being on our own. I was in high school when Charley went through so my parents did all of the preparing (which wasn't much!).

We pretty much have everything either in the house or shed that could potentially blow away. We don't have shutters for the house but there is no one else around us boarded up so I am not too worried at this point.

[smiley]

Aug 25, 2012 12:09:07 GMT -5 operagirl said:

Where are you, Smiley?

We live about 70 miles south of Tampa.

The maps we were looking at this morning at work showed around 5-6 inches of rain for us and very high winds with the outerbands.

[lanyac]

Its just a tropical storm, right? You'll be fine. If you're concerned about power loss, get an extra tank of propane for your grill. We learned you can make anything on those... bagels, coffee, burgers, lol.

[smiley]

Aug 25, 2012 12:21:26 GMT -5 lanyac said:

Its just a tropical storm, right? You'll be fine.

See this was my motto but then at work everyone was flipping out and talking about closing early tomorrow and not opening Monday etc. so I was like oh shit maybe I shouldn't be so lax about this. We also had a number of suppliers cancel deliveries and shut down for Monday.

[AAM2012]

Even a tropical storm can cause you to go without power for days. We got a lot of water, soup and some extra wine We also got some flashlights and an extra propane tank. We trimmed our trees around the house and that's been about it. We're in Tampa.

My parents are in Ft Myers and they're putting the hurricane shutters on and getting supplies. They went through Charlie and had no power for 2 weeks (in August) and it was the worst thing they've ever gone through.

[hannamaren]

My sister lives in Tampa, and she said I dont need to worry about her. She lived further South during Charlie and some other one.

[Kore]

Gustav was only a TS by the time it got inland to Baton Rouge. We still lost power for 8 days (the longest of my life!) due to an insane number of downed trees & above ground electricity wires. Def better to be prepared, even if it's not life threatening.

That said, I'm not doing anything unless it turns west

[DarcyLongfellow]

I'm in Jax, so we aren't supposed to get much. You never know what path it's going to take, though!

We need to go buy some water. I have plenty of bread and peanut butter, so we won't starve :-) Oh, and we really are low on toilet paper. I guess I should buy some :-)

[jenni232323]

We're not doing anything - we're in Central FL, east coast.

[smiley]

Aug 25, 2012 12:32:57 GMT -5 AAM2012 said:

They went through Charlie and had no power for 2 weeks (in August) and it was the worst thing they've ever gone through.

Charley was pretty much in our backyard (we didn't live here at the time) so I think people are being more cautious where we are because they went through it a few years ago. You can still drive down some streets in the Port Charlotte area and see the ruins. It's sad that after all of this time those areas were never cleaned up.

[smiley]

We went grocery shopping a bit ago and both WalMart and Publix were low / out on D batteries. We found a pack of four on a small display and grabbed them. There was plenty of water at Publix so we grabbed a couple of gallons and a 24pk as well as our normal grocery items. We didn't buy much for frozen / refrigerated foods though just incase.

[Kore]

Son of a bitch. The computer models changed overnight

[AAM2012]

Ugh...oh well we will be eating soup for the next month!

[smiley]

Aug 26, 2012 8:25:49 GMT -5 Kore said:

Son of a bitch. The computer models changed overnight

yeah I saw that this morning too... who knows what will happen when it hits the Gulf though.

We are already get some wind and the skies are dark and the storm isn't projected to be to us until tomorrow afternoon/evening.

[smiley]

Aug 26, 2012 10:16:20 GMT -5 swizzlestx said:

Oh! And don't forget if you do lose power, call your insurance company to see if they cover the loss of food in your fridge/freezer (I know USAA does!)

That is a good tip. We did buy a bag of ice and brought the coolers in from the shed incase we needed them.

[cajunmom]

Aug 25, 2012 12:21:26 GMT -5 lanyac said:

Its just a tropical storm, right? You'll be fine.

This means absolutely nothing. The worst floods that we have had in my area were the results of tropical storms.

[FrozenSunshine]

I'm wishing I was there to help my grandpa, because my uncles suck.

Stay safe ladies!

[Deleted]

Aug 26, 2012 8:25:49 GMT -5 Kore said:

Son of a bitch. The computer models changed overnight

That looks ugly for Louisiana.

[pamela]

Aug 26, 2012 8:25:49 GMT -5 Kore said:

Son of a bitch. The computer models changed overnight

I invited my friend over and she said she couldn't because she was packing. I was all confused why, because last I looked at 8am or so, it didn't look too bad. Yeah, she told me to check again. Not looking pretty.

So now DH is finishing up clearing the back porch (thankfully we did a major garage cleaning a month ago and organized so there is room for everything). I'm getting a bag packed for DH, DS and dogs to leave if needed since they'll issue the notice while we're at work tomorrow. And I'm on duty so I'll ride it out in the plant while they leave town. We're not boarding up (house wasn't even boarded for Katrina). I've gone back and forth on it, but we're deciding against it for now.

Only trip out we'll need to do is to get a sleeping bag for me.

[stingsharkruns]

Nothing. With every update it gets further & further away from the FL Gulf Coast.. I'm sorry for those in LA, but I really hope it stays away. We are still dealing with the flooding from TS Debbie (not me, but this area).

[frlcb]

My parents have a house in Destin and I know they have had someone come and move all their outside furniture inside, to be safe.

[Kore]

Be safe, Pamela. Please update this week if it ends up this way do I know you're ok.

There are no mature trees on my street yay generic new construction), so I'm glad we don't have to worry about them falling on the house. If we lose power, we'll spend the weekend with my ILs near Hammond. They have a generator & a pool.

[ermahgerd]

I live directly in between Orlando and Tampa, and it's already pretty bad over here. It's been super windy all day, and we've had a constant downpour of rain.

We went grocery shopping early and bought and ton of food that doesn't need to be refrigerated, plus some ground turkey. (We have a propane grill on our covered screen room.)

Stay safe, everyone! My house loses power easily so we are already prepared to go without it for a few weeks.

[stingsharkruns]

Aug 26, 2012 13:40:30 GMT -5 ermahgerd said:

I live directly in between Orlando and Tampa, and it's already pretty bad over here. It's been super windy all day, and we've had a constant downpour of rain.

We went grocery shopping early and bought and ton of food that doesn't need to be refrigerated, plus some ground turkey. (We have a propane grill on our covered screen room.)

Stay safe, everyone! My house loses power easily so we are already prepared to go without it for a few weeks.

I saw on BN9 y'all were getting some pretty serious winds.. I'm only assuming where you live since you said btwn otown & tpa (we used to live in that area about 3yrs ago).

Stay Safe!

[phunluvin82]

We have done zero to prepare. Now that they changed the model path, I guess we need to start! Damn.

[stumpy]

I never ever thought a hurrican would hit central Florida. The coast? Sure, So far inland . . . nah.
Then three hurricanes hit us in one summer. In a matter of a few weeks apart. I will never look at hurricanes the same.
Weather is serious and even a tropical storm can cause serious serious damage. So, please don't say you'll be fine . . . no worries. That's a load of crap. People should be prepared and know that trees will fall and major damage can happen. People die b/c they think everything will be fine.

That being said, I am fine. Nothing serious has ever happened to me in a hurricane or tropical storm except being without power for a week per storm. But I know several people that live minutes away and they had major damage in the hundreds and thousands of dollars. So, stuff happens.

[M]

We're not doing anything. Well we might go to the beach to see the waves haha. H likes that stuff so I tag along. But it shouldnt be too bad where we're at on the east coast.

ETA we always have food stocked up and our house was built to withstand a cat 3 hurricane.

[pamela]

Our parish just put out a notification that they might start issuing evac notices tonight. The latest update shows it even further west which could even bring it to Texas. All the way out to Galveston/Houston should start thinking about plans just in case.

[cajunmom]

Kore, I hear you on the generic new construction...we have no mature trees to worry about but our friends across the street do. They have 70-80 foot tall pines behind their house.

We haven't done much but DH is out right now filling up our gas containers and picking up a window a/c unit that we can plug into a generator. We have plenty of water and non-perishable food and we can cook on the grill or on our camp stove. We have gas hot water so we don't have to worry about that.

Pamela, keep us updated if you can!

[Kore]

Good luck, opera! I really hope y'all are safe

(cajun lives near BR, in case she doesn't see this).