Post by jeaniebueller on Sept 6, 2017 12:57:25 GMT -5
Now he is trying to clarify it and say that they are concerned about 'sex offenders and predators' being in the shelters with young children. Yeah, whatever dude. You wanted your 15 min of fame on Fox news. We get it.
I have grandparents in FL south of Orlando, and several states away from me and the rest of my family. I'm trying to figure out how freaked out I should be. They are refusing to leave and will not accept help to leave. They aren't on the coast, but does that even matter? Their town is only 150 ft above sea level from what I understand and there are many many lakes nearby. My grandfather has early Alzheimer's and my grandmother is in renal failure. I just feel sick.
You say *only* 150 ft. That's very high. That's a mountain. Probably higher than any point in my home county. It means no storm surge (plus inland). Localized flooding can occur, but that can happen at any elevation.
By contrast my childhood home was 5 ft and we still wouldn't evac until above cat 2.
Don't compare Harvey flooding because fl geology and soil is very different.
It's easy to panic. But focus on the likely scenarios.
They probably need to shelter with medical aid because your grandfather could get entirely disoriented and scared and may try to Houdini into danger. And I'm guessing your grandmother needs dialysis.
Do they live alone? Services help with people like your grandparents getting them somewhere safe ahead
News from Barbuda- there were several hours of panic this morning when no contact could be made.
Seems like only property damage, no fatalities reported yet.
Officials in Antigua cite high level of preparation and the responsiveness of the population to calls to seek shelter as reasons they weathered the storm so well.
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Cheeto has to brag about Irma size because, well, look at his hands.
You know how they say you can't imagine love growing more after a first child because you're at your max, then you have a second? Well, I never realized my hated could continue to grow this much. Each tweet it does.
(Also I had the same joke in my head about not letting in Jose. I may have even voiced to h)
Look, I'll put this out there. I have a couch and a condo, and maybe even my bedroom if anyone needs the space. Seriously. My mom has a "Florida room", 2 sleepable couches, plus 1 extra bdrm with your own bath in NJ around New Brunswick/Princeton. She is barely there with working 12hr days at times and only her godmother will be there from the FL keys.
I'm 100000% serious. If any of you are getting out and have nowhere to go, contact me.
Cheeto has to brag about Irma size because, well, look at his hands.
You know how they say you can't imagine love growing more after a first child because you're at your max, then you have a second? Well, I never realized my hated could continue to grow this much. Each tweet it does.
(Also I had the same joke in my head about not letting in Jose. I may have even voiced to h)
So true. I have depths to my capacity for loathing I never realized I had before now.
Post by downtoearth on Sept 6, 2017 14:13:16 GMT -5
I was just catching up and CNN noted that
The hurricane earlier Wednesday battered a string of northern Caribbean island nations, situated east of the more populous Virgin Islands group and Puerto Rico.
Early reports suggested damage on parts of the smaller islands -- a tropical region popular with tourists.
Barbuda, home to about 1,600 people, was "so badly damaged that there is no communication" from the island, said Keithley Meade, director of a meteorological office in Antigua and Barbuda.
It's likely that all other older buildings there have at least been damaged, he said.
Parts of the Caribbean island of St. Martin are left flooded Wednesday after Irma hit.
Roughly 10 of these smaller islands -- such as St. Martin, Antigua and Barbuda, and St. Kitts and Nevis -- were pounded by hurricane conditions. One, Guadeloupe, has about 405,000 residents. The rest have about 264,400 people combined.
The Barbuda situation is terrifying. Those poor people.
This is completely my hurricane ignorance speaking, but I'm just wondering what the general conditions are like right now in the Caribbean to make it so that we don't have any reports as to what is happening there. Is it that the winds and rains are still too strong to send in helicopters or small planes to fly over it to see what's going on and start a rescue mission if needed?
Lol. For perspective for those who've not personally dealt with hurricanes. From old grandpa today.
"They think it's only going to be about 130 by the time it gets here. That's nothing. I'd worry if it were above 150. I've been here for over 70 years." For reference, there's family legend that he went out during an eye once to check lines on boats (marina owners checking on boats since guests were safely evacuated), got out of the lee, and was knocked flat on his back (I'm sure this is exaggerated). The eye has basically no wind relative to storm.
Numbers in a vacuum sound scary. If 60 messed you up in Ohio, that doesn't mean it will in FL. So double that doesn't mean catastrophic.
I'll go back to my earthquake analogy. 6.0 in Japan or 6.0 in Kansas. You'll see different results.
That's not to downplay danger. It's to put numbers in context.
The Barbuda situation is terrifying. Those poor people.
This is completely my hurricane ignorance speaking, but I'm just wondering what the general conditions are like right now in the Caribbean to make it so that we don't have any reports as to what is happening there. Is it that the winds and rains are still too strong to send in helicopters or small planes to fly over it to see what's going on and start a rescue mission if needed?
I don't think there are many aircraft that can fly inside hurricanes, at least big ones. So, my guess is that these communities that have lost communication systems are largely on their own until winds die down.
The Barbuda situation is terrifying. Those poor people.
This is completely my hurricane ignorance speaking, but I'm just wondering what the general conditions are like right now in the Caribbean to make it so that we don't have any reports as to what is happening there. Is it that the winds and rains are still too strong to send in helicopters or small planes to fly over it to see what's going on and start a rescue mission if needed?
Each island/country has different issues, but in general...
Rarely do you have buried lines. So, if poles go, so does telecom and power. Buried lines are only for across water. Fun fact: All lines from South America and Caribbean terminate in one building in Miami.
You're right about small aircraft not safely flying. But, also, small aircraft were likely moved to safer spaces so where are you going to get them? A heli just becomes a very expensive projectile in a storm. Plus, runways may have debris.
An earthquake in SF can get a plane from Sacramento. A hurricane in Houston can get a flyover from Dallas. Islands don't have that accessibility.
There's also a far more recent self sufficiency that Americans don't experience.
We were on rain catchment, so no power no problem. Tie a jump rope to a beach bucket and dip into the cistern. Yes, I've done that. You know when my family got phones on the island rather than just 1 party line to the island and UHF? (It's always on for some. My aunt heard my grandparent's mayday call) 1989. When power goes out every day at least an hour, you have generators. That's all in my memory. Can you imagine anyone even 60 years old in America who's experienced that?
Again, not diminishing danger. Just providing context.
That makes sense, thanks. It's hard to fathom a situation where there's just no communication and no abilty to get an answer ASAP to what's going on. Since you can see it from Antigua, I'm just besides myself that nobody seems to be able to get over there and get us the info we need to start helping them. But this info is helpful.
sushi I had no idea you had lived in the Bahamas. I hope your family and friends there are safe.
The Guadeloupe airport is already reopening. I'm really surprised but it looks like it didn't really sustain any damage. Sounds like they're only allowing bigger planes for now. At least, I think so. I saw a short article but my French was definitely not good enough to following along with the accompanying video.
My university for grad school (USF) is closing for the weekend. It really won't effect me as a online student but they're waving all due dates because so many students are still local.
Thanks sushi. I was/am letting myself jump to panic when that's not helpful.
They do live alone but have a good group of friends and neighbors who all watch out for each other. It's hard not to want to just get on a plane and bring them here but they are stubborn as hell. Their medical needs are most concerning to me.