Category 1 hurricane!
15OH NO, it’s a category 1 hurricane! Hurricane Henri is here! Here in Connecticut it’s the first time in 30 years we’re getting blasted with a hurricane! They’re saying it’s inevitable that some areas will be without power for up to 3 to 4 weeks! It’s like waiting for a dreadful kind of lottery, who’s going to be the unlucky losers?
Here at my mother in law’s house, where we’ve been taking care of her, there is a huge 30 foot tree that’s most probably going to come down! With the direction of the wind, IF & WHEN it does come down it’s most likely to fall on the house.
Yesterday was spent hunkering down the hatches and everything is just about all set for us to get out of here! We’re right along the coast and expecting floods.
My 85 year old M.I.L is going to her (other) son’s house, he’s got a generator and runs his house on solar during the day. We’ll be down the road at my condo.
I’ve been wanting to get back to my condo for a long long time now, unfortunately the only way it’s going to ever happen has to be a result of tragedy or death. Sure hope I don’t have unhappy feelings related to going home as this WAS my happy place, my new beginnings, my new forever home, just 6 years ago when I bought it. I’ll just enjoy myself while i’m there and TRY not to over think it! Fingers crossed for not losing power and hopefully our town/community will come through without too much damage! Right behind 2020, 2021 is proving to be a colorful year! Hang tough CT, stay safe, stay strong! 
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Good luck! I hope y’all come out unscathed.
Prayers for you and our other mehtizens of the northeast coast!
There is no doubt that waiting for a hurricane can be more stressful than the actual event itself as it always changes course and a few miles one way or another can make a big difference especially in the amount of rain you get with the bands coming through.
Welcome to our world in Florida July through October.
Come to Florida during hurricane season for practice. That is why every store imaginable sells liquor in Florida. Drunk people don’t care about anything.
@Felton10
Stressful for sure! When I was a kid I spent every winter during school vacation in Fl. visting my grandparent. The only thing I ever saw was one of those baby twisters, possibly a funnel cloud? I know it was very scary, it was so close it seemed like I could almost touch it! I never remember any hurricanes though. Maybe they didn’t get many in their area, idk…
It always amazes me how much Amazon still delivers right up until the hurricane, we’ll from what I hear on tv. You think those people would be outta there but I guess everybody’s gotta job to keep. Well you hunker down and stay safe.
If it’s still Category 1 when it comes ashore, much will depend upon how far from the coast you are. Cat1 isn’t a strong storm, and the winds usually diminish rapidly as the storm hits land. I’ve been through seven majors including a Cat5, and while I understand and agree with evacuating your MIL, I will also add some experience-based advice if there’s time for you to act on it. Tape on windows is pointless; it accomplishes next to nothing except to slightly delay when broken glass falls out of the frame, and at that point, you have bigger problems. On the other hand, even thin sheets of paneling or pegboard firmly attached to the outside wall to protect the windows can keep them intact against the vast majority of flying objects. Use deck screws to attach the storm shutters.
(Those “miracle claw” things that somebody may be promoting are utterly useless; if you don’t know what I’m talking about, GOOD.) Since you have a tree-fall hazard issue, putting any personal articles that are water-damaged (like books) into plastic tubs with snap-top (NOT flip-top folding) lids will help to keep them dry if the roof is crushed. (I had the top half of a tree come through the roof once.) Most sound, permanent structures bigger than a garden shed can survive a Cat1 storm intact, so if the tree stays up, you’re probably just going to have some minor clean-up afterwards, but don’t expect the fridge to stay cold, or expect ice to suffice for safe food storage, past 24 to 48 hours tops. Generators are going to be scarce in the area if you don’t already have one, and you probably will need it if you’re within 25 miles of the coast. If you’re farther in, the need will decrease with distance.
Good luck, and don’t worry overly much.
@werehatrack
We’re about 2 miles from the ocean/shoreline. We aren’t in the low lying flood areas. The whole thing really wasn’t that bad. Guess it’s better to be over prepared though. Of course it’s extra scary when it’s not a regular occurrence. Thirty years in between hurricanes is A-okay in my book! I appreciate all your advice and helpful hints, thank goodness we didn’t have to do most of that stuff! You hurricane regulars must keep a long check list! Not something that I would want to have to go through on a regular basis. Thanks again! ✌
@Lynnerizer
You could say I tend to be prepared for hurricanes. I have plywood precut for the windows, two generators, three chain saws, and a stash of emergency roof repair materials that can fill in a hole up to seven feet wide. I am MUCH better prepared than any of my neighbors, most of whom have never been in a storm worse than category 2.
@werehatrack
WELL JEEZE, I’d say you’re prepared! My first thought, your neighbors must LOVE you! Lol
Trying to understand what a huge 30 foot tree is.
@ninkumpoop
When there’s a hurricane approaching, and the tree is close to the house, its size increases like the weight of a cat that has just settled in on your lap. Except not in a nice way.
@ninkumpoop @werehatrack
You are SO right!! The already damaged 30’ tree became enormously bigger, taller, heavier and more scary when 70mph winds are expected! Especially since it’s next to the house! The mind is a strange thing.
First i’d like to say thanks to everyone for your great ideas and years of experience dealing with hurricanes yourselves. My gosh is that stressful!
So the hurricane was downgraded to a tropical storm shortly after it started. It wasn’t bad at all! Only about 30 thousand homes lost power and neither of our homes were effected.
We’re just waiting to finish up some laundry before heading back to assess the situation at the house and possibly pick up the M.I.L.
Dimentia is a real bitch! We’ve been getting phone calls all day from her other son. (where the M.I.L is) Every 5 minutes since she’s been there she’s been asking where we are and WHY we left her there? She’s driving them NUTS! They’re just getting a glimpse of what we go through EVERYDAY! I must admit, the break IS SO NICE.
Hopefully tomorrow I WON’T have any pictures with lots of damages to post! The newscasts are saying that they’re worried about trees uprooting from all of rain. Since the storm changed directions it turned out to be WAY LESS nasty than they expected it to be in our area. My gosh, some of flash floods were awful, pictures showed a women’s home with water 1 foot from the ceiling! Poor thing, hope she’s got insurance!
Thanks again!! ✌
@Lynnerizer Told you the best thing that can happen it that it is headed directly toward you as it always seems to change direction.
BTW-unless that women has flood insurance (which I have even though I am not in a flood area), she is out of luck re water damage to her home during a flash flood.
@Felton10 @Lynnerizer
Except when it doesn’t. I arrived in deep south Dade County, Florida one Friday evening in August of 1992, only to have my parents warn me that a hurricane was due east and headed straight for us. Famous last words: “Eh, they always turn north before they come ashore, it won’t hit us.” That was Hurricane Andrew, which was upgraded to category 5 after the fact when NOAA eventually decided to accept the Turkey Point Power Station’s anemometer reading (175 continuous, 195 gusts). The official weather station in the path of the storm broke up and blew away before max velocity was reached, and it had hit 160. My parents’ house was in the zone of maximum destruction. There are tales…
@Lynnerizer @werehatrack There is always one exception to every rule.
@Felton10
Yes, I hope her and ALL the other people who have damage have flood insurance! I’m just watching the weather channel and seeing ALL of the terrible damage. How awful!
@Felton10 @Lynnerizer
Homeowners insurance that covers wind damage, as the water/rain damage is really storm surge related and was caused by wind. Unless there is a hurricane or “force majeure” exception clause.
Yeah, it sucks that insurance doesn’t cover what they spend millions pretending they do. Katrina survivors know all too well the insurance bullshit weasel words.
@Felton10 @Lynnerizer @werehatrack
Is there an exception to that rule?
(Trying to suss the logic on that makes my head hurt.)
@Felton10 @Lynnerizer @phendrick
I believe that rule is “Gravity works.”
@Felton10 @Lynnerizer @werehatrack
BIngo! https://physics.stackexchange.com/questions/33154/can-gravity-be-absent#33156
Or, maybe not:
[last quote from same link above, just different section.]
Maybe we can put the question up for a vote as a California proposition on the ballot for Newsom’s recall.
(Just for fun:
https://www.sfgate.com/gavin-newsom-recall/article/California-recall-laws-history-who-constitution-16397664.php)
@Felton10 @Lynnerizer @mike808
Storm surge is only covered under flood insurance. It’s flooding. I asked an insurance salesman.
@Felton10 @Lynnerizer @sammydog01
I know that tens of thousands of New Orleanians and Gulf Coast residents post Katrina and Rita and Ivan and so on, … that would very much disagree, based on their first-hand experience of denied claims, with what the insurance salesman told you.
The insurance adjuster will tell you a different answer. The adjuster will tell you that the storm surge was caused by wind, and that flood insurance does not cover wind damage when you try to make your claim.
@Felton10 @Lynnerizer @mike808 Tens of thousands of residents had their claims denied because they didn’t have flood insurance. Most flood insurance is underwritten by FEMA and they pay out.
Consolation to those who do lose power for weeks?
They might miss a mehrathon or two and the accompanying 10 or more “opportunities” for IRKs.
So how are folks doing who got hit by this? Or the big flood?