Hurricanes???

worriedmommy

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Originally Posted by Princess-Pickle

That sounds terrible!
Did you have any cats then?
(I can't imagine Pickle in a hurricane!)
Yes we did have two cats then. They were both outside cats too. Thankfully we had warning enough that we had them locked in our laundry room with litter box and food/water. So they were taken care of. I don't remember them being that freaked. Funny cause if we had one now I would see all three cats (indoor only) we have now would be freaked our of their minds.
 

stacyd1987

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Originally Posted by babygirl

The three hurricanes that hit Orlando were Charley, Frances and Jeanne. Ivan went to the Florida panhandle.
That goes to show how bad my memory is, thanks!
Out of the three, my most memorable one was Jeanne.
 

muttigreemom

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I was also in Melbourne, FL for Frances and Jeanne. Well I was living there, but I evacuated or Frances. I went down to Port Charlotte, which has just been hit by Charley. So I can't tell you much about what it was like riding it out, but 12 days without power in the middle of august in Florida did not exactly make for the most comfortable situation.

But I did ride out Jeanne. It was only Karma and I in a frame and stucco apartment (I've learned since then!
) What I remember most was how LOUD it was. It was like having a freight train sitting outside every window of your house all at the same time. I remember the water pouring in around the windows and me thinking "man, I need to buy more towels after this"
But the worst part was the apartment I was in had a dining room that sort of jutted out a bit from the side of the building... kinda like a semi circle... and next to that, my bedroom was set back a bit... so it made a perfect little trap for the wind. Within the first few hours of the storm I was absolutely positive the dining room was just going to fly off any minute.

What I remember most was sitting in my living room with no power, holding on to Karma (on a leash) hugging her head and trying to cover my ears at the same time because it was just SO LOUD! I finally put both of us in the closet (walk in size) to try to block some of the noise.. and that's where we stayed... on the floor, snuggled together... our heads on a pillow... and the battery operated radio and the flashlight within arms reach
 

sneakymom

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So now that I've read some of these stories, mine seems kind of wimpy.

Isabel came right through our area in 2003. It was only a cat 2, but did a lot of damage. My husband (who is navy reserves) was out on a ship during it.

So I was at home with a 1st grader and a 4th grader. We lost power for 3 days (I know, nothing like in Fla). It wasn't a whole lot of fun, being in a hot house with a couple of very bored kids (lol). We did find things to do. I think we played just about every board game we owned then!

We lost 7 trees in our backyard, thankfully nothing hit the house. Though there were houses down the street from us that weren't so lucky.

The really neat thing was- that the neighbors looked out for each other. After we lost power, my next door neighbor came over, and offered to hook the refrigerator up to their generator. It was kind of a moot point then, I had already cleaned the whole thing out. So we hooked a light up to it. He also helped nail some siding that had come off the side of the house, and took off a gutter that was hanging by a thread (lol).

There was a lot of wind. And a lot of rain. I wouldn't want to be anywhere near a cat 5.
 

calico2222

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I was in two typhoons when I lived in Guam (typhoon is just what they call hurricanes on the other side of the date line in the pacific). The first, would have been a catagory 3 I think..sustained winds around 120. The second was a super-typhoon with winds at 190, gusts to 200. It was a beast!

The first caused the most problems for us though, because basically we were stupid. We had an airconditioner in 2 of the windows with only plexiglass held with cauking covering the top (windows opened to the side, instead of up and down so they had to come out completely for the aircon). The landlady had typhoon shutters for the rest of the windows so I asked my boyfriend, who is now my ex not my husband, if we should put plywood on the outside over the plexiglass. "Nooo...it will be fine". Well, we were stuck in the eye wall for 6 hours and, you guessed it...the plexiglass blew in so we then had a typhoon in the middle of the living room, and in the bedroom! Luckily, before they blew, we moved the computer, tv and any thing else of importance into the spare room whose window was protected by typhoon shutter.

The second (after he was my ex) was better because I was prepared the way I wanted to be. Even though it was stronger, it wasn't as bad inside...only a lot of water came in through the aircon in the bedroom.

Being in a typhoon is freaky, especially with shutters on the windows because there is a constant howling and you can't see what is happening. I heard things crashing into the shutters and had no idea what they were! Turns out, they were mainly coconuts
. But, after the big one, the next morning I went outside and the top of the telephone pole across the street had a huge piece of sheet metal was wrapped around the top so tight it stayed there, form fitted to the pole. I was SO glad that pole was there and it didn't form fit to my house!

Here is a link to some pics during and after SuperTyphoon Pongsona (pronounced something like "pong-sung-wa")

http://www.netpci.com/gallery/typhoonpongsona/album/

Do the slide show. The pole are concrete and they still blew over. We didn't have power for a month!
 

shopcat

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Melbourne Florida resident here!

We caught the backside of Charlie, & then dealt with Francis & Jeanne in one month. Compared to many of our coworkers, we were soooo lucky.
With Francis, we didn't even lose power. It flickered off & on, & we were shut in the apartment for what seemed like forever, listening to the howling wind & rain & the same ol hurricane coverage on the news. It's weird, you become addicted to the stupid weather report & just leave it on constantly. My entertainment was staying up till the middle of the night drawing a portrait with some beer & some painkillers that I had from a dentist appointment right before. Just drawing till the power went out. It never did. Mike was sleeping.
Me n Mike slept in shifts thru both of them-that's how bored we were.
We lost power with Jeanne just long enough for our food in the fridge to go bad. We weren't out of work for too long..
The most exciting part is when the storm is approaching & everyone freaks out-the beaches & causeways are deserted & it's so weird. But being shut up indoors for what seems like forever is a bore. Too boring to be afraid. I'm not one to be afraid of the big storms, & just take it all as it comes.
We sat on our couch & watched the neighbors' roof peel off & blow away, saw them loading things into their car in the middle of it all & leaving after their place began to be flooded.
I remember being in line for gas, everybody was getting backed up at the pumps & there was this stupid woman with an old Toyota pickup trying to put a shot of the Av-Gas(high octane stuff for racecars) in her tank! She was having trouble with it, going back & forth from the cashier to the pump, people were starting to back up behind us, wondering what in hell was taking so long & I asked her "Can't you give your truck a treat some other time???" She gives me a dirty look like there are not 6 people lined up behind us.
All in all, we were in an area where our power was hardly affected at all, no flooding & no damage to our things. We were very lucky.
The cats took it well, though. they just laid around like they always do!
 

lsulover

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Originally Posted by babygirl

Katrina was a category 4, I believe it was downgraded to a category 3 a few months later. Hurricane Andrew was the last category 5 to hit the US in 1992. It was a category 4, but years later it was upgraded to a category 5.
I did a google search and found this, it says in this article that Katrina was a catagory 4 Hurricane. When Katrina went to Florida and then back out into the Gulf in got way worse.



Hurricane Katrina was the costliest and one of the deadliest hurricanes in the history of the United States. It was the sixth-strongest Atlantic hurricane ever recorded and the third-strongest hurricane on record that made landfall in the United States. Katrina formed on August 23 during the 2005 Atlantic hurricane season and caused devastation along much of the north-central Gulf Coast of the United States. The most severe loss of life and property damage occurred in New Orleans, which flooded as the levee system catastrophically failed, in many cases hours after the storm had moved inland.[1] The hurricane caused severe destruction across the entire Mississippi coast and into Alabama, as far as 100 miles (160 km) from the storm's center. Katrina was the eleventh tropical storm, fifth hurricane, third major hurricane, and second Category 5 hurricane of the 2005 Atlantic season.
 

lsulover

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Originally Posted by babygirl

Katrina was a category 4, I believe it was downgraded to a category 3 a few months later. Hurricane Andrew was the last category 5 to hit the US in 1992. It was a category 4, but years later it was upgraded to a category 5.
I am confused in what you are talking about, I am not understanding what you are saying about it being downgraded to a category 3 a few months later, evidently you are not aware of the damage and devastation in caused in Louisiana, Mississippi, and Alabama.
 

halfpint

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Originally Posted by LSULOVER

I am confused in what you are talking about, I am not understanding what you are saying about it being downgraded to a category 3 a few months later, evidently you are not aware of the damage and devastation in caused in Louisiana, Mississippi, and Alabama.
Oh man BB I remember it to it was terrible, it was a big one for sure
 

babygirl

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Originally Posted by LSULOVER

I am confused in what you are talking about, I am not understanding what you are saying about it being downgraded to a category 3 a few months later, evidently you are not aware of the damage and devastation in caused in Louisiana, Mississippi, and Alabama.
I am aware of what it did. I did not see video footage of what Katrina did because I didn't have power since Katrina hit us first. I do know that it was the costliest and deadliest hurricanes to ever hit the US....but here is the article that tells you that it was a category 3 when it made landfall.

http://www.cnn.com/2005/WEATHER/12/2...ina/index.html

Here is the article that tell you that Hurricane Andrew was a category 5 and not a 4 when it made landfall in South Florida.
http://www.sun-sentinel.com/news/wea...,1661757.story
 

lsulover

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Originally Posted by babygirl

I am aware of what it did. I did not see video footage of what Katrina did because I didn't have power since Katrina hit us first. I do know that it was the costliest and deadliest hurricanes to ever hit the US....but here is the article that tells you that it was a category 3 when it made landfall.

http://www.cnn.com/2005/WEATHER/12/2...ina/index.html

Here is the article that tell you that Hurricane Andrew was a category 5 and not a 4 when it made landfall in South Florida.
http://www.sun-sentinel.com/news/wea...,1661757.story
I never said that Katrina was a 5 when it hit land, I just said it was a 5, which it was.

And I am aware that it hit Florida first, but it hit Florida as a 1, people in Louisiana, Mississippi were also without power.

Like I said in my first post here, I live pretty far inland, and there were people where I live, that didn't have power for two weeks or more. I live about 90 miles from the coast, and there was still a lot of damage here.
 

catgirl2548m

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i luv all this my hurricane was bigger than ur hurricane. u guys r funny.

it was a 5 no a 4 no a 3 no a 5 no a 1 no downgraded to a 3 no upgraded to a 5.

i hope some day i can brag about being in a storm that kills people.
 

sophiec

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Originally Posted by babygirl

Katrina was a category 4, I believe it was downgraded to a category 3 a few months later.
Katrina was a 5 when it was in the Gulf of Mexico, but downgraded to a 4 before it made landfall on the Louisiana/Mississippi coast line.

Andrew was back in 1992, but we evacuated for that one. We didn't have much damage at home. Just lots of tree branches in the yard and one broken window on the back patio.

Lili was a direct hit in 2002. I evactuated to a friend's house a little further north. I remember it was an unusual hurricane in the fact that it hit during daytime hours....most hurricanes hit land during the middle of the night. I remember sleeping alot during Lili.


Katrina...well, everyone knows about that one. However, as bad as it was, I am 2-1/2 hours west of New Orleans, so we had absolutely nothing from that storm.

Rita, a few weeks later, hit to the west of us, so again, we were pretty much spared. We did, however, get some very strong winds. I remember one of my brothers and his family came over because they lived in a mobile home. By 2:00 that morning, everyone had gone to bed. We had already lost power earlier at 6:00 at night. I was sitting there alone, in the kitchen, listening to the wind gusts outside. It sounded and felt like the roof was going to be sucked off the house at any moment. It was about then that I decided I'd be better off asleep than worrying....so I went to bed.
 

pamela

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It was INTERESTING to read all of your experiences. I have been in ONE hurricane and that was only a category 2-3- Hurricane Isabella..

I was TERRIFIED during this time and I agree with others- I would never wish a hurricane on ANYONE! I had 4 inside only cats and several ferals that I was feeding and lived alone in a basement of a house near DC.

One thing all of you mentioned was how NOISY it was.. That was interesting to read that it was so loud you wanted to cover your ears. I'm Deaf so I didn't have that problem!
I remember I was frustrated about not hearing cuz I was afraid a window would break and I wouldn't know so I wouldn't be able to take care of it immediately so I had to keep checking all over to make sure the windows were not broken ALL NIGHT.
I could NOT SLEEP at all cuz I was afraid I would miss any warnings due to being deaf. I was POSITIVE some trees would fall on my house because they were swaying back and forth SO HARD. Some did fall on a neighbor's house but luckily noone was hurt.

Guess it sucks HEARING all the NOISE AND it sucks being DEAF cuz you won't know what's going on unless you LOOK!
Hope that made sense??

Another interesting thing was that the cats KNEW something was up starting a day before hurricane hit us. They were a lot more needy, wanting to be with me all the time, etc.

I hope Dean is the only hurricane to hit this year. I really FEEL for the people who are going through Dean right now. I can't imagine how scary it must be.
 

babygirl

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Originally Posted by catgirl2548m

i luv all this my hurricane was bigger than ur hurricane. u guys r funny.

it was a 5 no a 4 no a 3 no a 5 no a 1 no downgraded to a 3 no upgraded to a 5.

i hope some day i can brag about being in a storm that kills people.
I'm not bragging at all. Katrina is the worst storm to hit the US but she was not the strongest. I just want people to post the facts. I understand people don't keep up with these kind of stuff, but I do. I love following hurricanes, and I am a member on two weather forums. Oh, and I know you were not serious, but I didn't like your little joke!


Originally Posted by SophieC

Katrina was a 5 when it was in the Gulf of Mexico, but downgraded to a 4 before it made landfall on the Louisiana/Mississippi coast line.

Rita, a few weeks later, hit to the west of us, so again, we were pretty much spared. We did, however, get some very strong winds. I remember one of my brothers and his family came over because they lived in a mobile home. By 2:00 that morning, everyone had gone to bed. We had already lost power earlier at 6:00 at night. I was sitting there alone, in the kitchen, listening to the wind gusts outside. It sounded and felt like the roof was going to be sucked off the house at any moment. It was about then that I decided I'd be better off asleep than worrying....so I went to bed.
I don't know if you read the article I posted earlier but they downgraded Katrina to a 3 in Dec. of 2005.
http://www.cnn.com/2005/WEATHER/12/2...ina/index.html

I think every strong hurricane in 2004 and 2005 was a category 5 when they were in the Caribbean or in the Gulf of Mexico.

I remember Rita, she passed by the Keys. We only felt the outer bands from the storm. I was praying it didn't go to NOLA.

My brother lived in a mobile home when Wilma hit us, and in the middle of the Hurricane he got in his truck and came to my house. I'm glad he made here safe though.
 

stacyd1987

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Originally Posted by Pamela

It was INTERESTING to read all of your experiences. I have been in ONE hurricane and that was only a category 2-3- Hurricane Isabella..

I was TERRIFIED during this time and I agree with others- I would never wish a hurricane on ANYONE! I had 4 inside only cats and several ferals that I was feeding and lived alone in a basement of a house near DC.

One thing all of you mentioned was how NOISY it was.. That was interesting to read that it was so loud you wanted to cover your ears. I'm Deaf so I didn't have that problem!
I remember I was frustrated about not hearing cuz I was afraid a window would break and I wouldn't know so I wouldn't be able to take care of it immediately so I had to keep checking all over to make sure the windows were not broken ALL NIGHT.
I could NOT SLEEP at all cuz I was afraid I would miss any warnings due to being deaf. I was POSITIVE some trees would fall on my house because they were swaying back and forth SO HARD. Some did fall on a neighbor's house but luckily noone was hurt.

Guess it sucks HEARING all the NOISE AND it sucks being DEAF cuz you won't know what's going on unless you LOOK!
Hope that made sense??

Another interesting thing was that the cats KNEW something was up starting a day before hurricane hit us. They were a lot more needy, wanting to be with me all the time, etc.

I hope Dean is the only hurricane to hit this year. I really FEEL for the people who are going through Dean right now. I can't imagine how scary it must be.
The noise never bothered me!
I like the wind howling, it almost sounds like a ghost.
 

catgirl2548m

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Originally Posted by babygirl

I'm not bragging at all. Katrina is the worst storm to hit the US but she was not the strongest. I just want people to post the facts. I understand people don't keep up with these kind of stuff, but I do. I love following hurricanes, and I am a member on two weather forums. Oh, and I know you were not serious, but I didn't like your little joke!
i wasnt joking. i thought the back and forth between u and the person from lousiana was trivial and disrespects the loss of life. it doesnt matter what category a hurrican was. it matters what happened 2 the poor people and animals who died and their families.
 

babygirl

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Originally Posted by catgirl2548m

i wasnt joking. i thought the back and forth between u and the person from lousiana was trivial and disrespects the loss of life. it doesnt matter what category a hurrican was. it matters what happened 2 the poor people and animals who died and their families.
You think I don't care about the people that died. I donated money to them and I sent supplies. Heck, I just donated money to the victims of the earthquake in Peru, and this week I'm sending them some blankets and sweaters because its winter over there. And for the record Belinda and I were not going back and forth. I love her, I think she's very nice and she's a huge college football fan just like me. Like I said earlier I just want people to post the facts.
 

catgirl2548m

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Originally Posted by babygirl

You think I don't care about the people that died. I donated money to them and I sent supplies.
i didnt say u didnt care about them. i said u were trivalizing them.


Heck, I just donated money to the victims of the earthquake in Peru, and this week I'm sending them some blankets and sweaters because its winter over there.
Whenever you give to the poor, do not blow a trumpet before you, as the hypocrites in the synagogues and in the streets like to do, that they may be recognized and honored and praised by men.
 
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