Big Apple Dreaming

Let Steph know. She's sort of worried. I haven't heard back from my students yet, but I won't be upset if they decide to bag class tonight.

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Good luck to all of you.... That (almost) shuts me up about the cold here ;-)!

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Florida is probably going to get slammed worse. Send shorty82 and other Eastern Gulf Coast UFies your best thoughts.

I won't leave unless a Category 3 or more is going to directly hit New Orleans. I've stayed through other storms and I feel that the inconvenience of schlepping hundreds of miles away is equal to the inconvenience of being without power for a day or so. I HATE sitting in traffic with the hundreds of thousands of moronic drivers in this city on a good day. On a bad day when ALL of them are out heading in the same direction, I feel I would be homicidal.

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Good thoughts on the way.
What is the main problem there? Flooding, or house flying away? I mean - is it any use going to a basement, or would that be suicidal? The idea of "evacuating" in a traffic jam sounds indeed sufficiently horrifying to put up with all kinds of BS.

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We don't have basements here. We're below sea level. Basements would be eternally flooded except in drought conditions. We don't even bury the dead underground for that reason.

The main problems are flooding, flying debris and/or parts of your own dwelling, and lack of electricity. Thank the deities for mosquito abatement. Every two weeks a truck goes by spraying for mosquitos so we didn't have that misery to contend with during the power outage as well. Even so, it's hot and muggy. The only way to make that less unpleasant is to lie naked on one of those long lawn chairs and be constantly misted by a garden hose. The neighbors would likely complain about that though.

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Ok - I guess I have to take that idea and smoke it...;-). Anyway - it is quite hard for me to imagine a house without basement. We were gawking at those (whole!!) ones that were floating on the Missisippi river, back then, as well. There must be ways to have a "floating" basement, by the way. We have underground lakes as well, and build some of these. Is rather expensive, of course. So you would want a concrete core to the house, that is anchored, and has running water? How long do these storms usually take to get through? Wow. Scary thing to imagine, indeed... But that's way cool about the mosquitos!! You get none of them, ever?! How wonderful!

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We don't exactly get no mosquitos, but we do tend to get fewer of them because of the regular spraying.

Storms can take anywhere from twelve to twenty-four hours to blow through. Before the brunt of the storm arrives, there will be increased winds and rain usually. The furthest points outward from a hurricane are comprised of feeder bands that help fuel the rotation and partly drive the storm in a specific direction. People on the eastern side of a hurricane usually get worse weather than those lucky enough to be on the western side of it.

If we don't evacuate, I'll be here providing updates until and if we lose power. After that, I'll be grumbling with Corpsman about the lack of entertainment and miserable sleeping conditions.

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bloodyviking.livejournal.com

The pumps can handle the rains can't they? I thought that it was just if you got hit with the storm surge that you were well and truely f4ed.

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goddessmusings.livejournal.com

Not really. The pumps are designed to pump out something like 1.5 inches per hour. During bad storms we've been known to get 3 inches in an hour, so a hurricane could easily give the pumps a run for their money.

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Put it this way. WE have certain areas that flood when someone spits.

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Lack of entertainment?! When half of the neighbourhood flies through the air?!? I would call that "entertaining", at the very least... Please take care! Weird, that - about the eastern side being worse - hope you stay on the "good" side, then...

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WE live in a bowl aka below sea level.

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Yeah - sorries. Got it, in the meantime :-). So what are you doing? Staying or driving? Good luck to you and yours, as well, of course!!

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I want to go surfing, but I am thinking that might be a tad dangerous.
I have "issues" when it it comes to doing insanely idiotic things.

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Congrats - if everyone had such completely mature and sustainable "issues", the world would certainly be a better place ;-)!
Aren't your waters stuffed with alligators at the best of times anyway? Or is that just another idiotic european prejudice?

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...are out in the swamps. This is the city. If they swim in this far, we're in deep water anyway. We'll have to contend with rats and nutria and bugs of all kinds.

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Yeah - but you wouldn't go surfing in the city, right? Then again "swamps" don't exactly sound extremely suitable either... Nutria! Those are awfully cute! I once woke up staring right into the face of one, down by the river here. We were staring at each other forever until I finally had to blink ;-).
So - how are things? Are you still online? Well - asleep, most hopefully...
Hope all goes well!!

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I don't suppose you want to surfing? You can use my Yum,Yum Yellow Boogie Board...plenty fun!!!

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I don't think surfing is a good idea for me right now. There are a myriad of reasons primary of which that I've never surfed before and a Category 4 hurricane is hardly the optimal learning environment.

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naruki-oni.livejournal.com

to wake up with a cup of hot coffee while reading a newspaper. I mean, I'm pretty clumsy in the first few seconds after waking up, and that many distractions mean I would at least be facing second degree burns.

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