Comments on: Irene will be weaker than thought, but slow, big and bad enough

By: Jason Thibeault

Jason Thibeault — Sat, 27 Aug 2011 19:09:03 +0000

Ah. But in space, noone can hear you… blow.

By: Greg Laden

Greg Laden — Sat, 27 Aug 2011 15:17:21 +0000

Jason, I wonder if they hear it when they fly over it.

By: Jason Thibeault

Jason Thibeault — Sat, 27 Aug 2011 14:43:58 +0000

Just posted a video of Irene from space, via Time’s news feed, over at my place. Click my name.

By: hoary puccoon

hoary puccoon — Sat, 27 Aug 2011 12:56:30 +0000

Re evacuation– As I recall, an official hurricane warning means a hurricane is expected to hit you within 24 hours. For some purposes (saving a boat, for example) this is not enough time to prepare. If you are in an official evacuation area, it would be a really good idea to keep up with the storm through the National Hurricane Center web site instead of just your local news station, and get out early if you can possibly manage it. You’ll save yourself, and avoid adding to the congestion if there is an evacuation.

I know this is a hassle, reacting to the threat of a hurricane that may turn before it reaches you. When we were living aboard, we ended up preparing for five hurricanes and only got hit by one. But preparing carefully for that one saved our boat, and probably our lives.

By: skippy

skippy — Sat, 27 Aug 2011 06:49:35 +0000

good luck to everyone, i’ll be watching it on tv.

By: Lynn Wilhelm

Lynn Wilhelm — Sat, 27 Aug 2011 02:43:44 +0000

I recall Floyd was a slow storm. Lots of flooding in eastern NC. Looks like we won’t get so much rain here in the Raleigh-Durham area–but we’ll find out tomorrow.

By: Bacopa

Bacopa — Fri, 26 Aug 2011 23:48:44 +0000

Thanks for commenting on my observations about fast food signs. They can get pulverized and yet most of the florescent lights survive. Someone mentioned having beachfront property. Hope you get lucky, Ike scoured the beaches clean. I hope you got your house built by the engineer who rebuilt this guy's house. Looks like Irene will not become stronger than Ike and have a considerably smaller storm surge. I must also point out that the community in the above video was pretty far from the worst part the storm. Most important thing if you live outside of the storm surge zone is how strong your electricity infrastructure is. I live in an area with hardened underground cables also live next to a phone switching station and have a major hospital a half mile away. I had power back in a day and a half. my ex-gf lived in a less developed where most electricity came in above ground. She was without power for sixteen days but at least had a crew dispensing food and ice rations near her home. Most of all, DON'T PANIC! All of southeast Texas went completely insane when Rita followed just a few weeks after Katrina and Houston was full of Katrina refugees. If you do not live in a mandatory evacuation zone, DO NOT EVACUATE! Keep the roads and gas stations open for people who really have to get away. We had mayhem on the highways during the Rita debacle. We learned from it and weathered Ike well. You cannot control the storm but you can control how you react to it. To wrap up, if you're outside the storm surge zone a hurricane is sort of like a supercell thunderstorm where everyone is in a strongest downburst ever that lasts for six hours with plenty strong wind before and after. Think of it like that. Shelter in place, and best of luck