Hurricane Florence

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**NinthMusketeer**

Inquisitor Lord Bane wrote:
Actually though, the dishwasher is a solid piece of advice. It's watertight, and usually screwed into the cabinets. Great way to protect valuables from water.

That is a good tip. Though given I am in California perhaps I should consider if that works on the inverse with an oven.

**IronWarLeg**

NinthMusketeer wrote:
Inquisitor Lord Bane wrote:
Actually though, the dishwasher is a solid piece of advice. It's watertight, and usually screwed into the cabinets. Great way to protect valuables from water.
That is a good tip. Though given I am in California perhaps I should consider if that works on the inverse with an oven.

I was having a discussion with a friend about the dishwasher thing just yesterday.. I don't know how "waterproof" a dishwasher actually is. If you put dish soap in it, it will spew bubbles all over your kitchen through the door, and it doesn't have to be water proof to keep the water that's inside splashing about, inside, since it really doesn't use a whole lot of water and it pools in the bottom below where the door is. I don't know how one would hold up to a couple of feet of water pushing against it from the outside, I think it would leak personally.

I grew up in south Texas, went through a few different hurricanes, and not once did I ever hear anyone say to put your valuables in the dishwasher. Anecdotal evidence I know, but still...

**whembly**

Now Cat 3... however, there's reports of 80+ ft storm surges...

O.o

...that'll swallow up those barrier islands... no?

**d-usa**

Well, I'm packed up. I'm technically not on-call for deployments until December, but with stuff like that we never know if we might get pulled. So we are just going to prepare for the worst case scenario. Hopefully it won't be quite so horrible, and we won't get a triple hit like last year.

**Inquisitor Lord Bane**

IronWarLeg wrote:
NinthMusketeer wrote:
Inquisitor Lord Bane wrote:
Actually though, the dishwasher is a solid piece of advice. It's watertight, and usually screwed into the cabinets. Great way to protect valuables from water.
That is a good tip. Though given I am in California perhaps I should consider if that works on the inverse with an oven.

I was having a discussion with a friend about the dishwasher thing just yesterday.. I don't know how "waterproof" a dishwasher actually is. If you put dish soap in it, it will spew bubbles all over your kitchen through the door, and it doesn't have to be water proof to keep the water that's inside splashing about, inside, since it really doesn't use a whole lot of water and it pools in the bottom below where the door is. I don't know how one would hold up to a couple of feet of water pushing against it from the outside, I think it would leak personally.

I grew up in south Texas, went through a few different hurricanes, and not once did I ever hear anyone say to put your valuables in the dishwasher. Anecdotal evidence I know, but still...

If it floods 4 or 5 feet high in your house, you might be SOL. But if you just wind up with broken windows allowing rain and debris in your home, or it only floods a little bit inside, you would be fine. I'd probably hit it with some foam insulation or caulk if I thought there was going to be damage inside.

**djones520**

d-usa wrote:
Well, I'm packed up. I'm technically not on-call for deployments until December, but with stuff like that we never know if we might get pulled. So we are just going to prepare for the worst case scenario. Hopefully it won't be quite so horrible, and we won't get a triple hit like last year.

My division just got notified to be ready... looks like I might be getting to make a fun trip, just before I deploy.

**d-usa**

Pre-deploy to deploy is the new "standby to standby".

Maybe we'll have an unconventional Dakka meetup somewhere in the rain

**djones520**

Well heartening news overnight. Some unforecasted upper level sheer injected itself into the storm last night, and caused it to severely weaken. That's could end up saving a lot of peoples lives.

**Kilkrazy**

Good news indeed!

Things could still be pretty hairy, though, so take care.

**Frazzled**

Cat 2 now, but still expected to slow mo for two days near the coast. Expect a good bit of rain.

**reds8n**

https://eu.usatoday.com/story/news/nation-now/2017/09/07/how-fema-uses-waffle-houses-disasters/641145001/

How FEMA uses Waffle Houses in disasters

In a time of natural disaster, the federal government uses a simple gauge to determine the toll Mother Nature has taken on a local area.

It's called the Waffle House Index, or test, which uses the operating conditions of the resilient Southern restaurants as a barometer for how well an area will recover from a hurricane, tornado or other hazard.

"The Waffle House test just doesn't tell us how quickly a business might rebound — it also tells how the larger community is faring," said a FEMA blog post from 2011, when Craig Fugate was administrator under former president Obama. "The sooner restaurants, grocery and corner stores, or banks can re-open, the sooner local economies will start generating revenue again — signaling a strong recovery for that community."

Fugate said the system "came out of the '04 hurricanes," when he was Florida's emergency management director. Here's how Fugate described the test on a 2016 episode of NPR's comedy podcast Wait Wait... Don't Tell Me:

"They are open most of the time. And that was the index. If a Waffle House is closed because there's a disaster, it's bad. We call it red. If they're open but have a limited menu, that's yellow," he said. "If they're green, we're good, keep going. You haven't found the bad stuff yet."

If the test is to be believed, Hurricane Irma promises to pack a bigger wallop than Hurricane Harvey. Pat Warner, spokesman for Waffle House, said 40 Waffle Houses around Houston were affected by Harvey. The company expects about 250 restaurants to feel the impact from Irma.

Waffle House holds the FEMA test as a point of pride. The company's goal is to reopen its stores as quickly as possible after a storm passes. The company claims getting back to business restores a sense of normalcy in affected areas. Before a storm hits, the store brings in extra supplies and has managers on standby to help. Most of the 1,900 Waffle Houses are located in the southeast United States, meaning the company is used to battling big storms.

Fugate stepped down in January and was replaced by Brock Long, but the Waffle House Index remains. In an email, a FEMA spokesperson stressed the index is an "unofficial metric."

Waffle House Index ... think I bought their first album maybe ?

**nels1031**

I'm not going to claim to be a hero, but I certainly feel like one. Before bedtime last night, I sent some thoughts and prayers in a Facebook post about the Hurricane. Woke up this morning and found out that the Hurricane has reduced in power. Amazing!

What else can explain it?

**Iron_Captain**

nels1031 wrote:
I'm not going to claim to be a hero, but I certainly feel like one. Before bedtime last night, I sent some thoughts and prayers in a Facebook post about the Hurricane. Woke up this morning and found out that the Hurricane has reduced in power. Amazing!

What else can explain it?

Lizard people secretly controlling the weather.

**Mad Doc Grotsnik**

Stay safe, don’t get ded, don’t get injured.

**djones520**

nels1031 wrote:
I'm not going to claim to be a hero, but I certainly feel like one. Before bedtime last night, I sent some thoughts and prayers in a Facebook post about the Hurricane. Woke up this morning and found out that the Hurricane has reduced in power. Amazing!

What else can explain it?

A small pocket of wind sheer that the super computers missed, that injected itself into the storm, causing a collapse of the southern portion of the eye wall.

**Inquisitor Lord Bane**

djones520 wrote:
nels1031 wrote:
I'm not going to claim to be a hero, but I certainly feel like one. Before bedtime last night, I sent some thoughts and prayers in a Facebook post about the Hurricane. Woke up this morning and found out that the Hurricane has reduced in power. Amazing!

What else can explain it?

A small pocket of wind sheer that the super computers missed, that injected itself into the storm, causing a collapse of the southern portion of the eye wall.

Anyways, I'm glad the danger dropped, hopefully we can get through this one with minimal damage. I saw pictures of people lined up outside animal shelters to foster critters during the storm. I'm glad to see people still giving hope for humanity.

**nels1031**

Inquisitor Lord Bane wrote:
I saw pictures of people lined up outside animal shelters to foster critters during the storm. I'm glad to see people still giving hope for humanity.

Yeah, one of my coworkers who works for a Baltimore based pitbull rescue is going down south to pick up a few dogs that are being left to fend for themselves in an outdoor shelter. She asked me to go but I'm already watching a pitbull 3 weeks into a repaired acl surgery and my brothers two dogs.

Its maddening how people just leave with no regards to these things.

**ScootyPuffJunior**

Inquisitor Lord Bane wrote:
Anyways, I'm glad the danger dropped, hopefully we can get through this one with minimal damage.

The danger hasn't dropped, it's actually gotten worse because the storm has expanded. Wind speed is a misleading way to judge how devastating a storm can be. Hurricane Harvey caused catastrophic flooding in Texas as a weak hurricane and then a tropical storm.

**djones520**

ScootyPuffJunior wrote:
Inquisitor Lord Bane wrote:
Anyways, I'm glad the danger dropped, hopefully we can get through this one with minimal damage.
The danger hasn't dropped, it's actually gotten worse because the storm has expanded. Wind speed is a misleading way to judge how devastating a storm can be. Hurricane Harvey caused catastrophic flooding in Texas as a weak hurricane and then a tropical storm.

The primary killer of hurricanes has weakened though. It is still a dangerous storm, but yes, the danger has dropped.

**ScootyPuffJunior**

djones520 wrote:
ScootyPuffJunior wrote:
Inquisitor Lord Bane wrote:
Anyways, I'm glad the danger dropped, hopefully we can get through this one with minimal damage.
The danger hasn't dropped, it's actually gotten worse because the storm has expanded. Wind speed is a misleading way to judge how devastating a storm can be. Hurricane Harvey caused catastrophic flooding in Texas as a weak hurricane and then a tropical storm.

The primary killer of hurricanes has weakened though. It is still a dangerous storm, but yes, the danger has dropped.

The storm surge threat has not diminished from the storm dropping to a Category 2 hurricane, and that (along with flooding) is way more dangerous than wind.

**helgrenze**

d-usa wrote:
Pre-deploy to deploy is the new "standby to standby".

Maybe we'll have an unconventional Dakka meetup somewhere in the rain

There's a shop in Jacksonville across from the Mall that does instore gaming. It's kinda on high ground so should be ok.

New Bern is getting the worst of this one. It's on the northeast edge of the storm and at the conjunction of 2 rivers. I've heard of 6' deep water in the downtown areas. A big part of the flooding is the Neuse river is a wide, slow mover at that point and the storm surge is strong enough to counter the flow of the river. The water has nowhere to go but over the banks. Once the storms moves inland it will be like pulling the drain plug.

**Kilkrazy**

The problem is that a slower moving storm will simply have more time to dump rain.

**Elbows**

Yep, generally speaking flooding/storm surge is "the" killer in any major storm, very little is related to wind (that does a ton of property damage but rarely outright kills people).

The major risk, particularly for NC seems to be constant and heavy rainfall. We've been spared quite a bit further south - just starting to get our first stiff breezes now.

PS: Don't store stuff in the dishwasher - it's not actually waterproof. That's a general urban myth and has been disproven by a load of post-hurricane repair folks.

**DarkTraveler777**

Kilkrazy wrote:
The problem is that a slower moving storm will simply have more time to dump rain.

Local news said they could expect ten trillion gallons of rain. I did a double take when I heard that. Trillions of gallons.

**NinthMusketeer**

Can we have some?

**Kilkrazy**

According to the BBC, the Carolinas may get eight months of rain in 48 hours.

There won't be any left for you.

**NinthMusketeer**

Sounds like there will be a deluge of flood insurance claims.

**Elbows**

Yep, no refund from USAA this year...that's for sure.

**Voss**

NinthMusketeer wrote:
Sounds like there will be a deluge of flood insurance claims.

Nope. That presumes most of these people have flood insurance (which they don't, as a general rule)

**ScarletRose**

This weekend we got activated for FEMA - I'm an IRS employee but they take any of us service representatives that volunteer because we're already trained to deal with taxpayers on the phone.

We just do the low level registration work, inputting info for FEMA to process, but it frees up resources for more trained people.

I hope everyone stays safe, some of the stories my callers are telling me about are pretty scary.