Greetings to all,

The Wildman800 homestead survived Gustave with no damages and without any loss of utilities!!

I have a "Proud Parent" moment. DD2 and her BF have successfully passed through their first hurricane, emergency situation, standing on their own 4 feet.

They systematically and methodically prepared by taking inventory of their BoB's, household resources, took care of discrepancies, got their household chores (laundry, groceries, etc) up-to-date, kept their storm intel up-to-date, made multiple Bug-out contingency plans, etc. They included their DC1 (Dear Cat #1) in their planning. They had no panic, no fear!

They did use 1 Bug-Out contingency plan. With electrical power lost, they have shifted their base of operations/living to the BF's on-campus office which has electricity.

We had decided to Bug-in due to medical needs AND the local weather people had predicted (accurately), that this hurricane would do exactly as it behaved.

I am seriously concerned about the "hype" that the mass media (including the weather channel) poured into their reporting. They are, IMHO, promoting a sense of panic in order to get ratings as in more $$$$$$ for their advertising slots. This will exacerbate problems in the future, I fear.

Glad all went well for you and your family.

I'm happy to hear that you and your family weathered the storm and all is well.

I have noticed the same thing, but even from the national weather service. Anymore, what I would call a normal summer thunderstorm is called "severe" weather, with warnings flashing etc.

A hurricane is no doubt sever weather. Even a "tropical storm". But a thunderstorm?

IMO, this approach weakens the message and warnings that people should pay attention to. Anyone remember the fable of the boy who cried "wolf?" Sort of like that. More than ever, we need to do our own analysis of the weather threat and avoid the hype. I prefer decisions based on fact and analysis, not hype.

Thunderstorms can beget tornadoes.

I have no doubt that the national media hypes things for ratings. However, in defense of the storm clasifications, I believe they have an arbitrary list of criteria for each designation. I have no idea who decided on those criteria but I don't believe the NWS is padding the numbers to bump a storm up in severity.

As a resident of tornado alley, I can assure you that a simple thunderstorm can be severe.

ETA: Found it... the NWS defines a Severe Thunderstorm as: A thunderstorm that produces a tornado, has winds of at least 58 mph (50 knots) and/or hail at least ¾" in diameter.

Glad you all survived in fine shape.

"...the "hype" that the mass media...to get ratings..."

Oh really? The media BS us? Please tell me that isn't true (tongue firmly in cheek here).

In their defense, I suspect that a certain amount of that comes from prior incidents where they did not make such a big deal out of it, and a bad thing happened. Followed by bad publicity and law suits...

The seductive tendency for everyone is to fight the last storm, war, etc. instead of the current one, because the past is known ground that does not require encountering the risks of decision-making in real time with incomplete information.

From what I have seen on the media it looks like the evacuation went as well as could be expected, but the evac centers where not as comfortable as people thought and the local goverments who set up the shelters are haveing to foot the bill.

I stil think building community centers in the city that are setup to withstand the worst case storm would be a better approch in the long term.

Glad your family came through OK! You did a great job educating and preparing them. Be proud.

Bad news sells, good does not. The media sensationalized Gustav, but that does not bother me. I'd rather they did that, then not say anything.