Greetings to all,

The 2009 Hurricane Season starts tomorrow!!!

I'll be setting HurCon 5 at 0001 tonight!

Unfortunately, I won't be able to accomplish the required tasks until I get home in another week. Getting all of my self assigned task completed will be a #1 priority when I get home.

A friendly reminder to all: no american town or city has more than 3 days of supplies on hand at any moment!!!

You know, I often wonder why the National Weather service has such a long hurricane season. I mean, I guess they have some need to run the hurricanes via the weather control grids to test them out, but do they need so much time and so many tests?

I don't think much of this so-called Nationalized Weather "Service" at all.

Why I just called the National Weather "Service" again to point out that they keep running rain events on my days planned for outdoor activities - what kind of "service" is that. They hung up on me again for some reason.

They are telling you to stay home and rest your back Martin.

I have yet to see a hurricane in San Diego during hurricane season -- we could use the rain.

It's always earthquake season though, whenever they hit they're right on schedule

i sort of recall that that in the 50's when i was a kid that storms like that were not news untill they wiped out a town/city someplace..now we hear about them while they are still thunderstorms off Africa---but people still get knocked out by them and can't figure out why!!??--

They'll have a better estimate of the 2009 season in September

The 2009 Hurricane Season has been predicted to be at or below normal in the Atlantic basin. With that thought in mind, I begin to dilligently check ALL preps and service equipment, both mine and that which belongs to the Urban Search and Rescue Team locally. The 2009 season is the tenth anniversary of Hurricane Floyd, the single most destructive storm to strike NC to date in terms of monetary loss. The 1999 season likewise was predicted to be below average.

Laissez le bon temps rouler!!!


Happy Hurricane Season to you,
Happy Hurricane Season to you,
Happy Hurricane Season, dear wiiildmaaan,
Happy Hurricane Season toooo yooooou!

I'm with you, it's lock and load time, (or time to finish up locking and loading).

Note of reassurance: even though you're not able to get all your self-required tasks done as you want to, I'll wager you're still light years ahead of the rest of us...

I've been nagging my co-workers on a weekly basis, but most of them haven't done diddly squat. This is after Gustav plunged us into darkness for weeks on end last year. (I was only out for about 5 days but there were folks in outlying areas down for several weeks).

I want to beat them with a stick sometimes, and remind them that they are not going to rely on me. I've told them preemptively that they are S.O.L.

Rain and Thunderstorms for casted here for the next 3 days. Would be nice if a fluke snow flurry came in... but I doubt it.

Prepare guys! (Like this even needs to be said here.)

As some may remember, I recently moved from the "relative safety" of high ground in the city to a barrier island that will be under 20 feet of water in any major hurricane.

As part of my preps I determined that by June 1 I would have reviewed my insurance policies. As a part of this review, I discovered that my renter's policy would not have paid if my house was washed away by a storm surge. As housefire and storm surge are the two most likely reasons for me to lose all of my worldly possessions, this was unacceptable.

About $175 later, I now have flood insurance, and feel comfortable that if I need to leave in a hurry with my wife, kids, and a few treasured possessions as a cat 5 storm heads up the coast, the rest of my stuff will be replaced by a nice fat insurance check.

It actually felt pretty good to write that check. . . I'd recommend that everyone sit down with an agent and review their insurance at least one a year. It would be awful to discover you didn't have the coverage you thought you had after you had filed a claim. (and no, I don't sell P&C insurance)

In commemorization of this fine event I cleaned out my BOB of all the stale supplies and will re-stock it after washing. Although hurricanes are more or less non-existent here in the land of the big mitten we do get their left-overs and sometimes their refugees.

I went through Hugo in 89 while in SC. Those were a few weeks to remember...

So I am watching last night's news, and the newsreader mentions that "in less than two hours" this years hurricane season will begin. Made it sound as if a hurricane was lurking somewhere in the shadows, just waiting for midnight. And no fair having a storm before 1 June. No fair, doesn't count.

On the other side, this tv station is proactive and has a reasonably good list of items to have on hand on their website, and once a year publishes a handout with that, emergency phone numbers, and the evac routes from the beach areas.

Struck me as funny tho... "in less that two hours"... "Quick Martha, grab your stuff, we gots to go now"...

Monsoon season already seems to have started in the SW. Not roaring like a lion yet but a microburst in my area knocked down several power pools and damaged houses and autos.

"I now have flood insurance... my stuff will be replaced by a nice fat insurance check."

Did you actually read the policy? Is what you think is covered, really covered? And what percentage of the value are they paying?

I read a pet insurance policy many years ago, and after wading through the gobbledygook, the pet was insured against loss under about three unlikely circumstances: 1) If your house was hit by the flood of a bursting dam, and the dog was tied to the doorknob at the time; 2) If the dog was on a railroad trestle and the trestle collapsed; 3) If the dog was kidnapped/killed by space aliens in the form of clowns. And the 'value' of the dog was based on purchase price, pro-rated.

Read the policy.

Here's something else to worry, another result of the current economic ills we face--the danger from foreclosed/abandoned homes during a hurricane. Of course, in normal times, foreclosed homes can be havens for criminal activity, vandalism, squatting, breed mosquitos in unmaintained pools, etc. But in a hurricane, items from an unsecured home can become flying missles and damage your home, and if the home is damaged, it just drags down the home values in the surrounding neighborhood. Afterwards, a damaged home could be dangerous and even a health hazard to the neighbors.

I have seen various TV segments about foreclosures in places like Florida since last year and it's scary how many homes in some of these neighborhoods are foreclosed/abandoned. I'd hate to see what happens to the neighborhood after a strong hurricane tears through and none of these homes were prepped beforehand.

Here's an article about it: "Foreclosures add to hurricane hazards".

It is a good idea to have your attorney review all of your insurance coverage, policy limits, deductibles, etc. as a component of your overall asset protection/estate planning, too. I was shocked to discover both excessive/unnecessary and inadequate/uninsured gaps in many of my clients' insurances, once I started doing this.

This is not just for the rich guys. I've had elderly clients on fixed incomes wasting sorely needed money on comp/collision coverage for 20 year old cars, or paying on the basis of still being a daily commuter after retiring, and young, healthy single parents with too much life insurance but no disability income coverage, etc.

Having just moved to Virginia, any big changes I need to make for hurricanes? Coming from Michigan, so I've got the food/water for about a week. Basic tools. Shelter in the form of tent and a tarp. Decent kit in my car.

Anything really hurricane specific? I'm renting a duplex currently.

Where in VA?

Pete

Norfolk area. The townhouse is about a mile from water (river, bay, who knows? This place is a tidewater mess)

While you're there, I recommend that you take some time to visit Yorktown Battlefield, Ft Eustis Transportation Museum, & the Maritime Museum. They are about an hours drive south of you.

Yorktown Battlefield provides a lot of food for thought/future reference.

Ft Eustis (aka: Ft Useless) Transportation Museum has our flying car, flying jeep, & the AVRO flying saucer.

The Maritime Mueseum has great model displays of the old passenger ships of the early 20th century and all kinds of maritime memorabilia, including salvage from the USS MONITOR!

I would look to prepare for power outages and local travel challenges due to inland flooding. Talk to your neighbors and see if there has been any significant damage to your townhouse community due to storms in general. It may provide some insight as to other preparations you may want to consider.

Pete

Sounds good. A couple of really big tarps, wood lathe, nails and waterproof adhesive, to use as salvage covers if you lose your roof, windows, or develop leaks. It paid off for me last time 'round.

May I also suggest getting a ham radio general class license and battery-powered HF radio with antenna?

Even if they're not in an affected area, hams can provide assistance through the Hurricane Watch Net (http://www.hwn.org/) on HF radio. The Web site gives excellent instructions on how to operate on the net, especially useful if you're in an affected area. If you're without power and can't get local news and weather reports for some reason, having a mobile HF station will get you what you need.

If you are out of the effected area, you can pass on health and welfare traffic, damage reports, etc.