As a new member, I have been looking over many of the posts here, and I haven't seen anything that says making sure your escape routes are prepared. I live in Savannah, GA, right on the coast. I have two ways off my island by road, fortunately. But there are others who do not have the luxury I have. And rght now we're in the middle of Hurricane season. Savannah has been spared much in recent years, except for the Floyd disaster of 99. I am referring to the sudden need to evacuate 350,000 people from one place up the highway inland.<br><br>Fortunately, the State of Georgia has created more hurricane evacuation routes. Part of my pre-incident planning has been to learn these routes, where they go, how easy they are to access, any possible choke points, and alternate routes to get around those choke points. All these routes are plotted on paper maps, detailed direction pages (similar to what is given out by Mapquest, Expedia, et. al), and electronically in my GPS.<br><br>My situation is different, due to the nature threat, but these can also be used for other necessary evacuation needs, such as Hazmat accident and such. Who else has gotten their plans ready, and recently checked out???

Many years ago I had a pipefitter friend who lived on Tybee. He lived right under the lighthouse at that time. He sat out Hugo in the lighthouse. There were many times when he told me how stupid that was.

In the case of natural disasters happening, such as floods, hurricanes, major snow storms, keeping an eye on the weather is one of the best and easiest courses of action. The majority of people check the weather to see what that very day will be like, only now and then will they check to see what the next 4-5 days may hold. If you know something big and bad is coming, getting even a few hours headstart can make a big difference in your escape.<br><br>www.weathertap.com is NOT a free service, but it's worth the yearly fee in my opinion.

This is one of those little things that bugs me about living in Southern New Jersey. If anything requiring an evacuation were to happen, NJ is a peninsula.<br><br>The only ways out that don't involve getting wet are (south to north):<br><br>1. Delaware Memorial Bridge<br>2. Commodore Barry Bridge<br>3. Benjamin Franklin Bridge<br>4. Betsy Ross Bridge<br>5. Tacony Palmyra Bridge<br>6. Burlington-Bristol Bridge<br>7. NJ-PA Turnpike Bridge<br>8. US Route 1 Bridge (Trenton-Morrisville)<br>9. Business US Route 1 Bridge (Trenton-Morrisville)<br>10. I-95 Bridge (north of Trenton)<br>11. Washington Crossing Bridge (north of Trenton)<br>12. Various smaller bridges over the Delaware River between Trenton, NJ and Easton, PA<br>13. I-80 Bridge (Delaware Water Gap)<br><br>All of these routes, with the exception of the smaller bridges, will either take you through a heavily populated area to reach them, or are themselves located in heavily populated areas. The only land crossings to be found are between NJ and NY, way up in the north of the state.<br><br>Of course "sparsely populated" is a term of relative meaning when you live in NJ, the most densely populated state in the US. NJ is one giant morass of military, political, and industrial targets thats just crammed full of people. The only relatively safe area is the far northwest region, where you at least have a possible land escape to Western NY.<br><br>Even on a normal day, traffic is extremely heavy here. I'd hate to find out what it would look like if an evacuation was called for, or if, God forbid, the Delaware River crossings were closed for some reason (like, say, because the National Guard was blocking them).<br><br>Just last week, I found it to be a real PITA when the Philadelphia Police closed the Ben Franklin Bridge for no apparent reason.<br><br>Someday, I hope to convince my fiancee to move to the other side of the river. At least there there's some room to maneuver...

Consider South Dakota. I spent July there on a paleontological dig, and I continue to be impressed with the amount of open space there. Lots of territory in the surrounding states as well.

Sounds like some of what I have to overcome here in Savannah.<br><br>Ahhhh.........to move back to Alaska........

Im curious; do you have to cross the marsh (by the fort) to get back to town or are you closer than that? I missed work one day because high tide came in during a severe storm right about the time I needed to go to work. I was on Tybee and worked at the papermill under the old Hwy 17 bridge. The road off the island was under water. I think I spent that day at "The Fourth Quarter"

I live off Whitfield Avenue, out by Moon River and Skidaway Island.

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