Originally Posted By: hikermor
I must admit I am puzzled. There was ample warning and accurate prediction of Mike days before landfall - and people didn't prepare? - buy a bit of canned food and fill containers with water, check conditions around the house, etc.

I was intrigued by the comment that food in the fridge had spoiled two days after the event. Food might not be really cold, but certainly should be edible, with a bit of preparation.

Frankly, my impulse would be to drive about two hundred miles and get out of the way of the coming storm - inconvenient, to be sure, but way better than staying. Of course, individual circumstances vary, and this may not be feasible for all, but still...



Hurricane Michael was extraordinary and there was not nearly as much time as usual to prepare. Hurricane Florence, which caused so much havoc in the Carolinas, began its march toward the U.S. two weeks prior to landfall. Michael popped up very quick and much closer to the U.S.

https://www.washingtonpost.com/weather/2...m=.b3d25f740d10

73 hours: That’s the time from when Michael was named as a tropical storm with 40 mph winds until it made landfall as one of the most powerful hurricanes in U.S. history. Initially, many expected a landfall along the lines of usual in October in the northern Gulf of Mexico, something like a Category 1 or 2. Michael had different plans.

1 mph: That’s how far Michael was from Category 5 at landfall. Highly unusual, especially in the northeastern Gulf of Mexico. Hurricane Michael enters the books as the fourth-strongest hurricane to make landfall in the United States based on wind speeds. Only three infamous Category 5s — Labor Day (1935), Camille (1969) and Andrew (1992) — rank higher.


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