Gulf Coast States
 

If Gustav comes your way ... where will you evacuate to? It's predicted to be at least a catagory 4!! :eek: We will probably go to Jackson, MS...

update: oops nevermind my husband said no to Jackson. We will be going north east or north west... never straight north.


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oh yaaaay, another storm!!!

I know but this one will be a biggie... the full hurricane strength :(

I know that and I said "I know" as in "I know :rolleyes: " but I guess you didnt read it that way.

How is it that I'm barely hearing about this one and it's full strength, but that when the other one came (Fay), the news wouldn't shut up?

It just turned into a hurricane overnight... When I was watching Fay on the nhc I saw that it was a 50% threat of becoming a TS so I just continued to watch it. It will be all over the news by this weekend when it gets ready to enter the Gulf.

After the debacle that was the Hurricane Rita evacuation, I will never evacuate again.

I hope it just goes to Mexico.

:eek: you have to if its coming your way!! Think of Katrina!! We boarded up for Fay just in case and it is a pain in the butt... but really better safe than sorry! My husband just called and he said they are getting ready for it at his work this week... just in case. I just called State Farm to be sure all of our policies are in order... not that it means they will actually pay ... ;)

Are you right on the coast? I have vague memories of Alicia coming to Houston when I was very little, and our neighbor had a tree through her house- but the rest of us were pretty unscathed. So all the time I lived there, I never got real worried.

Living in Austin, I will probably inherit some evacuees if it comes to that. I was in Houston when Rita came and we left that afternoon and got to Austin without any of the trouble many people had. But when we got to Austin, people were running around buying up water and panicking worse than Houstonians lol.

I think once you have been through a few, it is hard to get worked up. Katrina was certainly a reminder though that sometimes there can be massive devastation on coastal towns (and Rita did its damage too, though less publicized.)

During Alicia I lived in Seabrook, TX…about a block from the water. I was pretty young so I barely remember anything. My most vivid memory is eating breakfast at the Red Cross trailer at City Hall.

I think the only reason I evacuated for Rita was because of all the coverage that Katrina got. Rita sent the city into a panic. Cell service went down and you couldn’t buy gas anywhere and I just got caught up in the panic of wanting to get out of town. I still live about five minutes from the water.

We are right on the beach about 60 miles from New Orleans (in MS) We are only half done rebuilding our house after a fire burned it to the ground last year... so we are just renting this house for now... but rebuilding for a 3rd time in 3 years is not appealing to me at all!! I never got worked up at all about hurricanes until Katrina ... now I get really nervous. It's hard to explain unless you have lived through it I guess. Gustav scares me because it is predicted to be a cat 3 before it even enters the Gulf. That is not good. Katrina was a 1 when it hit FL and killed 14 people... in the Gulf it doesnt take long to intensify and gain speed.

I really wish my brother hadn't moved to Alabama...

http://www.nhc.noaa.gov/

If you check there, there are 3 more potentials way out there too :/ Fun times Fun times! :(

Well it looks like FL is out of danger. Which is a good thing, I dont think the ground could handle any more water!!!

where in AL is he? If he isnt too close to the water it shouldnt be too bad!

My grandparents lived in Seabrook (2 blocks from the Gulf) during Carla - they stayed, but after that, they got out of town anytime a cat. 4 or 5 was looming.

I was going through rush when Alicia hit (!), and going home saw signs of flooding, and downed trees. I think my parents had no electricity for a day or two.

My parents left for Rita, but my father has mad navigational skills - he went by backroads to Tyler.

The problem with going north is that often that is where tornadoes form.

OMG did they have to cancel rush? That must have been crazy!
We had no electricity for 5 or 6 weeks after Katrina :( in our town... but it didnt really matter we didnt have a house anyway lol.

you are right about that!

Wow now I am really getting scared!!! Looks like we will be evacuating to TX. We really cant have another biggie here our town isnt prepared yet :( We just got our bridge back like a year ago, but we still have no grocery stores ... so I hope Walmart is spared if it comes this way!!



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Why people choose to live, build, and rebuild homes in these areas is beyond me...

You know at some point, a hurricane is probably gonna do serious damage. Yet, people continue to do it over and over. If you are gonna live there and take a chance, don't make a big fuss when one comes your way.

I understand how perplexing it can be when people choose to stay in their same town following hurricanes. Here is a little bit of "the other side."

My in-laws live in the panhandle of Florida... about 5 minutes from the coast. They both work at Eglin Air Force Base, and have for over 30 years. While they have been pummled by multiple hurricanes (damage to house, but never leaving house inhabitable) they are at an age where going elsewhere for a job is not realistic. In addition, if they can last until next December with the Air Force, they will get a handsome retirement package. (They are civilians with very specialized work... going to a different base is apparantly not really an option either.)

They have been ready to completely vacate Florida for years, but feel they have no choice but to stick it out a bit longer so as not to lose governmental retirement benefits. Once my MIL retires they are high-tailing it out of Florida forever, but for now just pray that The Big One doesn't come.

I can't remember when this was, but it was during the last round of deadly tornadoes. I was watching the national news and one lady said that she's used to tornadoes and that she's survived too many tornadoes to count and that she's rebuilt each time, etc. etc. Why would you even put yourself back in harm's way? Tornado alley people...thoughts?

The last major hurricane to hit Oahu was 'Iwa in 1982. I was only 3 when our house sustained major damage. My parents could have rebuilt and stayed closer to the water, but instead they moved us inland and into a condo. They weren't even going to try to deal with a hurricane like that again.

Years later, my mom still bitches about hurricane insurance robbing her blind. It's a huge price to pay, but when you live out here, you really don't have a choice.

I had to actually look at a map, he hasn't been there that long. He's in Monroeville.. looks like it's far enough from the coast to not be bad for them. But, I imagine their hospital could be utilized if Mobile or Pensacola were hit hard?

Oh he is way up there! He will be fine. The only thing he would have to be concerned about is possible tornados, but that happens pretty much anywhere in the country. But if he is worried he could even go further NE to try to avoid any bad weather.

This response is not inteded to provoke anything... it's just a response to your statement. And, before Katrina I never made a big fuss, but it's still so fresh in my mind that it's hard not to. Camille was the only one close to that magnitude and that actually hit the year before I was born ... so it was 35 years between major hurricanes hardly a reason to completely desert an entire region.

We rebuilt after Katrina because this is our home. We love our small town, our neighbors and location. Just because I worry about hurricanes now doesnt mean I dont want to live here... and we pay a pretty penny for our insurance to do it. Although my husband said after Katrina if it ever happens again we are gone... but I dont believe him. The chances of these disasters happening over and over are slim, and I love this area, it's my home and thats why we choose to rebuild. It's not like we do it over and over... it's happened once in my lifetime. Twice in the older people (people 60+) so it's not a common occurance.

When I see a Cat 3 coming straight up the Gulf (and know that it will intensify in those warm waters) it worries me... I am not only worried for myself but any city or country in its path. We may be spared this time, but someone is going to get hit and I am still going to worry for those people and their homes. Just like I worried about all the people in IA who were flooded out and lost everything they owned earlier this summer.

California has had more earthquakes in the last 200 years than New Orleans has had thunder storms. Southern California burns each summer and millions of dollars of homes are destroyed and people die. Alaska has had terrible earthquakes. All the states along the mighty Mississippi River have experienced horrible flooding. Florida has had several horrible hurricanes in the last 10 years. The snow storms in the north east kill and damage property every year. ND, SD, IA, NE, KS, MO, AR, OK, TN, TX, LA and parts of OH, IN, and IL are all considered "Tornado alley". So where really, is it safe to live? We cant all live in Idaho.... :rolleyes:

ok here is my sister's response to my worried email telling her we may come stay with her up in IL this weekend...

I'm not worried, "Gustav" doesn't have the same kind of ring that Camille and Katrina have. If it was a girls name that started with a K or C I'd worry. We used to get level 3s all the time and it was just messy afterwards. Katrina like Camille was once in a generation, there won't be another like that until you are like 70.


ok, now I feel safer haha
and she is probably right
that's the funny thing!

I'm an LSU student and I'm from New Orleans. The semester before Katrina hit, I declared Disaster Science and Management as my minor. Truth is, there is nowhere in the country that is not at some constant risk of a major disaster. Yellowstone National Park is a gigantic volcanic crater, any coastline is at potential risk for a tsunami, both tornadoes and earthquakes can happen just about anywhere (yes, there is a faultline closer to the Gulf Coast than the San Andreas out in Cali), and of course, all of us here along the Gulf know hurricanes are fairly commonplace. The trouble always happens because people become complacent and stop testing and improving their response plans or rely too heavily on technology(when the power goes, you're screwed). This stuff is going to happen, we're always a lot closer than we like to think to the next big disaster. I got really angry when there was talk about not letting people rebuild in certain areas. It's everyone's responsibility to be prepared and the failures during and after Katrina were not entirely FEMA's fault. A lot of that was on the local agencies. I'm not worrying about Gustav yet, it's way too soon to really be able to predict where it will make landfall with any kind of accuracy, it could head to Mexico as easily as it could hit the Gulf Coast.

Hey, that's where I grew up...but we were right on the coast. After Opal in 1995, my parents moved inland, into a home that has only received damage to the privacy fence during Ivan and Katrina. They have another property, a 65 year old house that my grandfather built, that has never been damaged by the ten or so major storms that have hit.

It's really up to the individual person. My parents are in their 60s--seriously, are they going to move anywhere else at this point? That is where they grew up, and where their parents still live. Why should they leave, anyway? They have excellent hurricane (wind + flood) insurance where they've never had to make a claim, and not one but two homes inland that haven't sustained damage.

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I can't get worried about this storm until the weekend. Once it goes into the Gulf, it's anyone's guess. Almost every storm that goes into the Gulf has a potential track around NOLA. But, only one has hit the city directly in a while.

You forgot one disaster... Detroit has it's Mayor.

;)

Thank you for this response - yes, if you try to live someplace that is not threatened by one sort of natural disaster or another you will end up having no place to live.

I do hate that so many in New Orleans are not raising their homes because of the delay in funding. Yes, rebuild, but rebuild so you aren't in the same sort of danger. I know Florida tightened building codes after Andrew because they found much of the damage was the result of slipshod construction. That, I think, is the answer - require residents to build in anticipation of natural disasters.

*groan* I know flight attendants who live within two miles of the airport and complain about the noise! Just once, I'd like to shake them and ask them why they chose that as a career.

I lived in Baytown (was a baby, not tooooo old;)) during Carla, my dad was an chem engineer at the Exxon Refinery, we lost EVERYTHING! The house flooded and it was unrepairable, so we moved into town.

During Alicia, I was recovering from surgery at Memorial City Hospital. The hospital (and that whole side of town) lost power (parents house was out for 2 weeks). There was no air conditioning in the hospital, and the water pumps were out, so the nurses were having to flush the toilets with rain water collected in trash cans. I was so morphined up that I wasn't uncomfortable, but I have weird recollections of my dad visiting me dressed like the Gordan's Fisherman, head to toe in yellow weathers.

My dad lives in Shoreacres now, right on the water. He will pack up and come stay with me in west Houston about 45 minutes from the bay.

People in my neighborhood evacuated during Rita, which is so stupid!!! The old adage is "Run from Water, Hide from Wind" and no storm surge could reach where we are. Best you can do is board up the windows to protect from flying debris and hope a tree doesn't fall on your house!

Also, at the age my dad is now, 83, he just locks the door and says goodbye to the things, because his attitude is, "they're just things". His health is what's precious now...:o

I'm from Panama City originally, moved away, but moved back when I was 8 in 1995. Hurricane Opal was the first hurricane I'd ever been in, and for some reason I was so completely fascinated with it. I would stand outside for an hour under an awning and just watch the clouds speed by. Even to this day I still try to go outside for a little bit and just watch all the action.

The last hurricane I remember to actually freak me out was Hurricane Ivan back in 2004. That one spawned tornadoes a few blocks from my house and knocked the power out for about 3 days. "Thirty-two more deaths in the United States were indirectly attributed to Ivan. Tornadoes spawned by Ivan struck communities along concentric arcs on the leading edge of the storm.[18] In Florida, Blountstown, Marianna, and Panama City Beach suffered three of the most devastating tornadoes. A Panama City Beach news station was nearly hit by an F2 tornado during the storm." It also wiped the I-10 bridge out in Pensacola. I am terrified of tornadoes. I was at lunch at Kappa today and I was amazed at how the girls from up north and out west were absolutely terrified of hurricanes, but don't bat an eyelash at tornadoes. I mean, I can swim great; flying...not so much.

Fay really did a number on the Tallahassee area. Many places were completely flooded and trees were down all over the place. I don't think this area could handle ANY more rain, especially from Gustav. I'm going home this weekend so hopefully Gustav doesn't change his path and stays far, far away!!

Because you haven't lived until you've drunk bleach water.

/sidenote: I'm going to be pissed if this screws up the opening weekend of Dove Season.

I've actually given a lot of thought about where I'd want to live related to which natural disasters are prevalent there. I know that's odd, but I grew up with a horrific phobia of tornadoes which has calmed down with my exposure (via the news) to hurricanes and earthquakes. This is how I rank them (worst to least worse)

1. Earthquakes: You have no notice and they devastate a huge area including much of the infrastructure (think San Francisco during the World Series in .. was it 89? 90?) Newer buildings are supposed to be earthquake proof, but since you don't know when it's coming, you don't know where you'll be so there is no way to even try to be safe.
2. Hurricanes: They can devastate a huge area but you have a lot of time to get out. If you ride it out though, there is a dilemma. They spawn tornadoes, but if you go to a good tornado shelter area in your house, you risk being flooded out. The combination of flooding and tornadoes makes it more scary. To keep safe from tornadoes, you go low, to keep safe from flooding, you go high. I don't think I'd choose to live too close to the coast, as beautiful as it is.
3. Tornadoes: They are devastating to a much smaller area, you usually have a little bit of warning to get to a sheltered area. The big difference though is the first part. In Michigan at least, when there is a tornado, it might hit houses along a mile path, but the hotels two miles away are unscathed so there is somewhere you can go if your house is destroyed. We also have basements in Michigan, so they are much less scary. I think they'd be more scary to me if I didn't have an underground shelter. If I lived in a place without an underground shelter, I'd build a safe room or I wouldn't choose to live there.
4. Flooding: I think that I would choose not to live so close to a high risk flooding area to make this one a problem. It is certainly devastating and it does seem to happen pretty quickly. I think if I lived along the Mississippi where they have been completely flooded out more than a couple times in the last decade, I'd move. The places in California that have mudslides, I'd avoid. Shoot, I'd avoid California because of the earthquake thing anyway.
5. Snow Storms: These seem like no big deal to me. They hardly ever damage your home and in places where they are frequent, we have snow plows and stuff to deal with it. We've never been "snowed in" for more than a day and it's been no big deal. It's more of a daily hassle of a few inches every day that makes driving annoying and stressful but there's relatively little damage.

So where is the ideal place to live based on this? I dunno. The mountains in North Carolina?

ETA: I'm getting really bad vibes on the Gustav thing ... not like it's the media over-hyping it, but like it's really not going to be good.

So I don't live down south so my experiences with hurricanes is limited to just one. . . Hurricane Eduardo in 1996. . . My family has a summer house on Nantucket and we were out there for vacation when we got word it was going to hit I was only 9 at the time but i remember my dad taking me out to the end of the island to see the huge surf with the surfers in and the ferry ride home when it was still rough seas and the waves were splashing up the side of the boat. . . But at 9 I actually thought the whole experience was pretty fascinating. . .

El Paso....lol. In my lifetime, we've only had 1 tornado scare, back in 1998 (from what I remember), but the tornado never touched down. We have experienced "flooding" but that's only because we barely have any storm drains, and the drainage in the city is CRAPPY. Can't get hurricanes because we are far from the water, and by the time the storm gets anywhere near here, it's pretty much a thunderstorm. Snow storms, in the desert? Not really gonna happen. And we aren't on a fault line.