Preparing for Hurricanes

Preparing for Hurricane Season

NOW is the time!


Well before the actual start of Hurricane Season....you should already start stockpiling and preparing for a storm. After a storm necessity's are not easily available. Some of the information here is from personal experience and our opinions.

Are you planning on using some of those left over MRE's and supplies you gathered after Katrina? Be sure you check expiration dates on old supplies and refresh as needed!!

If a hurricane is threatening visit Our special weather page. or the

Gulf Coast Hurricane Center for current information!

Dont forget to switch all you emergency TV's to DIGITAL. The older analog battery powered TVs will not work without a converter box..........

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"Are you living in temporary homes? Since Hurricanes Katrina and Rita, there are thousands now living in FEMA provide temporary homes. And many still waiting for housing such as mobile homes and trailers. Be prepared to leave. Do not try to ride out a storm in such a home. Your first home didn't survive the storms so don't expect a temporary home to survive."

The 2007 Hurricane Season is expected to be as bad.. The good news if possible, is Katrina and Rita helped us know how to prepare for any other storms. You may already have much of the needed emergency supplies left. Generators and extension cords, and fuel cans.

Primarily, by the time a storm hits you should have all your preparations completed! If you prepare in advance and plan ahead. Your stress levels will be much lower.

Step 1.

KNOW SOME OF THE DANGERS ASSOCIATED WITH A STORM.

•Flooding - Can occur from heavy rains,rivers,drainage ditches.
•Storm Surge - Typically associated with the land falling hurricane.
Depending on intensity of storm, can cover extremely
large areas of coastline, as Katrina demonstrated.
The storm surge typically causes the most deaths associated
with a hurricane.
•High Wind - Roof damage,falling trees,power lines, can demolish entire
homes.
•Tornadoes - Often occur with land falling hurricanes. Can cause tremendous
wind type damage very far from the center of a hurricane in
unexpected areas.
Know what potential hazards may affect you or your home. Flooding potential, storm surge susceptibility. If your home or residence may flood. LEAVE. Katrina has given us many stories of people who stayed in their homes and were flooded due to unexpected storm surge levels.

Step 2.

Start collecting material and supplies NOW. Wood / Shutters for boarding up windows. Dont wait until the last minute to try to aquire wood and then cut and mount it. Have it precut and ready to mount. Store it until needed. I know from experience that trying to hold a 8x4 plywood sheet on a ladder in gusty wind is very difficult.
Who would have guessed that the ply-lock clips used to mount plywood sheets on windows would disappear off the shelfs as a storm approached.. Prepare Early.

Test your generator NOW and perform any repairs. A generator that doesnt work properly after the storm is not very helpful.

Step 3.

Have an evacuation plan. While you can not easily say where exactly you will evacuate months in advance. Have maps available and write down your plans. Ensure your friends and family know where you plan to evacuate. (Its very difficult to reserve motel rooms in some areas once people start evacuating. Rooms as far as Memphis, TN become scarce during large mass evacuations. So make your reservations early. If you plan to evacuate).

Step 4.

If a hurricane developes. Stay Informed! Do be caught by suprise if a storms path or intensity changes. We know that a storms path and intensity can change dramatically in hours. In sometimes, unexpected manners. OBEY your local governments recommendations. If they suggest you leave the area..seriously consider leaving. Know where local shelters are setup. Know what is allowed to take to a shelter. Dont just show up without food or water or blankets. They may not be setup to provide them. They will be providing a place thats safer to stay in than your home in most cases.

The Coriolis Effect

Coriolis Effect:
Coriolis effect is an inertial force described by the 19th-century French engineer-mathematician Gustave-Gaspard Coriolis in 1835. Coriolis showed that, if the ordinary Newtonian laws of motion of bodies are to be used in a rotating frame of reference, an inertial force--acting to the right of the direction of body motion for counterclockwise rotation of the reference frame or to the left for clockwise rotation--must be included in the equations of motion.

The effect of the Coriolis force is an apparent deflection of the path of an object that moves within a rotating coordinate system. The object does not actually deviate from its path, but it appears to do so because of the motion of the coordinate system.

The Coriolis effect is most apparent in the path of an object moving longitudinally. On the Earth an object that moves along a north-south path, or longitudinal line, will undergo apparent deflection to the right in the Northern Hemisphere and to the left in the Southern Hemisphere. There are two reasons for this phenomenon: first, the Earth rotates eastward; and second, the tangential velocity of a point on the Earth is a function of latitude (the velocity is essentially zero at the poles and it attains a maximum value at the Equator).

Satellite view of a Hurricane

How a hurricane is born - The Science Of Superstorms - BBC