Our first Hurricane of year
- Thread starter R_W_B
- Start date
R_W_B
Senior Member
61 ys in Florida (except 2 in the Army). Hurricanes tend to come in cycles every so many yrs. But there has been a noted increase in them in the last decade. Not just in the US but worldwide. Also a noted increase in floods and Tidal waves. And seems to be the case with tornados and earthquakes.
Looks like the hurricane (Irene) is gonna move more east and miss Florida.
However that old fault line down the Blue Ridge mountains woke up today for the first time in bout a 100 yrs.
Looks like the hurricane (Irene) is gonna move more east and miss Florida.
However that old fault line down the Blue Ridge mountains woke up today for the first time in bout a 100 yrs.
J
Jack Klarich
Guest
As long as I don't lose power for a week again I will be Happy, Be safe all my Florida brothers and sisters:s
gator508
Experienced Member
Yea, just can't reason with hurricane season. It's just a pain. Go to the store, stock up on non-perishables, get gas for the generator, put away all the loose stuff in the yard, make room in the garage for every thing..yada yada yada.
Had been fairly lucky until Ivan, then Katrina. Had to rebuild ~ 60 feet of fence for Ivan, replaced the roof after Katrina. The insurance deductables are highway robbery, but at least I can still get insurance.
Had been fairly lucky until Ivan, then Katrina. Had to rebuild ~ 60 feet of fence for Ivan, replaced the roof after Katrina. The insurance deductables are highway robbery, but at least I can still get insurance.
Looks like you may need to put up your hurricane shutters! The current track, as of 8/24 0800, puts Irene 34 miles southwest of Boston at 2am Monday morning as a CAT 1.
R_W_B
Senior Member
Katrina, Ivan, Andrew, Camille and Donna these were the worst ones of the past 50 yrs. You gotta be near my age to remember Camille and Donna.
Katrina hit as a Cat 4, Andrew and Camille as Cat 5's, Donna a Cat 3.
The reason Charlie, Frances, and Jean cost so much money for the Insurance Companies is the fact that they all three tracked up through the same areas of Florida in a 6 week period. And MUCH of these areas were poorly built homes that were built back in the 50's before there were any REAL code inspections and those homes were just not up to the task.
I live in a home that was built in 1980, I have the thick high wind resistance roof shingles and it has been through Charlie, Frances and Jean with absolutely no insurance claims.
In other words I think the insurance industry way over reacted to the cost factor and failed to totally understand the situation. I'm paying over $2000 a yr in homeowners premiums and never had a claim. Back before those 3 hurricanes I was paying $600 a yr in premiums.
Admittedly Florida has a state backed plan of a bunch of small insurance companies that will sell me a policy for $1500 a yr, but I don't as yet trust the assets of these companies. Kinda feel like if we have another major event they will go belly up.
I have talked with the insurance companies on the phone about this but they go only by their 'statistics' and data. They did lower a small amount of the premium for the heavy duty shingles etc, but other than that they go only by location of the home. Basically I think they dropped the ball by just saying ALL homes in a certain locale are at huge cost risks. It simply isn't true.
I also own an old (built in 1983) all Steel and Metal building. The insurance companies will not even sell me a property policy on it, because they were so afraid of hurricane damage to it. So I told them, write me a wind waiver, I don't need your hurricane and wind damage. The building has been through every hurricane since 1983 with NO claims anyhow. So they then wrote me a property and liability policy on it, with no wind coverage. I'm not real worried, the building is only worth about $80,000 and I know the wind will not tear the whole thing down, hasn't yet anyhow. It's steel beams and metal skin, no wood.
Anyhow hurricanes are expensive in any ways you look at um. My home has hurricane aluminum shutters on all the windows. I can be hurricane ready in 30 mins. As long as you can prevent a structure breach, the hurricane cannot get in and start to do real damage.
gator508
Experienced Member
Probably the worst for Mobile was Fredrick in 1979. He came up the western shore of Mobile Bay so the right side of the storm tore right throught the city, cat 3-4. I was lucky and made it through with no damage, a lot of other folks weren't as fortunate. The best thing you can do is have good insurance and make your home your castle.
R_W_B
Senior Member
Yea I forgot bout Frederick, but do remember him on the news now that you mentioned it. Admittedly if you live near the coast, you are gonna get the full blast of these things (especially near the eye wall) and the flood surge which killed those folks in Camille. Hurricane Camille occurred just as I was preparing to go into the Army in 1969. She did not hit my area, but she made big news.
I read the (lone survivor of a party) story in a magazine many yrs ago about Camille. They were on the second story of a motel having a hurricane party. The flood surge came busting in thru the second story windows and washed them all inland. The one survivor of that party (a lady) was found one mile inline from what was left of the motel. The rest were found dead or not found at all.
Also I just went and grabbed the below off Wiki,
Camille had estimated sustained winds of 190 mph, and a peak official storm surge of 24 feet. In maximum sustained wind speeds, Camille was the strongest landfalling tropical cyclone recorded worldwide, and one of only four tropical cyclones worldwide ever to achieve wind speeds of 190 miles per hour.
The hurricane flattened nearly everything along the coast of Mississippi, and caused additional flooding and deaths inland while crossing the Appalachian Mountains of Virginia. In total, Camille killed 259 people.
,End Wiki