Hurricanes, Floods, And Fires

It is heartbreaking! Texas still recovering from Hurricane Harvey. Fires ravaging upper western United States including Montana, Oregon, Washington, and Idaho.
Hurricane Irma has already devastated some of the Caribbean Islands and headed toward Florida.
Praying for all the people that have been and will be affected by these hurricanes, floods, and fires.

 

Totally unbelievable to see one catastrophe after another "There are now three hurricanes in the Atlantic basin"
http://edition.cnn.com/2017/09/06/americas/three-hurricanes-atlantic-basin/index.html

Our thoughts and prayers are with all those who have endured, are enduring and awaiting these threats from nature.

 

Map of the wildfire in the Northwest US.

I don't live where the fires are - thankfully! - but the lovely and very generous winds have carried the smoke to our town. All of the smoke.

The county has issued an air quality alert and are warning anyone with sensitivities like asthma, allergies, and of course elderly and children, to stay inside as much as possible. We're keeping the pets indoors and all windows and vents closed, and stay indoors as well. The Guy is allergic to pollen and smoke, so he's been sick for several days in a row from this.

Yay, it's summer again.

 

Hurricane Andrew hit in 1992 and was one of the most devastating hurricanes in Florida and American history. It is pictured here next to Irma. Andrew is the small one and Irma is massive.

 

Smoke is a risk to health of people and animals for sure. Be careful.

 

It's even worse and more horrendous in most of the less developed world where they suffer this death and tragedy on a pretty regular basis. It only gets wide coverage when this kind of thing happens in comparatively rich countries.
Climate change - needs action to lessen the effects of damage but people like Trump and most other politicians are only interested in talking about Syria and North Korea.

 

Please Max this does not need to be nor should it be turned into a political discussion!
I have real concerns and worries for family and friends in harms way in all the areas of the United States mentioned in my original post. I assume other people reading this know people who are affected by this and are worried also.

 

Just can't believe the devastation and catastrophic events continually being reported...it's just worsens!
https://www.nytimes.com/2017/09/08/us/hurricane-irma-florida.html?mcubz=1

Never having been in such a situation (by God's Grace), I can only imagine how those in danger or who have lost their homes must be feeling right now. We can only pray for their safety and admire their spirit in such horrid times of the unknown and loss.

 

Just seen this on MSN.
Unbelievable!


http://www.msn.com/en-us/weather/ne...-an-image-like-this-before/ar-AArtxSw?ocid=sf

 

Tim you may be right.

Legalsuit your link redirected me to something else. Can you repost it?

 

Weird...Sorry about that...trying again...went back to the same site which has the same address...when I try, it's okay...did a fresh copy/paste which shows same address and when tested shows site I meant to Post...don't understand the corruption(?) Retested okay before posting reply...hope it works this time:

https://www.nytimes.com/2017/09/08/us/hurricane-irma-florida.html?mcubz=1

 

https://www.nytimes.com/2017/09/08/us/hurricane-irma-florida.html?mcubz=1[/QUOTE]
Link's OK.

 

Just retried and another site appeared, which noted:
"Why am I seeing this site?
The page you were visiting helps find the best deals and products by connecting to VigLink Shopping. This site suggests similar retailers who may sell the same products at a better price. By making it easy to continue to the link you clicked on or browse related merchants, this site gives you more freedom to purchase from the retailer of your choice.

To learn more about how VigLink connects consumers to products, visit www.viglink.com."

I'm going to do a clean up to try fixing this...this isn't right...my apologies.

 

Viglink is where it took me also.

 

Took me to NYT also. I have Ghostery installed and turned on. 2 trackers were being blocked and VigLink is one of them.

 

Apologies for the distraction to your post...I've now cleaned up and can get the website without the "Viglink" intrusion. (I may look into Imandy Mann's suggestion to use "Ghosterly") - Again my apologies to the intrusion.
https://www.nytimes.com/2017/09/08/us/hurricane-irma-florida.html?mcubz=1

Cheers

LS

 

That link worked for me.

 

It must be horrible for people going through the quirks of nature and I feel for everyone going through all of it being it tornadoes, fires and whatnot. This all must be very tough for the people going through this all, as if regular daily stuff isn't already tough enough.

Daughter and her hubby booked a week vacation to the Dominican Republic quite some time ago and they will be leaving tomorrow. Air Canada had first cancelled the flight today but later on this afternoon gave the green light. Hurricane José is going through the same path as Irma so the DR may get hit again. She deserves a vacation as she just went through breast cancer not that long ago, but I'm scared stiff.... and very worried. She promised to call me from the DR and had called their hotel who told her that they were cleaning up.

 

I hope whatever part of the Dominican Republic they are going to that it will not show the ravage left behind by IRMA...or whatever other hurricanes have swept through the area and that they may enjoy their time there without incident.

 

Oh, we are. The wild fires in the northwest happen every year, we have a routine in place. Granted it is a lot worse this year than past, but the same precautions apply.

And I'm in a similar situation as you are - we have friends in Miami. I will be checking my phone A LOT at work on Monday and Tuesday.

 

Thoughts and prayers for those in the path of Irma. Not gonna be pretty.

I just can't imagine how it would feel to pack a few bags, evacuate, and hope you have a home to go to after the storm, not some flooded mess.

 

And Mexico has been hit by a magnitude 8.1 quake.
http://www.foxnews.com/world/2017/0...-mexico-people-in-capital-flee-buildings.html

 

Here in Florida it's really a mess with the predictions and projected tracks of Irma causing more and more people to hit the road and get out. Some people are evacuating sideways, moving from the east coast to the west coast. Florida is hardly wide enough for that to be a productive move. And the track keeps shifting west, chasing in the path of evacuees. So with each change of direction the problem is compounded. Some 4 hour drives are taking 8 hours with traffic barely able to move. Here in the panhandle, water and canned goods and non-perishable goods have already been flying off the shelves. And a few more westerly adjustments in the track, man, you'll have the whole state on the move!

Gas can't keep up with the demand. People are running out of gas on the highway after they've left their home area and some are leaving their vehicles on side the road in places they're not even familiar with because of running out of fuel. Shelters can hardly keep up with the demand of the non-mobile crowd

Right now I'm on the very outside edge of the storm wind path and with any more westerly adjustments I get more into it.
The only good thing that could happen would be for it to just keep going straight and not turn. But then that would just shift the storm on to someone else's home turf.

And the season goes on 'till November!

 

OMG!! It sounds horrific and surreal, like something out of a movie. I hope you stay safe and won't be affected. Of all the disasters I've heard of in my life, this appears to be the worst because it isn't just one or located within a specific range, the path and intensity keeps changing.

Be safe, stay safe. I hope you won't be impacted.

We pray for calm and that all in IRMA's path will be safe with no/minimum loss of property.

 

Stay safe.

 

Our fearless leader, @Major Attitude, is from the Treasure Coast in Florida. Almost straight across from Tampa, both places have been in the target zone. Hope all is well there! This storm can be all the way across the lower Florida.

I'm in a place that's just 'well enough' as it stands right now. I'm stocked up. Plenty of food for 3 or 4 people for a few days. Enough liquids to drown a horse. I also have an old refrigerator and a deep freeze out back I'm going to use to catch rain water. The last thing I did for prep was to buy an invertor so I can use my work truck to get 120v power. Good enough for a tv, phone chargers, the laptop and maybe the pc, and I have the mobo wifi still. Just noticed it's not quite large enough for the microwave. Next time I decide to splurge, I'll get a bigger one.

 

We have burn offs to minimise brush with potential to act as fire fuel in preparation for summer when bush fires are common...we have a lot of bushland even along our coastline and around Sydney suburbs and as I type I can smell the burn offs and see a bit of haze about.

A few years back there was a bush fire a couple kilometres from home thankfully it was quickly controlled, so I can understand the threat of bushfires...

Glad you're away from it...

 

You sound like my cousin up north who lives where drought and bushfires are prevalent and common...must admire your survival instincts and precautionary measures...really sounds like pioneer stuff...tough and ready.

 

Incredible...I wonder how those people in shanty towns are surviving...Mother Nature is truly raging...just hope things will soon reach a calm so people can catch their breath.

 

We don't. If you have a constant threat of bush fires, you might have a similar situation where you live - snow in winter melts in spring, followed by a very dry summer that turns everything that grew from that wet spring into fuel. And then the thunderstorms come.

How to handle the dry season and what to do to manage both the dry forests and later the fires, is a big and contentious debate every year, since late summer essentially is wildfire season. A lot of cattle ranches in the areas where it burns have seen all their grazing land turn to ash, which for obvious reasons hurts them in several ways.

Still, where I live, all I get is smoke. Considering what is going on in the air just above Cuba, I am grateful for that.

 

One thing i don't understand is how Florida is still even around with as many 1 to 2 hurricanes a year.Why would you want to retire to a place that or live in a place that gets nasty storms all together.

The most we get is rain and every once in a blue moon a tornado.Pennsylvania gets all most nothing in weather.

People that stay down there are just crazy.Not worth a life in my opinion.

I feel sorry for the people that do live there but just staying there is suicide.

The cost of living down there is crazy.

 

You could ask the same about California, with its earth quakes, or the parts of the mid-west that have tornadoes. Or for that matter, the rural pacific northwest, where the wildfires are. And the answer from all of them would be the same: We stay because this is our home.

Let's not turn this thread in that direction either, please. Victim blaming is an ugly thing.

 

I know not trying to sound that way.

 

Sydney while being coastal is very green...most coastline is bush...so yes, burn off always done before summer as a precaution.

Down south near our Capital (Canberra - like your Washington Parliament state), our snow country is how you described yours...very hot and dry in summer, snow in winter (still snowing now in spring!) .

Most prone to bushfires are our Blue Mountains down southwest which is pristine bush, mountainous and country regions.

We've even had your plane "Elvis" come Down Under during bad bush fires to help with dropping water on bushfires.

Australia being a self-contained continent that has desert, bush, forests, mountains, snow, beaches, tropical islands and the Great Barrier Reef, we also have a mixed bag of weather, with the occasional earthquake and bad storms, hurricane winds amd tornadoes that cause devastation and floods.

But NOTHING like the size, depth and width as what happens in your country!

 

Had to Google to find out what you were referring to.

Unbelievable! He's fake news!

How dare he say such things while people are fighting to survive, some homeless, lives have been lost!

Grrrrr...such idiocy infuriates me. Best to ignore that nincompoop! Doesnt deserve air space.

 

My mistake.

 

Wile e - You've reminded me of some times and things I had forgotten over the years. Pennsylvania

I've spent some time there and had friends there over the years. Since this thread is also about fires, here's a conversation piece I witnessed.
I was taken to a hill overlooking a valley of a town and more hills climbing out the other side. Every 100 feet or so there was smoke or steam venting from the ground. The town had a coal mine caught on fire underneath. It was never able to be put out. The dangers of the fire (buried gas tanks at a service station) and the fumes and CO2 became a problem so eventually the whole town was seized by eminent domain. The last families to fight the em. dm. were allowed to stay but the land could no longer be transferred.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Centralia_mine_fire

Some other - Around Gordon PA, I was first introduced to Rolling Rock beer. We used to get baby 1/2 kegs. Perfect size to stack 2 in a refrigerator with a tap spout and hose modified to it. Great for parties.

Oh and the 'Ghost of Gordon Mountain'. Look it up sometime.

And yeah- PA gets a whole lot more snow than we do here in Fl.

But good memories of PA and the people there .2nd to none!

 

Check out this video -

Irma sucked the water out of Long Beach, Bahamas

https://www.washingtonpost.com/news...rally-sucking-the-water-away-from-shorelines/

 

It's already ugly in south Florida. A long day ahead. Hope your people are in a solid safe place. I have family in the Tampa area. They don't have experience with anything this strong. We have memories of Camille in Biloxi, Ms and also Katrina but there are kids and grandkids who are novices to this and are mostly non-mobile so hopefully in a sturdy shelter.

 

https://www.accuweather.com/en/us/butler-pa/16001/weather-forecast/335345

Go to the live option

 

Quite a worrying time, particularly when loved ones may be in danger. Thoughts and prayers for their safety.

 

Hope your family is/will be safe.

Latest News with Tampa: Hurricane Irma Live Updates: Storm’s Winds Begin Battering Tampa Bay Area
By THE NEW YORK TIMES Updated 11:09 AM

https://www.nytimes.com/2017/09/10/us/hurricane-irma-florida.html?mcubz=0

 

Viglink shopping again.

Silver lining: We heard from our friend in Miami just a couple of hours ago, and the entire family is safe so far. They're in a sturdy shelter, with backup generators and lots of water, and they are confident they will be fine waiting it out. This makes me happy.

 

I later checked out Imandy Mann comments re "Ghostery", installed it and not had problems with Viglink. "Ghostery" seems to work as I can click link from your post and it works fine:

https://www.ghostery.com/products/
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