OT Hurricane Hilary
ArtAngel
Posts: 1,694
Anyone else here trying to protect their property from Hurricane Hilary's tropical storm? Can't believe I am googling 'hurricane preparedness'. It's our first here in SoCal. Our first official storm warning. We live 26 miles from the eye once it hits the path near Riverside. Not sure how accurate these Hurricane trackers are but here's the NOAA link for anyone who might find it useful. A level 4 is never good, but for me, the timing could not be worse. Last week I temporarily shortened a steel aviary by taking away 12 feet (of weight) and removing a 200 pound iron-worked 10x24 ft roof-arch, to allow me to start phase one of the redwood rebuild. I'm three inches away from freaking out.
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Is that the hurricane heading to California?
One of the biggest threats with severe wind, is debris being picked up and hurled through the air, and the weakest part of a dwelling is generally glass windows. Hence why plywood on windows is an important apart of preparedness. And if you cant cover the glass, be as far way from the glass inside the house. Stock up on drinking water and canned food because sometimes electrical grids get knocked out 1 to 3 days. The other big problem is the amount of water brought with the winds. Location affects how water drains away or pools. If you are on a floodplain, leave, if you are on the side of a hill, potentially prone to landslides, leave.
Keep safe.
One of the main reasons I will never live on the coast. I helped clean up after Katrina in New Orleans and it was a HUGE mess. Good luck and stay safe!
As FSMC said be sure you have plenty of drinking water and non-perishable food supplies to last for several days. And remove or secure any outside loose objects that could be blown around.
Also with the possible loss of electricity for several days be sure you have flashlights and a battery radio (to receive important warnings and announcements); and of course be sure you have plenty of batteries for them. Also be sure your cell phone is fully charged and maybe even have a charged USB auxillary power supply for it.
Stock up on first aid supplies and be sure you have enough medications.
Category 4 storms are bad but often survivable for well made structures. Some possible damage, but repairable. Cat 5 on the otherhand...
However, if you're near and low to the ocean, watch out for storm surge, get rugs off the floor, get books & important papers up high, get furniture pushed away from the windows. When the electricity goes out and you know it's going to stay out (usually easy to tell, by looking out the window at the cows flying by), the first thing to do is declare an "Ice Cream Party". Wheee...
But open your refrigerator and/or freezer only once. You want to preserve as much cold as possible. In fact one thing to do is fill up milk cartons or other non breakable containers with water and freeze them before the storm so that their cold thermal mass helps keep the inside of the freezer frozen as long as possible.
The day after the storm, if the electricity is still out, you can declare a steak party cooked in your BBQ pit or with a hibachi type charcoal stove. Then after the storm & your steak party, have fun picking up the junk on your lawn. When yours or your neighbor's shingles get ripped from your roof, be prepared to find lots of roofing nails pointy side up in your lawn.
Lawnmowers often show you where they are, just before they imbed themselves in your shin.
I went through the eye of hurricane David (Labor Day, 1979), and 5 hurricanes in 2004 (Charlie, Francis, Ivan, Jeanne, and Ivan again) all while living in Melbourne, Florida (central east coast of FL) a couple of them were cat 3 bordering on cat 4, and we had several tornados during Jeanne, one of which dropped a big liveoak tree on the roof. My bedroom was in the basement (yes, a Florida house with a basement, who'd a figured?) and when I woke up in the morning I put my feet down into two inches of water.
Then went upstairs to find the tree leaning against the house, and water showering down onto the pooltable.
Pooltables don't make great pools.
Towels, have lots of towels handy. Big bath or beach towels. Be prepared to soak & wring until your arms ache.
I've seen 100 mph winds on one side of the house flattening palm trees, and yet on the otherside's entrance, a small glass chime on the porch wasn't even moving.
Wind is surprising.
A friend in San Diego reports gray skies, but all sunny and nice here in Los Angeles.
As of noon, we have an overcast moving in. No significant wind at ground level (just the nice breeze we've had all week). But it's only Saturday.
Time to start closing windows...
Op,
With all they hype regarding this storm, by the time it hits Riverside, it should have weakened to a Cat 1-2 level, if not less. It looks to be coming right up the Baja Penninsula whcih should weeaken it considerably. I will say, though, that I wouldn't want to be living in those areas of Baja Mexico right about now.
Here's something to think about. You have already experienced storm winds somewhat close to this. SoCal has these little things called Santa Ana Windstorms that generate 50 - 70 mph winds with gusts above 90 which come through every single year. People who don't live here don't truly understand what they can be like. If you have ever needed to prepare for those, treat it as similar and it should be pretty much the same.
The major difference will be RAIN, maybe a LOT of it. Make sure all your drainage is clear and try and clear out stuff which may fall and block it.
I'm in Glendale, so am better off mainly because it turned Eastward during the night. Hurricanes are always unpredictable and do strange things. Good Luck and don't give in to the FREAK OUT level hype.
Actually taping the windows has been shown to be not effective in preventing breakage and may actually cause them to be a greater danger by producing larger shards which could injure or kill you. On the other hand covering the windows with shutters or plywood is effective.
In the case of Hillary the wind speeds are not likely to be great enough to break windows by themselves; but breakage could occur from flying debris. When Hillary reaches California a much greater danger will be from flooding.
Lived through a typhoon when in Taiwan and tornadoes in Oklahoma. Wind and water are the things to worry about. Sandbags and boarding up as needed.
Major thing I heard about on TV this morning is to be sure to be signed up for alerts on all your cell phones. Also make sure your vehicles have full gas tanks, along with a 'go bag' just in case with meds, non-perisable food, insurance paperwork, clothing, and animal needs. Clean up your outside areas and check on neighbors who may need help too. If someone is on vacation, check their yards, as their left out yard furniture could damage other homes. Have a phone number for family & friends to contact if you get separated that is not in the local area and a safe gathering place also. Make sure all the kids know what to do and have the info written down for your families.
If any neighbor kids are home alone when it hits, bring them into your home for their safety and let their folks know where they are. Their pets too if possible. And how to contact their extended families.
Mary
...yes, the winds are expected to weaken before the storm reaches southern California, possibly even to tropical storm status. Unfortunately as mentioned above that doesn't include the predicted heavy rains, the worst forecast in the mountains. So flash floods and mudslides are the most serious threats. There is also the risk of isolated tornadoes, a somewhat rare occurance in California (though ond did hit the LA area earlier this year).
Whatever the outcome, people are warned not to underestimate the storm.
I lived over a 1000 miles from where a hurricane made landfall on the Texas coast and it still managed to hit my house and blew a 100 year old maple, about 60' tall, over on the kitchen roof.
Interesting though, I thought hurricances in the Pacific were called cyclones or does the name get assigned accouding to whether the storm originated in the Atlantic or Pacific?
...when Hurricane Sandy hit the Northeast it was so large the outer bands of the storm were as far west as the western shores of Lake Michigan and it was stirring up large swells and waves on the Milwaukee and Chicago lakefront, a distance of about 1,380 km or 860 miles from the storm's eye.
Most of us in Asia seem to live in apartment buildings and can't just put wood over windows in someone else's apartment... i was told that taping the windows helps keep the shards from exploding/holds together if it cracks. Been through a few typhoons... also highly advise not going anywhere near a construction site during a typhoon. O.o Once was walking (scurrying) home right at the start of a typhoon (it was my first time in a storm like that, more than a little naive) and suddenly the entire construction wall fell over almost on us- the screech was so loud I screamed like I was in a haunted house! Metal just curled right down and over! Hunkered down tight after that.
Was lucky no broken glass but there's always finding the stuff from neighbors that wasn't pinned down, like lawn furniture and stuff. Have friends and family in the upcoming storm area and they're trying to make sure there's no loose tree branches and stuff too. Hope you all stay safe!
No, they are all cyclones. Cyclones in the eastern Pacific are called hurricanes but cyclones in the western Pacific are called typhoons.
Hmmm..., are you sure? Japan seems to be in the western Pacific Ocean, today at least.
And I seem to remember hearing about typhoons hitting Japan and China. And to me, the eastern Pacific is anything between Hawaii and California. But California, doesn't seem to be usually bothered by cyclonic storms of any name, regardless. Yeah, they get lots of strong straight winds, but I've not remembered hearing "typhoon" or "hurricane" applied to California. Whereas I have heard of hurricanes hitting both the eastern and the western sides of Mexico. Have I heard wrongly for a half century?
Or is my dividing point between east/west Pacific, misplaced?
It is probably because they don't want to confuse the American public, everyone knows what an Atlantic hurricane looks like they've seen enough of them on the news every year, so calling a Pacific monster storm also a hurricane saves some explaining for the folks on the western coastal regions. The Location relative to the international Date line defines the name. Hurricane towards the Americas.
These massive Pacific storms are called typhoons almost everywhere else towards Asia, Australia and the Islands of micronesia
Oh! OK.. You get eastern & western jextapositioned in your sentence but I know what you meant.
Yep, sorry, I said it backwards. They are called hurricanes are in the eastern pacific and typhoons in the western pacific. I have corrected my original post.
Hi guys. Lots of good advice here. Had no time to respond but really appreciate the feed back. The advice is better than anything I could find with google yesterday before I wrote the post. I read FirstBastion's plywood hint and beat it to the hardware store. Plywood shoppers The closest I've come to this was when I was living in Scarborough. Bought a big stone house located at 241 Barrie Ontario, May 1985. The move in date was June because fiancé was flying overseas. The F4 tornado was really bad, (winds 400 km per hour) felt the winds in Scarborough, but the damage skipped the house and hit the Marina nearby and devastated tons of other structures. Anyhow, I could not find any firestation that did not have a sign saying 'out of sand bags' so I spent Saturday until 3am Sunday morning, outside zip-tying chairs tables, clearing drains, sweeping, collecting birds, moved 3 dozen inside, tarping the cage with zip-ties. bungee wrap arounds, tried to catch a few escapees, set up a cat station for a few feral cats we feed, dragged a few into the bathroom, and used the recycle bin to hold fairy ornaments and breakables from front area. Used parachute cord to tie down 6x6 sections of steel with caging wire attached to palapa poles. Hand sawed the rusted 12 foot base barrier steel and tossed it in the green bin, for fear it would bludgeon a neighbor. At 3.15 am this morning, exhausted, I read the rest of the comments hoping for extra tips and found tons. Again thank you. I'm big on yard decorator and boy do I ever regret that right now. My hands and arms are so tired from zip-tying stuff for hours and hours and my fingers are raw from knotting ropes and cords, I doubt I'd have the strength to wring out a face cloth of water, never mind towels. I feel like a water hoarder and well never eat this much canned soup or tuna ever. As I type this I am glancing at the plywood leaning against the other desk, I am thinking Duct Tape! A great idea. I plan to hold the plywood in place temporarily with duck tape then scre it inside the house (stucco utside no hammer drill). Now I am sorry for cancelling Direct TV and Hulu (prefer movie channels) wishing I had a decent news feed other than the internet and that I had seen the battery operated radio tip before leaving for supplies. How the heck do people in Florida manage? Hubby is disabled and it's hard for him to accomplish simple tasks others might find extremely easy. It broke my heart to see him struggling so hard, to help where he could.
>whew< That's a lot of prep work! Even if you avoid the worst of the storm, it'll pay off in peace of mind. BTW, in case you haven't seen them, you can get hand cranked emergency radios too. Don't have to worry about batteries for those.
Stay safe and let us know how it goes.
If the estimates of wind speed are correct, then that probably will be sufficient, but in general it is better to screw it to the outside frame... if the window does get blown out, the wind will be pushing in and generally whatever framing there is around the window won't be structurally sound enough to hold that... If you are deadset on doing it that way, and I wouldn't really recommend that, please make sure you secure the wood to the studs, not the framing/molding around the window... generally that's attached with finishing nails and they are very easy to pull out... you'll need to attach the wood to something more substantial... there are quite a few issues with the plywood being inside, but it being a less structurally sound attachment is the biggest issue... the wind will be pushing on the house, so a covering on the outside requires the fasteners to do less "work"... on the inside the fasteners are now all that is keeping the shield in place, so they better be well attached or it will pop out and become a interior projectile*... outside that sheet would just fly away... inside it could go flying and hurt someone.
If at all possible, I'd invest in a tool that can drive appropriate fasteners into the stucco... I know that's a beyoch to do (I have 100+ year old stucco under our siding that's nigh on impossible to drill through without a carbide or diamond bit), but it's probably something you might need again at some point, so you really might want to consider it.
If it's any consolation, you mentioned having stucco... that's a way better exterior material than plain siding like many coastal homes these days have... the predicted wind speed doesn't seem to be in the range of anything that should cause extensive damage to most tile roofs either... but that's all based on "predictions"... individual areas can always vary and gusts and isolated downdrafts can create lots of focused localized damage outside of what others experience overall, so stay safe.
Good luck.
*Think of it this way... it's like trying to kick in a door... if you are kicking from the direction it opens out to, it's really, really hard... but if it opens inward and you are kicking in, it is a lot easier... I'm not implying you do a lot of smash and grab burglaries, and have experience kicking in doors, but it's an example I've used before that's a fairly illustrative example... especially to burglars... which I'm sure you aren't... probably... I'm pretty sure you aren't... either way stay safe.
Just saw some Baja footage and it was pretty bad, so stay safe. Will be interesting to see what the emergency response is in California since there was little to none in Maui.
After working so hard to protect your home and everything, I can only wish that it was all unnecessary and that the hurricane spares you. The effort was certainly not in vain, because if there is another storm warning like this, you will be able to do everything much faster, perhaps with the help of a checklist.
I'm sorry that I can hardly give you any good advice, but stay safe!
Be safe first and foremost. Take care of yourself and your family. And know that there are a lot of folks around the world who care for you and your neighbors.
11:22 AM Inner city L.A. is getting rained on. So far it's a lovely rainy Sunday. The wind hasn't kicked up yet at ground level, but give it time...
On youtube they are talking about heavy rains and the warning of flash-flood emergency situation on the live feeds. It is a tropical storm now, but the worry of a years worth of rain in 48 hour period. Depending on loction and the surrounding area, some autorities are considering evacuation of residents. Information from local sources is most important for up to date information. Stay safe and alert. The State Governor mentioned this site for information https://www.calalerts.org/
What we were NOT expecting was a little earthquke in the middle of it.
I just switched to CNN and saw that headline of a 5.1 just outside LA, 9 mi deep. Cripes!
My two worse nightmares, with fire a close third.