I'm praying that this might yet sputter out before it makes landfall. Hurricanes have been known to be crazy like that. Not often, but it does happen.
Please y'all, be safe.
Showing posts with label hurricane. Show all posts
Showing posts with label hurricane. Show all posts
Wednesday, October 09, 2024
First Helene, now Milton
Tuesday, October 01, 2024
Helene: After the storm
The past few days will go down in history. The comparison I keep hearing is that "this is our Katrina" and that's not inaccurate at all.
If God saw fit to humble us, He certainly did with Hurricane Helene.
As I write this it's almost 7:30 pm EST on October 1st, 2024. I was away from the house for much of the day so I don't know when exactly the juice came back on but when I returned an hour ago the power was restored. It had been out since a little before 8 on Friday morning, four and a half days ago. So that's about a hundred hours that we were without electricity.
I drove around the area on Friday night. Didn't get too far. There were big trees fallen all over the place, across the roadways. I've never seen so many power lines down.
I had to conserve battery power on the various devices, like my phone and iPad. Yesterday morning I ventured out and got to the library in downtown Spartanburg, found a spot on the floor next to a wall outlet and recharged the phone. I've been limiting its use, employing it only when absolutely necessary. Because there was no telling when power would come back to our homes.
My dog and I are in upstate South Carolina. And it could have been much worse.
Asheville, North Carolina is a little less than an hour to our north. As of this evening I-40 going east out of the city is open but nothing else. The town is pretty much unreachable except by helicopter (Asheville Regional Airport is starting to get supply flights coming in but that's a bit far from the city limits). At last count more than 60 people are dead from the storm in Buncombe County.
Half an hour to our west, we have friends in Greenville. They have been without power since Friday.
The town of Chimney Rock has been wiped off the map.
Sections of highways in the western part of North Carolina have been destroyed.
Local schools are out until Monday next week. Remote learning via Internet is also out.
The power crews are working around the clock to restore electricity. They have come in from all up and down the country and some have arrived from Canada. They can't possibly be appreciated enough.
As for my own account...
Restricting the use of devices meant that it would be unwise to write, no matter how creative I was feeling. And the only flashlight I have is on my iPhone. So I spent the daylight hours doing lots of reading. I try to read George Orwell's 1984 every few years and I was behind on that so Sunday afternoon I was engorged in that novel. And yesterday, for whatever reason, I started re-reading Helter Skelter. I did write a bit for my book, the old-fashioned way: with a pen and notebook. So I guess it can be said that my attempt to contribute to the world's literature is sort of a multimedia effort.
It's been a wild past few days. And I was expecting the power to be restored sometime late Friday. So I'm very thankful that it's back.
I've been through hurricanes a number of times in my life. Helene topped them all. For it to come this far inland and still packing a punch is almost a freak occurrence. It's being called a one-in-a-thousand-year catastrophe.
And that's pretty much my report. Going to spend the rest of the evening getting my bearings back, take a LONG hot shower, give my dog Tammy some love and treats, maybe watch a movie.
Helene has certainly made me thankful for things that we too often take for granted. And like I said, it could have been worse here.
Thoughts and prayers going up and out for everyone who's been affected by this storm.
Monday, October 29, 2012
Dear friends in the Northeast...
Good night, and good luck.
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| October 29 2012: Hurricane Sandy floods the site of the World Trade Center in New York City |
Monday, August 27, 2012
An open letter to the citizens of New Orleans
Dear people of New Orleans:
Right now Isaac is still a tropical storm. But we all know how fickle these Atlantic cyclone systems can be. It could still draw enough strength from the warm waters of the Gulf to intensify into a major hurricane. And at the moment most of the computer models have it following the same track that Katrina did seven years ago.
I blogged a lot about Katrina and its aftermath in 2005. Most of it had to do with the failures of government at various levels, from the mayor's office on up. I don't want to do that again in 2012.
So let's be blunt...
Ray Nagin is not mayor of New Orleans anymore.
Kathleen Blanco is not governor of Louisiana anymore.
George W. Bush is not President of the United States anymore.
You folks still have time. My advice is to play it safe, take some initiative, and get the hell out of there right now.
Thank you.
Sincerely,
Chris
Thursday, August 25, 2011
And now Hurricane Irene is bearing down on us...
In the past week or so I've had, in no particular order: food poisoning, a sick family member, me getting sick (again), earthquake, extended travel, technical problems which kept me away from this blog, and various metaphysical crises...
...so here comes Irene.
Getting a bad vibe about this one, folks. A lot like the one I had back in '96 when Fran came roaring ashore. Even as far inland as Elon it kicked the slats out of everyone bigtime.
Got to have a healthy respect for a hurricane. Admiration, even. A hurricane really is an amazing mechanism: a heat and thermal dispersal engine of ginormous magnitude. Without hurricanes, the oceans - and the Earth in general - would become much too warm. So in a sense, hurricanes are an asset.
But even so, to be in the path of one truly is like looking down the barrel of God's shotgun.
Longtime readers know how much of a hurricane nut I am, soooo I'll be blogging about it as best I can while also catching up on all this other stuff. In the meantime, especially to our friends at the coast: y'all stay safe!!
Thursday, September 02, 2010
Bev Perdue - AKA "Worst Governor EVER" - suspends gun rights STATEWIDE ahead of Hurrican Earl (what the?!?)
Just got the word from Matt Mittan that North Carolina Governor Bev Perdue - also known on this blog as "Worst Governor EVER!" - has suspended the rights of North Carolina residents to "to use or carry firearms outside their premises" during the state of emergency declared for Hurricane Earl, currently taking aim at our coast.
Here's what really raised my eyebrows: this is apparently a STATEWIDE suspension, and not merely along the North Carolina coast. In other words, folks around Sylva, Waynesville and other fine places waaay out in the North Carolina mountains are also affected by the gun rights suspension... even though it's extremely doubtful that they will be affected by Earl in the least bit.
What the hell is Governor Perdue thinking?!
I would like for someone to show me where this is just a matter for the coastal areas. But even if that were the case, it does not make me feel the least bit comfortable that Perdue has taken it upon herself to say that the Second Amendment no longer applies, regardless of how big or small an area is affected by Earl.
And then the woman has the gall to say that those who decide to ride it out are "on your own". So what are they supposed to use to defend themselves against potential looters? Like the guy in Aliens suggested: "harsh language"?
This woman hasn't a clue. Like too damn many other elected officials in this country.
Saturday, August 28, 2010
Hurricane Katrina hit New Orleans five years ago
Katrina started out life on August 23rd, 2005 as a tropical system in the southeastern Bahamas. It did substantial damage and caused a number of deaths as it went across the Florida peninsula. And then Katrina entered the warm waters of the Gulf of Mexico... where it became the monster that would ultimately cause the worst natural disaster in American history.
Five years later and Katrina is being debated as hotly as ever. I thought at the time that the situation became one of the worst clusterf-cks ever for government at all levels (and both major parties, mind ya).
But there were also quite a lot of stories about the positive aspects of human nature as well that came out of Katrina. The tale of Jabbar Gibson - the 20-year old who stole a schoolbus to evacuate fellow New Orleans residents to the Houston Astrodome - was one of my favorites. So too was the bar in the French Quarter that never closed. And then there was the photograph of Nita LaGarde, 105 years old and in a wheelchair, holding hands with Tanisha Blevin, the 5-year old granddaughter of her nurse. LaGarde and Blevin had spent two days trapped in the attic of a house as the flood waters rose before being rescued.
(I still think that the Interdictor blog is going to make for one helluva movie someday, with the right screenplay and director behind it.)
There is something dreadfully fascinating about hurricanes. And if you were reading The Knight Shift at the time you'll remember well how, ummm... nuts I went in writing about Katrina.
Let us hope and pray that another such opportunity will be a long, long time in returning.
Friday, November 13, 2009
This is a photograph of the sun
Many of us in this part of North Carolina no longer remember what it looks like. There is a rumor about that today we might finally see it again.
(Curse you Hurricane Ida!)
Monday, November 09, 2009
Keeping an eye on Hurricane Ida
Hurricanes are horribly fascinating in my mind (maybe too fascinating, as anyone who followed this blog prior to and following Katrina will probably attest). They're right up there with tornadoes and freak blizzards on my list of favorite meteorological events. And even though each of those things devastates property and can rack up a priceless loss in human life, hurricanes are a whole 'nother thing psychologically.
I can't put it any other way than this: To be in the path of an oncoming hurricane is like looking down the barrel of God's shotgun.
So this late in the 2009 hurricane season, the states around the Gulf of Mexico are bracing to get hit by Ida sometime tomorrow...
Hopefully the Gulf waters will have cooled off this time of year and take a lot of the strength out of it before Ida makes landfall.
On another note, the current track looks to bring some still much-needed rain to this part of North Carolina later in the week.
Friday, September 12, 2008
This blog just got a visitor from Galveston, Texas
Whoever you are, I hope we have the pleasure of meeting someday.
But until then, get the flying f--- out of there.
(In case nobody has heard the news, authorities are telling people who for whatever reason choose to stay behind to write their names and Social Security numbers on their arms with Sharpies, so that the bodies/parts can be identified later.)
Running gas prices update post
In an update to the earlier story, a friend has told me that gas is now just over $7 not far over the line in South Carolina. Which makes it all the more interesting considering that South Carolina's gas tax is lower than North Carolina's and a lot of people along the border fill their cars up there if they can.
I'll be adding on more prices as they come in.
I don't believe at this point that this has anything to do with Ike, and everything to do with over-zealous speculation.
EDIT 6:13 p.m. EST: Fox 8 WGHP is reporting that most gas stations in Greensboro are now out of fuel. Average price seems to be about $3.90 in the area. The local Wal-Mart Supercenter just down the road from us in Rockingham County is tapped dry of juice.
A source has passed along word that the Colonial pipeline - which runs from Houston east and up the Piedmont region of the eastern seaboard, including through this area and on to New York City - is now operating at less than half of its usual capacity.
Four bucks and up for regular gas in Raleigh at this hour
A trusted source in the Raleigh/Durham area here in North Carolina called to let me know that the price of regular gasoline there is now $4.89, with premium at more than five bucks and a lot of stations limiting purchases to ten gallons. It's also been reported that at many stations the cars are lined up to the streets.
Also, I'm now hearing that this now how gas is going for this afternoon in Greensboro (about a half-hour south of where we are) and that some stations have already run out of the precious juice.
(If you're one of this blog's many foreign readers, this is more or less related to Hurricane Ike in the Gulf of Mexico, although how much of this is serious distribution shortage and how much of this comes from speculators going nutzoid on the oil markets, is anyone's guess.)
I hope this doesn't turn into another thing like what this blog went through with Katrina three years ago. As I said the other week, I'm still burned-out from that experience...
EDIT 2:04 p.m. EST: WRAL is reporting that the state's price-gouging law is now in effect, and has this photo from a gas station in Zebulon illustrating how jacked-up the prices have become...
Y'all down in Texas are in our prayers today
Barring some meteorological miracle, Hurricane Ike is set to be one for the ages.
We've got a lot of friends and even some family down that way. Hope all of you in the path of the storm will be safe.
(By the way Jonathan, looks like you're going to get to experience a hurricane before your sister does :-)
Saturday, August 30, 2008
To our friends along the Gulf Coast...
You guys are definitely in this blogger's thoughts and prayers this weekend.
I'm now hearing that Hurricane Gustav has gone from a tropical storm all the way to a Category 4 within the space of the past 12 hours. That in the past 3 hours alone the central pressure has dropped 9 millibars and Gustav still hasn't hit the warmer Gulf waters yet.
The projected tracks also have the storm going west of New Orleans. If the east side of the storm gets too close, the town which is still cleaning up after Katrina three years ago will likely get hit even worse this time around.
Lord willing, this thing will fizzle-out into a relatively weak system (it's happened before). Three years ago I went nuts chronicling Katrina on this blog, and truth be known I'm still a bit burned-out by the experience. It's not something that I want to have to do again. But if it does hit, hopefully there will have been much that was learned from the mistakes of Katrina that will make Gustav a much less traumatic event.
Speaking of Katrina, here's a photo that I found a few days ago...
This is the storm surge itself of Hurricane Katrina, as it came ashore near New Orleans. I can't recall anyone else photographing the surge of any hurricane in such up-close detail. That is pretty much a mountain of water dozens of feet high as it's crashing down onto the shore. For this and other pictures in the series click here.
