IS IT JUST ME ......OR?

[flatbottom]

you'd better knock on wood, throw salt over your shoulder and do whatever it takes.... because in my experience the MINUTE you say something like that.. you're screwed...!!!

oh yea, and Delaware? puhleeeease..!!!

whats wrong...you no likee chicken

[La Gringa]

whats wrong...you no likee chicken

naw, i jus' like da conch mo' bettah!!!

[Deep C]

I live in a house designed supposedly to take cat5... I'm 15 foot elevation 3 miles from intercoastal and another from ocean. That being said in Jeanne and Wilma both at cat three, that house was at its max and my standing order is three or more get out...
Now you take a place like galveston. A bad cat 1 is enough to swallow it. Its got a shallow water front porch and that means surge is way worse. If told to evacuate, get the hell out. There is no reason not to. In the keys if you didn't go they took your name for next of kin and made it clear that under no circumstance would they rescue you.
We've gone soft. Somewhere thats still the written rule, excpt now with Geraldo and Cantore making public spectacle out of tragedy they would blast would be rescuers into atoms for not helping "that poor helpless person". Bullshit! I say if they are stupid enough to stay then let em be crab food. I know a lot felt sorry for New Orleans and Katrina... History has taught us stuff. Like that under no circumstance are we better than mother nature and if she's being bitchy get the hell out of her way.
New Orleans is built below sea level and surrounded by sea. Its sinking more year by year. Its not meant for people to live in. We missed a golden oportunity to let it slip away and put another New Orleans a few miles away on land instead of reclaimed redfish flats...
Galvestonians must not be much on history books. The costliest natural disaster in history in terms of lives lost was right there... If they were stupid enough to stay the should get all they got comming to em. Make em pay for their own rescues and don't give em one red cent in aid repairing. Hell cancel their insurance too. That'll teach em... There I feel better.

[neilinov]

Sorry to jack the thread, but it is a historical fact that Delaware has never had a direct hit from a hurricane! If you think that this will cause one to hit then that is your problem. I don't believe that. The Delaware Coast is an awesome place to live. Great beaches, laid back lifestyle, and the canyons are a short boat ride away.

As far as staying you are a fool! I have witnessed first hand Andrew, Jean, Frances and a few others in the Bahamas. Andrew was by far the worst devastation I have ever seen. All knock the power out for weeks. No power means no AC, no refrigeration, no lights, no nothing. If you are not willing to go back into the stone age then get out and stay out until it is back up and running. I have talked to people who stayed during Andrew, and it is shocking what transpired.

What I remember getting there a few days after the storm was utter devastation. There were homes that had basically just a toilet sitting on a slab left. I stayed in the hulk of a home with broken glass everywhere, no windows, a roof half on, no kitchen cabinets, no appliances, no furniture , rats and bugs everywhere. Everything in the house was all blown out of the home into the sea. We spent the next few weeks putting windows back in, putting a new roof on, and rebuilding. All of this was done with no power and in the tropical heat. I spoke with some of the locals that rode it out and they still to this day compare everything to this storm. It was complete destruction. If you don't have the sense to get out of the way of something like this then God help you. I would help out in any way, but I would not expect anyone else to help me out.

[Deep C]

I did Andrew up close and personal... That and David in 79 were both cat 5 and the eraser comes to mind... My cement building in Andrew may as well have been styrofoam... 20 pound barrel tiles make some really bad sounds when flying at 168 mph!
I've written dribs and drabs about those experiences on here before. A lot I keep inside... One of those "you had to be there to understand" things...
I just outlined my current house and my rules for get out mode. Frances, Jeanne and Wilma all bullseyed this house and what you are saying about no power is an understatement... I don't have it in me to do that sensory deprivation shit for a week on end again. Even the bugs are quiet after a storm, probably because most got wiped out. The heat is unbearable and not even a fan to cool you down. Having a pool even sucks. It blows so hard that the sap from near by pines pollutes the water along with sand and bark thas has been "sanded" across the screen enclosure...
No gas at the stations to run generators and no lights in the intersections so diving is screwed...

[TROPHY SPORTFISHING]

Location, location, location...
Now if there is a "mandatory evacuation" by all means, get the heck out!
You said that you are 40' above sea level, I, here am 30' above sea level. I have been through every hurricane here since Hazel and I would not leave unless its a high cat. 4 or cat. 5. It really depends on where you are as to what you should do.
Example: in Morehead city (not the beach) from the high rise bridge to the south one has not a lot to worry about as due to the rise in elevation except for those right on the waterway on Bogue sound. How ever, say that I lived in the Oriental area, I'm gone on a high cat. 2 as that area will flood.
Where we are in NC, Wilmington to Morehead, our coast is not like the "Gulf of Mexico" a bay where water will trapp, it builds up has that has no where to go except inland and so much of that land that is built on there is at sea level or lower like parts of New Orleans and such. When ever a person lives where water can build up and rise with no place to escape, people are in trouble.
Biggest problem is most people do not know what their area will do in a storm and there for will make stupid decisions because they don't know what their area will do.
In the Gulf area, most people should know what their area will do (flood) as they have been torn apart from so many storms from the past, but comparing their area to ours is not apple to apples...
Just my thoughts...

Lee you took the words right out of my mouth.

[neilinov]

I did Andrew up close and personal... That and David in 79 were both cat 5 and the eraser comes to mind... My cement building in Andrew may as well have been styrofoam... 20 pound barrel tiles make some really bad sounds when flying at 168 mph!
I've written dribs and drabs about those experiences on here before. A lot I keep inside... One of those "you had to be there to understand" things...
I just outlined my current house and my rules for get out mode. Frances, Jeanne and Wilma all bullseyed this house and what you are saying about no power is an understatement... I don't have it in me to do that sensory deprivation shit for a week on end again. Even the bugs are quiet after a storm, probably because most got wiped out. The heat is unbearable and not even a fan to cool you down. Having a pool even sucks. It blows so hard that the sap from near by pines pollutes the water along with sand and bark thas has been "sanded" across the screen enclosure...
No gas at the stations to run generators and no lights in the intersections so diving is screwed...

That's what everyone doesn't realize. If you are willing to tough it out and are on high ground then by all means stay. If you can't stand being without your blackberry, ESPN, and a warm shower you are in for a tough time once the power goes out.

[Capt. kapoc]

I was born and raised in FL for 18 yrs i rember the aftermath..... the only thing that could be said to describe that was HAND OF GOD!!!! to describe everything being squished and the pine trees snapped off in the middle it was Wild.

[Fish Dad]

It's called the theory of natural selection by Charles Darwin.

[La Gringa]

Sorry to jack the thread, but it is a historical fact that Delaware has never had a direct hit from a hurricane! If you think that this will cause one to hit then that is your problem.

Whoa.... I just think it's bad mojo to say something will "never" happen. That's just my opinion and my experience - not my probem. And it won't actually ever be my problem because I don't and won't want to live there. I happen to like it better right where I am.

The last time this country took a direct hit from a hurricane was in 1960. I'd say 48 years is pretty sporadic. I'm certainly not going to run and hide because we had one hell week here.