Hurricane Irma thread - (renamed)

[gregblow]

Irma is heading right for us. No riding out on A1A on Sunday. This one looks like it's for real. If you live down her in South Florida, stay safe and good luck!

[MattTuck]

This storm is a killer. Get out of there if you can. Harvey was bad because of the shear amount of water falling, and collecting in flood prone areas.

Irma is going to cause structural damage beyond anything in recent history. Based on what I'm reading, people are going to be talking about this one like we in New England talk about the Hurricane of 1938.

[Gsinill]

Just came across this, shows how big that thing really is.
HOLY COW!
Stay safe everybody down there!

[makoti]

There are THREE huge storms in that picture. Yikes.

[Louis]

I don't want to make light of a deadly serious situation, but I do have to wonder what it would be like to try to ride with an 185 mph tail wind.

Assuming the bike hardware could take the speed, at that speed the turbulence would most certainly be too much to handle since your lateral stability would not be very good. I would be willing to try in, say, a 75 mph tailwind. I know that many of my wheels have been up to 55 mph for very short periods in the steep downhill leading out of my subdivision, (my pb gravity assisted speed) but I don't know how long the hub bearings could stand it.

[Veloo]

My customer told me that his friend is stuck in Florida cuz they've run out of gas in the surrounding stations.

[oldpotatoe]

Originally Posted by makoti

There are THREE huge storms in that picture. Yikes.

Jose and Katia...one in southern Gulf of Mexico, another that 'may' follow track of Irma...ugly season. Mother Nature is upset.

http://abcnews.go.com/US/trio-westwa...ry?id=49664598

[binxnyrwarrsoul]

Originally Posted by oldpotatoe

Mother Nature is upset.

That is an understatement.

[Ralph]

I live about 200 miles N of Miami, on NE side of Orlando. We know we will get some damage. Even if it stays off the coast.....pools screens and roof tiles at risk. If one tile comes off up the street, it becomes a missiles, hitting next house, and two tiles come off, and so forth, then you have all these projectiles of roof material, pool screen material, garbage cans, and tree limbs and anything else the wind can grab, flying up and down the streets. it gets dangerous out there.

One can still find gasoline if you don't mind sitting in a line, but too late to get much at the grocery store or HD. Roads already clogged going N as everyone flees the low country of GA and SC, so time to hunker down, and do some bike maintenance on our fleet.

[AngryScientist]

as ralph describes, once you get beyond pretty basic preparation, it mostly boils down to luck.

wishing all of you folks down there the best of luck, stay safe!

[paredown]

Stay safe!

I hate frickin' hurricanes. We only got the edges of Sandy, and lost a bunch of mature trees (house was spared, thank goodness)--but it was nerve-wracking, sitting in the house with the wind howling and trees snapping off that sounded like explosions. Irene was like a big storm so not so bad.

We went through a big one, Freda (typhoon) when I was kid in Vancouver--another one of those 'storm of the century' deals--being a kid, after getting over the initial excitement we just went to sleep down in the basement with the parents. Got up the next morning and could not believe the damage--all those shallow rooted west coast trees had come down like ninepins, shopping mall windows were all blown out, power was out for days. Of course, being kids we thought that was all pretty cool. Years later I worked for a construction materials company that manufactured roofing, and to make conversation one day I asked about Freda. They could not get the roofing out to dealers fast enough so they set up the back parking lot, and were selling roofing right out of the warehouse--and it went on for weeks...

[batman1425]

Nature has powerful ways to restore balance

[572cv]

Originally Posted by makoti

There are THREE huge storms in that picture. Yikes.

Four.... I think that is a massive storm down near Antarctica. Hope all the forumites in FL are ready, your persons (and your bikes) in safe places.

BTW, the best App that we have found for wind/weather is called "Windy". Very nice graphic presentation.

[fignon's barber]

I'm in the Tampa/Clearwater area. The waiting is the toughest part. Beautiful day today, though. I'll get out for a couple hours on the bike.

[tiretrax]

This is a crazy, scary storm season. As far as size, Hurricane Ike's (2008) system filled the entire Gulf. It was Cat 5 at sea but down to Cat 1 when it made landfall. Still, its storm surge wiped out 4,000 of the 6,000 structures on the Bolivar Peninsula of Galveston County.

Irma is likely to pick up a huge amount of moisture from the Gulf/Atlantic in additional to having a good sized surge, so Floridians, Georgians, and South Carolinians should prepare for flooding. Miami has had enough troubles with rising sea levels and subsidence. With all the new construction, Irma is likely to have a toll in the 10s of billions on that area if it's struck by the NE side of the storm, as currently predicted.

After a big hurricane, the people that survived trying to ride it out often say it's the stupidest thing they've done in their life. If you live in the storm's path, head for higher ground or seek out a storm shelter. Houses can be rebuilt and possessions can be replaced; lives can't.