Entries Tagged 'Hurricane News' ↓

Looks like there is good news for the people of Bermuda as it appears they have survived Hurricane Florence with no deaths.

Devonshire Bay, Bermuda weathers Hurricane Florence. Photo Credit: AP

“HAMILTON, BERMUDA — Thousands of Bermudians were still without power Tuesday in the wake of Hurricane Florence, which knocked down utility poles and damaged roofs but caused far less damage than feared. The storm, which caused no major injuries, damaged about 10 homes and garages in the wealthy British island territory before it headed north over the open Atlantic Ocean, said Deputy Governor Nick Carter. A few people were hurt by broken glass but none required hospitalization, he said.”

Click this link or the photo for the full article from the Associated Press.

Technorati Tags: Hurricane Florence, Bermuda, Hurricane Florence Bermuda

According to the report out of Hawaii based KHON T.V. Wake Island was spared the untimely death that was forecast last week. In the mean time Tropical Storm Florence is in the Atlantic looking to gain strength over the next 24 hours.

Technorati Tags: Tropical Storm Florence, Super Typhoon Ioke, Wake Island, Hurricane, NOAA

Wake Island, Northern Pacific, Unincorporated U.S. Territory.

The U.S. Air Force had to evacuate 200 of their Wake Island base residents as Super Typhoon Ioke with 300 kph winds approached (186 miles per hour). While Hurricane John is wreaking havoc on the eastern side of the Pacific in Mexico, Ioke is spinning around in the north western Pacific Ocean and all of us, except those on Wake Island and the surrounding atolls, can count ourselves as lucky to not be anywhere near this killer storm. The current track has Ioke pointed towards Japan but hopefully it will sputter out before then.

Super Typhoon Ioke storm track points towards Japan.

According to the AP on August 29, 2006

“Classified as a Category 5 “super typhoon,” Ioke is expected to extensively damage the U.S. territory when it hits Wednesday with 155-mph winds, said Jeff Powell, lead forecaster for the National Weather Service in Honolulu.

“This is going to roll up a storm surge that will probably submerge the island and destroy everything that’s not made of concrete,” Powell said.

In case you’re unfamiliar with the Hurricane’s Cousin, the Typhoon, here’s the definition of Typhoon from Wikipedia

“The word typhoon has two possible origins:

• From the Chinese ?? (daaih f?ng (Cantonese); dà f?ng (Mandarin)) which means “great wind.”^[53] (The Chinese term as ?? táif?ng, and ?? taifu in Japanese, has an independent origin traceable variously to ??, ?? or ?? hongthai, going back to Song ? (960-1278) and Yuan ?(1260-1341) dynasties. The first record of the character ? appeared in 1685’s edition of Summary of Taiwan ????).^{[citation needed]}
• From Urdu, Persian or Arabic ??f?n (?????) < Greek tuph?n (?????).^{[citation needed]}Portuguese tufão is also related to typhoon. See Typhon for more information.”

Tropical Storm Ernesto will go down as the storm that wasn’t - at least from the perspective of the U.S. Mainland that was bracing for our first real threat of the 2006 Hurricane Season. Don’t get me wrong - we’re all very happy that Ernesto broke down like a Wall Street Junk Bond Dealer. And, we’re already asking ourselves and our community what we can learn from the storm - or from our response to the storm.

First up - the mainstream media is about to jump to the immediate conclusion that since Ernesto fizzled, future storms are more likely to be ignored by area residents. This logic is easier to understand when you spend hours struggling with storm shutters, waiting in gas lines and enduring grocery cart cattle calls that are right out of a wild west movie only to learn that it was all for naught. We look across the street at our neighbor that didn’t do a thing and we hate them for being so damn lucky. We become numb to it all. Apathetic would be the watch word here.

How about all the things that were smoother this year than last?

I noticed quite a few improvements here in the West Palm Beach, Florida area. Over the last couple of years all your basic Hurricane supplies quickly ran out. Trying to find some C or D batteries, water, propane, flashlights or anything else used to ‘camp’ inside a stifling hot oven (better known here as a house without air conditioning from the storm aftermath) was next to impossible. This year, I found both grocery stores and our local home improvement stores both well stocked and relatively uncrowded.

Have distribution methods and preparedness improved in these retail sectors or were we all just better stocked-up after two years of constant reminders, delivered to us by high and low pressure fronts that steered nasty Tropical Storms and Hurricanes to our neck of the woods?

Here’s what hasn’t changed.

People, including yours truly, still put off taking action to protect themselves and their homes until the last minute. Hey, we’re busy, just like you, and we don’t have time to waste. If we’re going to prepare, we all have some internal threshold that needs to be met before our basic human desire to live kicks in and fires up the save-your-ass afterburners.

People still rush around like morons, including yours truly, after finally accepting that a storm may in fact arrive on our doorstep.

People are a little more on edge, blaring horns a little longer than needed, waving arms around excitedly, gesturing with hands and fingers in ways that we’d be otherwise quite embarrassed about.

Well, maybe not me.

Then there’s the gasoline…

If there’s one thing people don’t like it’s not having any options - and apparently if you’re a Floridian, running like hell is one of our favorite options. We’re fond of hanging chads and concealed carry gun laws for Granny as well.

That’s why we fill up our cars before, during, and after, we do anything else. And then if our cars are full, we fill up our spare gas cans. And if the storm still isn’t here yet, we go fill up our boat’s gas tank. Then, if the storm still isn’t here, we fill up our lawn mower because, heck, someone, or something might be able to ride it the hell out of here. We can live without a lot of things here in Hurricane Country, but gas ain’t one ‘em.

We ran out of gas quickly and the stations were jammed. I understand the lines, especially during peak times, but stations running out of gas seems entirely avoidable. What’s the problem, we’re not paying enough these days for our gas? Perhaps the petroleum companies can’t afford to send extra trucks so we can buy more of their product? I really thought that with advances like new Florida laws requiring gas stations close to major highways to have backup generators were a sign that we were building more fail safe systems? The power never went out, and we still couldn’t get it right.

It wasn’t because we had a lack of gas. Governor Jeb Bush reminded us that we didn’t need to hoard gas, that we had a plenticious supply, and that we had just done such a good job of being prepared (hoarding) that we had run low in some places.

Maybe next time we can get the re-supply of gas right? Here’s a hint to the petroleum industry - if you get this right, you can rob us blind even more!

Three days out from a forecast Tropical Storm or Hurricane hitting a region start sending a lot of extra gas trucks! I know you’ve already thought of this but apparently Buford didn’t get the memo. Better yet, I’ve got an idea to make you even more money.

Portable gas stations.

After all, what’s a gas station but a big tank of gasoline with spigots attached to it. A tanker truck is just an above ground gas station on wheels with some gas pumps missing. But what about modern conveniences you ask? Sure, a cashier, twelve temporary pumps, all hooked up to wireless ATM’s would be nice. But we’ll pay cash in the first few days after the storm since we understand that our communications infrastructure will be amiss. WE KNOW an engineer could figure this out. Actually don’t we already do this in the military? Supply chain right? Oh, so someone already thought of this a long time ago. Well, this is America. It seems like there must be a market for this and if it’s not South Florida, I don’t know where else I can suggest that’s better.

In closing, I just want to remind our readers and myself that, like our Tax deadline, December 31st, or Memorial Day, Hurricanes can be prepared for. Planned for. Strategized over. Staffed for. Contingency planned. Worst-case scenario’d. We can and should expect our providers to meet the demands of our market. And we can and should expect to use common sense and be accountable for firing up our save-your-ass afterburners just a little earlier, and a little more completely, the next time.

The lights are on but the gas is gone.

West Palm Beach, Florida.

As Tropical Storm Ernesto’s outer rain bands reached the shores of the Florida Keys this morning…residents all over greater West Palm Beach were asking themselves if they needed to bother preparing for a ‘wimpy’ Tropical Storm.

This gas station at Southern Blvd. and Dixie Highway in West Palm Beach had an unmarked police highway patrol car directing traffic.

Driving around West Palm Beach this morning showed that the long gas lines yesterday did their share to deplete local gasoline supplies. If you could find gas in West Palm Beach this morning you could expect to find lines as well.

Out of a dozen gas stations that I drove by, only two had gas, and both stations had medium sized lines. The local grocery store had ample supplies of everything, except soda – especially diet soda, while water, ice, batteries and perishables were fully stocked. Apparently, when the power goes out from a visiting storm, we prefer to drink warm diet soda over water here in West Palm Beach.

Ernesto Approaches — Cuillo Centre For The Performing Arts on Clematis Street in downtown West Palm Beach, Florida.

The Cuillo Centre For The Arts, which anchors Clematis Street, was among the local establishments protecting their windows with plywood supplies from last Hurricane Season, while children (mine actually) played in the kids water Fountain.The story from this South Florida community is that we don’t really know what Ernesto will bring as it moves across 86-degree water in the Florida Straits. There’s not a lot of room, or time, for Ernesto to grow into a stronger storm, but that’s not to say that we’re not watching Ernesto like a hawk.

As it stands, West Palm Beach residents appear unprepared for anything more than a Tropical Storm or very weak Hurricane. Even strong Tropical storm winds of 39-73 miles per hour can, and do cause a lot of damage when homes and businesses are unprotected. If a larger storm does materialize, it will likely leave us bruised, battered, and battling our fellow residents for water, ice, gasoline, propane, and everything else that we Hurricane Country natives treasure.

The Home Depot on Palm Beach Lakes Blvd. in West Palm Beach had plenty of parking this morning.

A trip over to the Palm Beach Lakes Blvd Home Depot showed that locals were either well prepared already, or weren’t bothering with plywood or batteries – perhaps in the belief (or hope) that the latest forecasts for a Tropical Storm or weak Category 1 Hurricane will be accurate.

In downtown, on West Palm Beach’s version of Main Street, known here as Clematis Street, the Starbucks was a little busier than usual with displaced commuters who had wisely chosen to opt out of their regular commutes. I overheard one patron on her cell phone explaining that schools were closed and she was working from home today (home being synonymous with Starbucks apparently). Further down Clematis Street some shops were installing plywood and steel shutters but the majority were unprotected.

I know that I said this yesterday…but what a difference a few hours can make. That seems ridiculous coming from a South Florida native that went through Hurricane Andrew, but it never ceases to amaze me how much the ‘cone’ and intensity predictions vary; virtually hour to hour in this case. Yesterday I was writing my friends in Tampa saying - get ready for a possible cat 3; and today Ernesto is a Tropical Storm and is coming for us in South Florida as a cat 1 (so far). See the map on the sidebar for the latest forecast info.

For those of us in Hurricane Country - we would really be sever best living by what The Palm Beach Post’s Storm Blogger, Bob King, refers to in his post today as McLean’s Law (for Olivia McLean - head of emergency management for the South Florida Water District):

1. If you’re in the cone, assume the storm is going to run right over you.
2. Assume the storm will be one category greater than the hurricane center is predicting.

By those standards, almost everyone in Florida should be preparing to be struck by a Category 2 hurricane.

This is EXCELLENT advice and it has inspired me to come up with “A Big Wind’s” Rule: All Hurricane information is uncertain so prepare today. Don’t Get Caught in a Hurricane With Your Guard Down.

The truth is that Hurricane predictions and forecasts are uncertain, especially when it comes to predicting the intensity. So now we are getting ready. There is no need to panic - but you should be getting ready too.

Our blog is full of information, but Mr. Wind will put up a post shortly with some other “getting ready” tips as well. If you don’t have hurricane shutters, then you will be faced with plywood. While the Hurricane force winds won’t be here until Wednesday - the Tropical Storm force winds will get here tonight or tomorrow. So the shutter installation needs to happen today. A Big Wind has plenty of hurricane shutter information on the site - just use the search bar at the top of every page to do a search for shutters - or just click here.

Nasa even cancelled the shuttled launch. Now it is time for you to batten down the hatches as well.

Due to the increasing threat of Hurricane Ernesto - visitors (tourists) of the Florida Keys were ordered to leave the island chain starting at 1 p.m. today, Sunday - August 27th. Other important evacuations:

All tourists that are in the Keys must leave and anyone with immediate plans to travel to the Keys should postpone their trip. Additionally, all travel trailers and recreational vehicles (RVs) are ordered to leave the Keys immediately.

If you are a tourist - you need to heed the order and get out early as the Keys are right under the South Florida mainland, which will soon be under a similar watch or warning, meaning that hotels tend to book up quickly. Hurricane supplies will be increasingly scarce and gas lines long. The last thing that you want to do is find yourself spending your vacation at a hurricane shelter. If you have never traveled to the Keys, you may not realize that the Keys are a very narrow island chain (i.e. surrounded by water). It is unsafe to be here when a Hurricane is threatening. Standard protocol is that if there is a Hurricane Watch posted, all tourists are ordered to leave the islands. This evacuation order may come before a watch is even issued as there is only one main road into and out of the Keys.

There will be a steady stream of vehicles making their way up U.S. 1 to safer ground. Key West International Airport should remain operational through Monday night, according to Monroe County Airports Director Peter Horton. You may want to consider getting a Hurricane Friend - read about that here.

I am surprised how little information about the evacuation on the web there is for tourists. I visited the Keysnews.com, Key West City web site, the Monroe County Web site, and finally hit the jackpot at the Keys Tourist web site. I am not sure how many tourists would have thought to go to the Tourist site - but kudos to them for providing the information.

Here are particularly useful FAQs about a Keys evacuation from the Keys Tourist Website:

I’m in the Keys and there’s an order to evacuate, but I don’t have a car. How do I leave?

There are several options. Check with the front office or hotel concierge to see if there are any rental cars or flights available from Key West International Airport. A number of ground transportation shuttle services operate between Key West and Miami and Fort Lauderdale International Airports. Typically, Greyhound Bus Lines adds extra buses to accommodate vacationers leaving the Keys. The TDC surveys transportation companies to determine what is available, and passes that information via advisories to accommodations facilities and posts it on the TDC Web site.

Where can I go?

Local tourism officials realize that an unexpected vacation interruption is a hardship on visitors. The tourism council works cooperatively with other Florida destinations that typically set up special hotlines to provide hotel availability and rates. These numbers are published in advisories sent to properties and posted on the Keys Web site.

What about lodging refunds?

Each property has its own refund policy. The Lodging Association of the Florida Keys & Key West urges their members to provide refunds of unused nights as soon as local officials issue a visitor evacuation order. The majority of Keys properties subscribe to this standard. Prior to making a reservation, it is prudent for the visitor to have a clear understanding about a particular lodging facility’s refund policies in the event of a hurricane threat. Several travel insurance plans are available from companies that can provide additional fiscal protection. Expedia.com has a “Hassle-Free Hurricane Promise” for travelers that book vacations on their web site. If the National Hurricane Center issues a hurricane watch or warning for any destination, Expedia will waive associated Expedia.com cancellation fees; advocate with their travel partners to waive their fees and help find new travel options.

How come during an evacuation, visitors are asked to leave while residents can stay? And why do tourists have to leave so early?

Visitors are asked to leave the Keys during any category storm while residents are mandated to leave during a severe hurricane of Category 3 or higher. The early egress of visitors is for their own safety. Officials want visitors to have plenty of time to get out of harm’s way as well as to not impede the movement of Keys citizens in the event of a resident evacuation. Also, because of the Keys’ unique nature as a chain of islands, with one highway in and out, the region requires more time to evacuate than other coastal areas. And emergency officials must react earlier to avoid impacting possible evacuations of other South Florida communities.

In the event a hurricane does impact the Keys, there is high likelihood of power outages, temporarily impassable roads and airports that will be temporarily out of service. Most, if not all, hotels will be closed and visitor facilities will not be operational. At that point, the top priority for government and business owners is to restore facilities so the Keys can once again provide full-service vacation opportunities.

Historically, a hurricane only impacts the Keys once in four to five evacuations because the forecast error track rate (the projected path of the storm) is so great at the time of the evacuation order. As hurricane forecasting advances, that rate should decrease and hopefully diminish unnecessary evacuations.

When can we resume our vacation to the Keys?

This varies and depends on several factors. If only a visitor evacuation has been ordered and the storm misses the Keys, visitors often can begin returning the day after the threat passes. If both visitor and resident evacuation orders have been issued, and the storm misses the Keys, it might take a few days for visitor facilities to reopen. If the storm impacts the Keys, visitors can begin returning after electricity, road access and other infrastructure are restored. Check the Florida Keys Web site at www.fla-keys.com for the latest information concerning the status of the Keys as well as the lodging facility where you wish to stay.

Additional Resources:

Created by the Monroe County Tourist Development Council, a special hurricane visitor safety PDF (Adobe Portable Document Format) brochure is available for visitors. The brochure educates and provides information resources for Keys visitors in the event the region is threatened by a tropical cyclone during their stay. It is available by clicking on the “Prepared in Paradise” picture at the top of the page at www.fla-keys.com/hurricaneseason.htm.

Keys Visitor Assistance Line: 1-800-771-KEYS

Monroe County Situation Report: www.monroecounty-fl.gov

National Hurricane Center Web site: www.nhc.noaa.gov

Key West Weather: weather.gov/keywest

Monroe County Sheriff’s Office: www.keysso.net

If you are a local and have any other tips - please leave us a comment below.

We write a lot of stories on A Big Wind about companies doing things the wrong way when it comes to dealing with people around Hurricanes. That’s why it was a pleasure to see a Hurricane Country business doing things the right way.

Tropical Storm Chris is forecast to make Hurricane status in the coming days and the 5-day forecast path has Chris taking direct aim at The Bahamas and South Florida.  Ft. Lauderdale based Spirit Airlines announced their “Hurricane Buster Protection,” today that will allow some passengers to make changes to their existing reservations without incurring the normal change fee.

“As part of Spirit’s Hurricane Busters protection, due to Tropical Storm Chris, customers booked to fly to/from St.Thomas, San Juan or Nassau traveling today 8/02/06 or tomorrow 8/03/06 may make a one-time change, within the same cabin, without fees or additional fare collection if travel is rebooked and completed by 8/29/06. For any other dates, the customer may change without a change fee but will need to pay any difference in fare. Customers may rebook on spiritair.com or place their reservation on hold by calling the Spirit Reservations Center at 800-772-7117 or en Español al 800-756-7117.”

Sure, Spirit Airlines is doing this to get PR and sell more tickets and with good business practices that support consumer needs in right way, we’re happy to oblige.

It’s a pretty fair sign that scammers and opportunists are out of control when the government sets up a special ten man team for two plus years to proactively investigate contractor fraud.

The Sherriff’s in Town

In a report from The Biloxi Sun Herald’s Anita Lee she details the latest plan which is to use a $1.9 million federal grant to fund a Hurricane Katrina Fraud Prevention and Detection Unit with offices in Biloxi and Hattiesburg for the next two years. Details were released by state Auditor Phil Bryant at a news conference Friday.

“The sole purpose of this unit will be to respond to the fraud that will surely occur as billions of dollars of taxpayers’ money will be introduced into the homeowners’ market here on the Gulf Coast,” Bryant said. “From the point where the tax dollars enter the system, until they are paid to the builder, we will be there to assure protection for the citizens.”

Mr. Phil Bryant, the Mississippi State Auditor has a web site where his office publishes some useful tips on how to protect yourself against fraud.

“Fraud watch

Tips for those rebuilding or renovating:

• Remember when talking to a contractor always request identification, address, multiple phone numbers and other ways to contact them. Also note description of the person and their vehicle, including the tag number.

• Always require multiple references and go look at their other work.

• Ask to see the contractor’s licenses.

• Make sure the contractor obtains all permits before the work begins. Deal only with the licensed and insured contractors.

• Always get detailed written estimates from the contractor to avoid surprises.

• Always get guarantees in writing.

Buyer beware if

• The contractor tells you they only accept cash.

• The contractor asks that you pay for all the work up front or asks you for the money to go buy the building supplies.

• The contractor says that they have building materials left over from another job, so your cost will be less.

• The contractor talks fast to confuse you.

• The contractor tries to scare you with a sense of urgency about the work needed.

• The contractor pressures you for an immediate decision.

• The contractor claims to be doing work in the area but does not provide names of references or addresses.

• You can’t find a listing in any phone book for the contractor.

• The contractor asks you to get the required building permits.

• The contractor offers you a discount if you find other customers for them to pursue.

• The contractor offers an unreasonably long guarantee.

• The contractor says that your job will be a demonstration.

• The contractor requires a lien on your property.”

Source: Office of the Mississippi State Auditor

People in and around New Orleans remain afraid of levee breaks these days with the devastation caused by Katrina in 2005 never far from their minds. A new independent study released by two UC Berkeley Professors of civil and environmental engineering June 1st doesn’t give them any reason to feel more comfortable.

“The National Science Foundation-sponsored Independent Levee Investigative Team’s evaluation and scathing review of what happened to 350 miles of levees before, during and after Hurricane Katrina, admittedly the worst catastrophe in American history, uncovered the frightening truth about the man-made disaster that followed the storm and claimed nearly 2,000 lives.

The report is the result of an eight-month study by an independent team of 40 scientists and engineers led by Seed. The ILIT released the “Investigation of the Performance of the New Orleans Flood Protection Systems in Hurricane Katrina on August 29, 2005” on June 1.

“People didn’t die because the storm was bigger than the system could handle, and people didn’t die because the levees were overtopped,” Seed told reporters on June 1. “People died because mistakes were made and because safety was exchanged for efficiency and reduced cost.” Source: CC Campbell-Rock SFBayView.com Full article here.

Comforting isn’t it?

People in South Florida around Lake Okeechobee are concerned that they’re next. Even suburbs like the one we live in here in West Palm Beach aren’t out of harms reach if a catastrophic breach like the ones caused by Katrina hit ‘Lake O,’ never mind the towns that sit right next to the levee walls.

Back in January The South Florida Water Management District hired three experts to evaluate the state of the Lake Okeechobee levee and reported that the dike has a one in six chance of collapsing without constant monitoring and repair. Nice huh? Basically the dike is an earthen levee that was built out of Lake muck in the 1930’s in response to the 1928 Hurricane that pushed waters over a much flimsier levee and killed 2,500 people. Today, there are a lot more people immediately surrounding the levee and that doesn’t even count the heavily populated Western communities of West Palm Beach such as Wellington, Royal Palm Beach and The Acreage.

Cross your fingers folks.