Hurricane Season: Skies Clear; Begin Preparations Now

always a good reminder alana

It's better to be prepared than trying to get everything done, last minute and dealing with long lines. There's enough to do just getting a home buttoned up prior to a storm and those little last minute details.

Hopefully, we'll luck out!
Fingers crossed.

Ahh Yes the times of uncertainty.

How does the USVI media treat the weather scenarios for the next months?

Here in SC, every disturbance could be another Hugo and they really build up the drama. We are usually "in the cross-hairs" and then later "dodged another bullet".

I am concerned because of all of the new people to the area that haven't been involved with this type of severe weather. We are averaging over 15,000 people moving to our area each year. Of course, the roads can't handle the everyday commuting traffic when school is in session. Evacuation would need to start 3-5 days ahead of a major storm.

Last weekend tropical depression Bonnie gave us 5 inches of rain, but barely any wind. Roads were flooded (closed) and the snakes came out of hiding.

The media is pretty cool about it and not quite as hysterical as many stateside. But some of the newer residents (and some who've been here for several years - don't want to appear discriminatory!) tend to get all a-dither when the first storm rolls off the African coast, anxiously following every little twist and turn from thousands of miles away and discussing/arguing about which weather tracking site is the most reliable. Every storm that fizzles out or tracks North hundreds of miles away from us is followed by those, "phew, dodged a bullet" comments - and then comes the watch for the next one as the months roll by. 😀

We don't evacuate. We button the house up, hunker down and are glued to radio, weather channel and weather online.

Shelters do open if you don't feel safe staying in your home and I believe some shelters now accept pets but in kennels, (someone else can refresh us on that), hurricane anchorages are first come, first served, WAPA has a 3 strike rule.
If your power goes down, they'll try to restore but if they can't then it's down until it's not. Depending on severity of storm, this can be hours, days, weeks or months. Back up power is good to have. As is cash on hand. No power, no atms or banking, can't use credit cards, most places won't take a check.
No fuel unless gas station has generator, etc.

Long lines at grocery stores and gas stations prior to storm.

We always start our canned food and water stocking in May, generator checks, etc. Our house is a Hugo survivor so if one comes it's hunker down time.

The media is pretty cool about it and not quite as hysterical as many stateside.

It's just hugo ('85) and marylin ('95) that we know of that were "bad" here right?

I'd be pretty calm about it, hell I am! I don't think it's too much of a gamble to bet that no major destructive storm will hit these islands while I live here... from what I can tell that's far more likely than not.

I've bought enough stuff during the last 3 years of panic buying before a storm that I think I'm actually ready for this year with out much extra work...

so I guess that worked out...

but, if all else fails, Lost Dog is always open 😉

treeman, just like the keys/south florida does. hype hype hype

ot-my elderly neighbor used to call my hubby at the first hint of a storm and call him every few hours for updates.

I don't think it's too much of a gamble to bet that no major destructive storm will hit these islands while I live here... from what I can tell that's far more likely than not. )

I wouldn't bet on anything. I didn't even think much about hurricanes when I moved here in '84 but of course paid attention and was always prepared as best I knew how and as advised. Then came Hugo in '89. STT didn't suffer as much as STX but it was still awful and I had no idea it could be worse until Marilyn in '95 when it hit home that I didn't know squat! You just don't know, but all you can do every year is be as well prepared as possible. Once you lose everything you really get a whole new perspective on life in general!

Really......you just don't know.
We had Luis blow by right before Marilyn in 95.
At the last minute, it changed direction and went right over Anegada and devastated it.

We had a couple of "new to island" workers at our company and I did the Chinese fire drill for both my home and the business. Luis passes, start getting office back in shape, then we hear about Marilyn and everything I did to put office back together now was being put away, battened down, secured. One of the guys said "why are you doing this, again!" I said, " you never know!" We met up a few days after Marilyn and he had tears in his eyes. He never would have believed how bad it could be without experiencing it. Our business lost some of the roof but all of the files, check book, rollerdex and lots of tools and equipment we'd secured or stuffed in empty liferaft containers were fine, not that we could pick right up and get back to work with phones and electricity out but we didn't have to start from scratch.

I never got everything put back at my house from the Luis threat so we were still pretty buttoned up, there. Good ting, too.

It's exhausting prepping for a storm, especially when they change course so readily and you've just undone all the preparation, only to have to do it all over again. People lost their lives because they didn't.

Marilyn was a very small hurricane, circumferencewise and supposedly max. sustained winds were to be 90 mph. Needless to say by the devastation caused, the wind velocity was highly underestimated. Thank goodness it was not of lengthy duration. 8 hours was enough.

Don't be complacent.

Was it Hugo '89 that took out Coral World or Marilyn '95? I always assumed Hugo.

Well, I've got new shutters added to the side of the Condo and the insurance co. is smiling, I'm hoping not to try them out any time soon. It only seems to rain when I don't have the umbrella handy:D

Hugo.

Marilyn was in a strengthening phase when it hit us. That is always the most dangerous. We have had some TDs that were strengthening that were worse than tropical storms. And add to that, we were in the right forward quadrant for Marilyn. All that bad mojo in one long night...

You always have to be ready for the worst and hope for the best.

Good Morning Scubadoo,

Could you tell me where you got your new shutters for your condo and some information
about them.
I owe a condo and I am doing a short term vacation rental.

Thank you.

Shutters are wonderful if your roof and walls don't peel off.
I might add that there is such a thing as buttoning your house up too tightly.
If your roof starts pumping up and down, the pressure in the house increases, your ears start popping as if you're gaining altitude, sliding glass doors start bowing and looking like a pregnant woman's belly, open a door (or 2) and let the pressure out.

Is there a need to stock water?

I figure that you can pump it out of the cistern using the generator or with a manual device?

If you have a whole house generator (and it survives) then you're good.
If a smaller one, enough to run a couple lights, water pump, refrigerator, you're good.

If not, you can and you have access to cistern, a bucket on a line will work.
If you think it might be a bad storm, fill tubs, buckets, gallon jugs, Ziploc bags can be frozen to keep refrigerator/freezer cold. When it melts - drinking water.
Remember, you'll need water to drink, cook, do dishes, give water to pets, do laundry, bathe, flush toilets.

Cistern can get a lot of salt water and debris contaminants.
Good to add Clorox. Not too much or that's all you'll taste but your clothes will get clean!

Just a heads up, but if you type "hurricane" into the search engine and change the date to "all", you'll find a slew of related threads and hints which you'll find very helpful.

Just a heads up, but if you type "hurricane" into the search engine and change the date to "all", you'll find a slew of related threads and hints which you'll find very helpful.

just had a specific about the cistern.

Been through several in SC already.

If you have a whole house generator (and it survives) then you're good.
If a smaller one, enough to run a couple lights, water pump, refrigerator, you're good.

If not, you can and you have access to cistern, a bucket on a line will work.
If you think it might be a bad storm, fill tubs, buckets, gallon jugs, Ziploc bags can be frozen to keep refrigerator/freezer cold. When it melts - drinking water.
Remember, you'll need water to drink, cook, do dishes, give water to pets, do laundry, bathe, flush toilets.

Cistern can get a lot of salt water and debris contaminants.
Good to add Clorox. Not too much or that's all you'll taste but your clothes will get clean!

Bathe???

Is there a need to stock water?

Not a bad idea.. after Air, water is one of those very "mandatory" things

I figure that you can pump it out of the cistern using the generator or with a manual device?

That can also be done, but water is cheap... a few cases of bottled water won't hurt 😉

Good Morning Scubadoo,

Could you tell me where you got your new shutters for your condo and some information
about them.
I owe a condo and I am doing a short term vacation rental.

Thank you.

STX-Dan Zebroski
Got some standard accordions, some standard removable panel. He custom orders the accordions from FL. Parts for the panels come from Home Depot.

Thank you Scubadoo for your help.
I will contact him for sure.

I have used a standard boat foot pump at the kitchen sink with a hose into the cistern through the floor access hatch.
I was recently in a home that had a real cast iron hand operated well head pump that was plumbed into the cistern for water whenever the power is off. Very farmhouse cool!