Storm prep

[somerfriend.livejournal.com]

For Somerville and Boston, other than wet basements and potential power outages, do we have anything else to worry about?   In particular, broken windows, how likely is that? 

This page on the city's website is a little alarming:
http://ci.somerville.ma.us/alerts/important-hurricane-information

It is saying we should board up our windows, but I'm assuming this is some generic info they pasted.  Still I'm a little frustrated by not being able to find specific information about Boston.  Most of the news is faced on the Cape/Springfield.   I understand that is where the drama is but I want to know what prep I need to take here too.   

Comments

[ron_newman]

During Hurricane Gloria in 1985, I watched a window sail out of the air and smash itself on the hood of a parked car. We all walked around our houses but couldn't figure out where the window came from.

[jadelennox]

We taped our windows with duct tape Xs during Gloria, and there was pretty heavy wind right on the beach, and duct tape was what they told us to do; it was fine. But that was still a hurricane when it got this far north. This is less likely to be.

[ron_newman]

I've read that taping windows is no longer recommended, as it has proved to be ineffective.

[elerz.livejournal.com]

so much for that $0.99 storm tape from ace hardware . . .

[perspicuity.livejournal.com]

neither is opening them during a tornado :) the tornado will do it ... for you.

#

[miss-chance.livejournal.com]

huh. How strange.

What I remember from my time living in New Orleans was that the tape was supposed to help keep the window from shattering if something light got blown into it. If small tree branches and such are flyin' around, it's better to have a broken window that's still in its frame, then one that's all over your floor.

Do you remember where you read this? I wonder if it's because people didn't know how to tape them correctly?

[ron_newman]

http://www.usatoday.com/weather/whurprep.htm and http://www.aoml.noaa.gov/hrd/shutters/index1.html

[squirrelitude]

Doesn't duct tape leave a pretty hard-to-remove residue? I've always seen masking tape in use.

[perspicuity.livejournal.com]

well, honestly, keep your wits about you, look at weather radar from time to time. expect a lot of cancellations.

don't park your car under a tree or other structure. put gas in it. be ready to leave if you have to, but you probably won't.

if you're RIGHT ON THE WATER, consider an inland trip for 24 hours :) otherwise, if you're not on the water, consider a trip to watch MONSTER WAVES. perhaps a trip to the beaches where people surf. nahant, hampton in NH, others...

i recall in the 80s, a particularly good storm threw sail boats over first row houses and into second and third rows (as measured from the beach)... including the mooring stones. SWEET.

really, i expect nor'easter type weather patterns without the actual snow, so no shoveling :)

but some booze, snacks, and acquire some movies. settle in for some fun :)

#

[curiositykt.livejournal.com]

if your street often floods, I'd consider putting your car in alewife. I used to do that in Medford when they were forecasting flooding.

[miss-chance.livejournal.com]

well, honestly, keep your wits about you...

... consider a trip to watch MONSTER WAVES.

ermmmm? Way to make it someone's problem to risk their ass in rescuing yours. bzzzzzzt!

[thetathx1138.livejournal.com]

New York has something to concerned about. Here mostly we should be worried about flooding, since it's basically going to rain for 30 hours straight.

[curiositykt.livejournal.com]

My opinion is that if you have an old, and or dying tree near the window, it's not a bad idea to at least plastic up the window (on the inside) so the broken glass doesn't get all over the inside of the apartment. but we aren't going to get much more than we would in a really bad, multi-hour thunderstorm.

My apartment (sadly out of area) leaks in a rainstorm and has a giant old dying tree inches from the wall. I am in the process of moving so this kinda sped up my departure as that whole side of the house is worrisome to me. But I don't think most people who live in sturdy houses without pre-existing conditions will have much to worry about in this storm here. (Other than than the perpetual wet basements and a few hours without power)

[enveri.livejournal.com]

Pretty much this.

I'm from southern Louisiana, and current forcasts are calling for it to be a tropical storm by the time it hits us. At worst, I'm expecting some power flickering and flooding for those in low lying areas or near water.

Think of a really strong thunderstorm, and amp it up a few notches. So as others have mentioned, look around for tree hazards, look around in your basement, move important papers off the floor, etc.

I don't really think taping the windows or any of that is going to be necessary, but I could be wrong!

[bombardiette.livejournal.com]

The advice is the same statewide. It's wise to board up your windows especially in light of the strength of this storm and I know that from where I'm working (I'm an Emergency Manager so we're activated for this right now), we're advising that all residents secure all loose objects around their properties; disconnect propane from grills and store them in a secure location; turn your fridge all the way up - in the likely event that you do lose power, this will ensure that your food is kept cooler longer; board up your windows or close shutters as the storm approaches.

What more specifics do you need? A hurricane is a hurricane and currently, it's expected to hit the entire state with sustained winds of almost 70 MPH, stronger in some places. Flooding in urban areas such as Somerville is also expected. Although the western portion of the state will see more flooding, the east will see a lot of hurricane force winds.

To that end, expect communications loss as the winds take out cell towers and phone lines.

[somerfriend.livejournal.com]

I haven't seen any houses with boarded up windows. Are you boarding up yours? If it is necessary to board up windows, then the whole city is going to be full of broken windows.

[bombardiette.livejournal.com]

I'm not boarding up my windows primarily because of the way the house is situated and the predicted wind pattern. I am, however, plasticking them up, locking them, and then drawing all blinds and curtains. Plastic won't stop them from getting blown in, but it will contain glass and keep rain out. I just don't have a ladder to board them and based on predictions, figured it would be more trouble than worth at this point.

But that's a judgement call. Most people don't board up unless they live right on the beach and I did see homes in Revere yesterday who had boarded windows.

What I am doing? Filling my tub with cold water for washing and cleaning; Filling available containers with cold water for potable water; turning my fridge all the way up; charging all of the re-chargeable flashlights; securing all barrels, grills, toys, outdoor furniture (and disconnecting the propane from the household grills, capping the tanks and putting them away from the house).

[ron_newman]

I understand preparing for a likely electrical outage, but why would anything interrupt the (generally gravity-driven) tap water distribution system?

[pklemica]

The distribution will probably continue, but if enough damage is done to some pipe (or if there's flooding that flows straight into the treated supply), the distributed water could be tainted.

[bombardiette.livejournal.com]

Because flooding often times causes potable water systems to become tainted with non-potable (or worse) water - and though I have potable water stored separately from tub water, I ain't cleanin' my shitz in poop-water.

And the contamination can happen WAY downstream where the worst of the flooding is expected in the state, so, even if the system isn't breached at this end...yeah. I'm good.

[josephineave.livejournal.com]

The only place I've seen with boarded up windows is some insurance agency on the corner of Harvard & Main in Medford. They do have a lot of window frontage and a flying trash can would make a big mess.

Practical info

[lizzyclean.livejournal.com]

This morning my go-to weather guy weighed in with some more specific information here: http://www1.whdh.com/weather/blog/posts/BO146358/

[tsuki-no-bara.livejournal.com]

i just got a vaguely alarmist robocall suggesting people have a supply of non-perishable food, water, and prescription meds for themselves and their pets for 3-5 days. are they really expecting people in somerville to lose power for five days? if so, yikes.

[csbermack.livejournal.com]

They don't know. Nobody knows. They know that sometimes shit goes wrong, and the better prepared the population is, the less demand the overstretched emergency services see.

For the vast majority of people, it'll probably be basement flooding, not driving through the flooded street, and a relatively brief power outage. For way more people than normal, it'll be life-threatening clusterfuck. Therefore, for all emergency personnel, it's going to be a world of suck.

If a robocall keeps you from having to 911, that's one street they don't have to try to get down.

[bombardiette.livejournal.com]

This.

And if you'll think back to not very long ago when an ice storm knocked out power to most of the western part of MA and a good chunk of NH, yes. People were without power for over a MONTH in some areas.

So, it's possible though not likely and it's better to be prepared than not.

[closetalker11.livejournal.com]

Probably not, but if I'm a city manager, I'm betting on having too much stuff than not enough stuff. If you grab a few supplies, the worst that happens is that you eat it later. NBW.

[miss-chance.livejournal.com]

I think that if a large area of S'ville loses power, they'll probably get it back pretty quickly (say, end of day Monday). But if you live at the end of a trunk and, say three or four houses on your street lose power, you'll be low-priority to re-connect. But if that's the case you'll have options for going out and buying food.

[koloratur.livejournal.com]

Thank you for asking - I've been wondering the same myself. Since so many residents of Somerville were not here during the last big hurricanes, it would have been great if the city had provided information about what areas might be hit by storm surge, if any, and things like that. Or something more helpful than "there are 4 shelters but we're not going to tell you where they are."

[bombardiette.livejournal.com]

Go to MEMA's hurricane information page and check out the innundation maps. It's highly unlikely that this storm will create a large enough surge to affect Somerville however, flooding from heavy rains is quite likely.

http://www.nae.usace.army.mil/projects/ma/hurricanemaps/mamaps.htm

[koloratur.livejournal.com]

Very helpful! Even though the probability of storm surge seemed low, that's a nice graphic to have, especially for someone who grew up in the midwest and never had to deal with hurricane preparation :)

[bombardiette.livejournal.com]

Anytime! :)

[403.livejournal.com]

Excellent, I'd been looking for something like that.

[bombardiette.livejournal.com]

:)

[miss-chance.livejournal.com]

After you're done bringing in all the small stuff off your porch/yard/driveway, it's not a bad idea to check your neighbors. I just discovered that my neighbor had "secured" her trash cans by turning them upside down and putting one brick on each one. It wouldn't take 60mph gusts to make a single brick, perched on top of an empty trash can go flying through my window. I let her know that I have plenty of room under my back porch and moved them there "for her."

We moved stuff we want to keep dry up out of the basement, or up onto milk-crates. The most water we've ever taken in down there was about 11 inches.

Next up filling some pitchers with tap water and cooking a bunch of rice and beans and some quiches, so we have ready-to-eat meals in case of temporary power/utility disruption.

The thing I'm most worried about are the dead branches on the trees around my house. One tree is my responsibility and I'm annoyed at myself for not having it trimmed rather than just saying "we should deal with that," for years. The others are on the bike path and I'm annoyed at the city for not trimming those. But there's not much to do about it now.

[ron_newman]

Buffalo Exchange was totally and very conspicuously taped up, while nothing else in all of Davis Square was.