Irma turning into monster hurricane, "Highest windspeed forecasts I've ever seen".

originally posted by: luthier
a reply to: TrueBrit

This is true but a tough situation. Tornado alley is also great agriculture land, and the coast is full of shipping and refining. Those working need housing , shopping, auto mechanics etc...

I live in tornado alley. Have all my life.

What you have to understand about tornadoes is that even the big ones are very small (mile wide at most, and very few stay on the ground very far). So the odds that any one tornado is going to specifically hit where you are at is very, very low.

In terms of all the natural disasters, a tornado is the smallest. If it hits where you happen to be at, it's devastating, but first, you basically have to win the worst lottery ever. That's the type of odds were talking.

a reply to: ketsuko

Very true.

I would still like a dome, of course I want one anyway but.

I think the one I posted took an f4 directly.

a reply to: TrueBrit

Actually from what I remember of an interview with the folks who built that the extra geometry etc funnels the wind thru areas designed to take the impact kinda like the fold zone in a car. So the parts that get damaged are easily fixable.

originally posted by: TrueBrit
a reply to: WeRpeons

What I cannot understand for the life of me, is why houses in at risk areas are STILL being built as if they were in a totally weather safe area.

Its pretty simple. In a flood plain? Build houses to totally mitigate the flood threat, with pressure seal capable entrances and windows, with the ability to totally lock the place down like a submarine in extremis. In a tornado prone area? Build the majority of the dwelling underground, hardened like a bunker, and bolted to the damned bedrock if necessary. In a hurricane area? Again, flood protection must be built in so that no flood could move the home from its foundations, nor penetrate its outer shell during high water, AND the building must be shaped so that the wind moves around it, rather than pushing, pulling, or otherwise moving it or any component thereof, AND so that any debris hitting it deflects, rather than penetrates it.

Insuring THAT kind of property against the things it has been built to withstand perfectly well, would be a damned sight cheaper, and be more responsible on the part of house builders and local governance.

Flood areas make the first floor your garage that can open up front and back. That is what they do near the coast and if you are 1 mile inland and only 3 foot elevation there not much difference...

originally posted by: luthier
a reply to: ketsuko

Very true.

I would still like a dome, of course I want one anyway but.

I think the one I posted took an f4 directly.

Yeah, but at the same time, you also have to consider that there a lot of houses out here that are well over 100 years old too. My folks are sitting in one that's over 130 at the moment. There was a big twister that passed about 6 miles north of them this past spring.

a reply to: ketsuko

I know I just like bucky fuller and his crazy inventions.



Slightly ahead of his time.

originally posted by: TrueBrit
a reply to: dawnstar

You live on an actual incline, and you flood?

REALLY?

What the hell stupid physics does your water work on? I am not talking about houses on unnaturally flattened land, I am talking about houses which are on a literal slope, not on the side of a road that goes up a mountain, or built on a flattened space, but literally houses built to match the incline they are on.

I don't know about the person you're replying to but in this city, there are homes built on inclines all over the place, and they're built to match those inclines, but they still get flooded on a routine basis because the entire city, hills and all, is nestled in a bowl. When it rains heavily here, it's like filling up a sink...turns the whole place into people soup basically. You can see the water stains going up the highway abutements...I think the markers go to 20' and the water gets far higher than that at times. The highways have been almost completely submerged, many times. It can get pretty scary.

It's actually kind of amusing because those houses on the hills are where the wealthy people reside. They thought they'd be safe up there on high, above all of the unwashed masses...but those mini mansions are poorly constructed, built for looks not longevity. The flooding screws up their structures far easier than those of us living at the bottom of the soup bowl on pier and beam foundations that are more than a century old. Funny how that works out.

a reply to: ketsuko

We have to retrofit old, non earthquake compliant homes in Cali for earthquakes... How is that any different? If I lived in a 100 yo home that wasn't as safe as possible, I'd retrofit it. Like the electric, insulation(asbestos) etc. So why not for tornadoes or flooding? No snark btw it truly baffles me.

a reply to: TrueBrit

every mountain has creeks and streams that rainwater gathers to and flows down the mountains.. I live across the street from one. I don't know what it would take for that creek to extend up to my house, it's never done that, but it has blocked us off a few times. strong storms causes large tree limbs and sometimes trees to fall into these creeks, blocking the flow and then the stream will deepen till it finds another path out.

by the way, at the top of the highest point where I live is a mansion, I am poor, so well, I couldn't afford such a place.
but if the water ever did get close to the house, the next highpoint is just beyond my back yard, they'd find me up there if it ever did flood.

the worst thing that could hit the east coast would be a tsunami. When we first came to virginia with the intention of moving here, our first thought was moving in the norfolk area. but, there are bridges all over the place in that area, connecting and the water under those bridges seemed to be only a foot or two below as I drove across them..
I didn't like it, didn't matter how I would have liked to be that close to the shoreline. We decided to head into the mountains instead. if you believe some of the videos that talk about poleshifts and such, it seems that the area I am in now would be close to the area that our gov't is supposedly claimed to be a safeplace to send their people to...
so, I have no gripes.. I can put up with the mild flooding and inconvenience of not being able to get into the city.... considering that the city floods worse.

a reply to: dawnstar

I would also like to point out, that the higher up you go, the stronger the wind is.
where I am at, there are hills blocking it on two sides of me, kind of slows it down some.

originally posted by: Lilroanie
a reply to: ketsuko

We have to retrofit old, non earthquake compliant homes in Cali for earthquakes... How is that any different? If I lived in a 100 yo home that wasn't as safe as possible, I'd retrofit it. Like the electric, insulation(asbestos) etc. So why not for tornadoes or flooding? No snark btw it truly baffles me.

This is where you get to say, "I'm from the government, and I'm here to help"?

1. Make law that home must be X.

2. ?????

3. Everyone must be safe now.

Who cares how people cope with that law, amirite?

Problem 1: Can't sell non-compliant home.

Problem 2: Can't have non-compliant home.

Problem 3: Can't afford to make home non-compliant.

Weather Channel has been saying it's unlikely to hit the U.S.

I rode out a hurricane in Houston once. Not going to do that again. The wind direction was from the front of the house toward the back so I sat on the back porch.

Blue skies. No hurricane.
Dark skies. No hurricane.
Its getting a little windy.
Its getting really windy.
(small debris blowing by)
So, this is a hurricane...
(medium debris blowing by)
OK, hurricane. Got it.
(Big debris blowing by)
Maybe this was a mistake. I'm going inside.
(Boom - the real wind hit)
Who the hell is knocking on the door? No, wait... Oh #...

That pretty much sums it up for me. No thanks.

originally posted by: Kromlech
Weather Channel has been saying it's unlikely to hit the U.S.

If The Weather Channel says that a Hurricane will miss the U.S., they're probably right. Like CNN, T.W.C. loves disasters for ratings reasons.

I'm not afraid of a windbag called Irma. She'll be all fizzled out when she reaches us.

a reply to: ketsuko

I said I wasn't being snarky

No I was thinking more along the lines of all those billions of dollars in foreign aide, and pork barrel programs that do absolutely nothing to benefit anyone being spent to help people retrofit here in the US. If the flood insurance program is billions in debt how can helping people retrofit or build safe in the first place if you're going that route, be a bad thing?

Also if they stuck solar panels on every home in the US that can get good use out of it that would take a huge weight off the electric grid.

I dunno what the answer is honestly. I just threw a question out that has baffled me. I hate Cali even though I was born and raised here and we are eventually going to move. But when we do if it takes 2 years to find a house like it did this one that's as safe as possible that's what we'll do.

I'd rather see the useless money our govt spends now being put to use helping us yeah?

a reply to: TrueBrit

Where I'm at, and a lot of the surrounding cities have houses built to withstand this stuff, if they are right on the water. Look up Town of Palm Beach waterfront homes, these things are fortresses. When you are building a 40 million dollar house, these types of situations are taken into account.

Edit: For example, www.zillow.com... 63289_rect/11_zm/0_mmm/

Pretty much every property on the water, also has 5-15 foot high seawalls. Hurricanes are not new here.

a reply to: Lilroanie

That's the thing though. Government is great at telling you what to do without thinking about the costs to you or the consequences. That's the issue with Obamacare.

Too many people looked at the policies people had that worked for them and said, "You're kidding! That doesn't cover X, Y, Z?! That's a crappy policy." Then they made that policy illegal and told everyone what policies they had to have and what had to be in them, by law. Trouble is that those policies are too expensive for most people and often contain things people aren't ever going to need, want, or use.

That's how government "helps."

You can make it illegal to have things, but then you make it impossible for some people to actually go about the business of living.

a reply to: ketsuko

I actually 100% agree with you.. but.. I wouldn't want to live in a home that might fall down on my head, get blown away, or flooded or burned if there was something I could do to mitigate those scenarios. So I wouldn't need them telling me to do it

Guess I'm weird tho, we already had a house burn down in '81. I never want to go through that or any other disaster again if there is anything I can do to reduce those risks. We have had 6 (I think) major wildfires here where I live, my land is cleared beyond what the firefighters want, to give us the best chance.

We had our town flood with flash floods like 2 weeks ago, it only lasted 20 minutes. Our road washed out, people lost their homes, some had to be saved by helicopter etc. That area has flooded that bad or worse 5 times I can remember since I've been in this area, yet people built/rebuilt in the same spot. There's an area near me that back in 83 I think, flooded and the water was over a freeway overpass, now? There's apartments and condos and homes built down there. They will be GONE if that happens again.

I believe It's our personal responsibility to do due diligence when we choose where to live for potential natural disasters. If people don't/won't do that, I dunno, just doesn't seem all that responsible or safe /shrug

Dear ATS Readers, Writers,

Listen Silly, I am not saying the doom and gloom, the news article I linked is saying it.

Tell the news media to chill on the doom and gloom, I am just reporting a storm coming towards the USA again.

And if it does turn into a Cat 5 as it gets closer, to bloody leave, and don't ride it out.

Tell your response to the 38+ who died in Texas... Nobody knows where it will make landfall, and it might not make landfall.. too soon to tell, that is also why I said keep an eye on it, and see what is happening a week from now!

You need to really read what people put up here, and figure out "who" is saying what. The news article is what I posted..

My own personal views on it aren't important really. just some common sense safety advice is all.

Pravdaseeker



a reply to: Sillyolme