Baz you are so right. We've lived on the Md shore within 0-6 miles of the Atlantic for over 30 years and the tv coverage went from monotone facts on TWC to hysteria designed to help ad revenues.

What does a human need to survive? water, food, shelter and some form of protection from looters. Offer practical advice on securing those things. Talk about portable generators and transfer switches. Talk about the danger of improperly connected generators for line crews. Talk about co poisoning from running gens in closed spaces.

instead everything is focused on 'run! panic! look at how brave our weather reporter is!'.

Maybe you need to move to North Dakota. :rolleyes:

they should do a better job of teaching people how to survive
most roll down shutters do not work in cat 4-5 storms they shred
plywood nailed to walls over windows does not work it blows off
the way to do ply is in the window sill with wood angle cut 2x2 screwed to the sill not the wall that way the edges are not exposed to the wind and screws need to break not just pull out as they are 90 deg to the forces
steel panel shutters need to be lag bolted to walls not just screwed in to walls
most roofing will fail esp shingles over plywood the old T&G PLANKS hold up way better as do the metal roofing

I can see Publix empty selves now......

So I'm going to stand out in the middle of this intersection - for no reason other than shock value - and advise you of the dangers of standing outside in a hurricane ..... ouch!

http://forums.pelicanparts.com/uploa...1539178848.gif

https://tenor.com/search/storm-gifs

To be fair, here in the panhandle there have been a lot of notices since the beginning of the season about taking steps to be prepared for possible storms and the possible long aftermath. But this was not a part of the actual storm coverage as this one is approaching. Now it's the current sensational hype coverage.
Except that now I'm safely tucked in away from the coast, with no TV signal to watch the coverage, I really do miss seeing what is going on.

Cat 4 and still strengthening as it closes with the coast. From what I can tell from Internet news it will make landfall just the the west of or directly over Panama City.
The entire coast along there is pretty developed and there are lots of waterways going inland all along that area with choice waterfront properties on those waterways, so lots of exposure for a lot of folks.

My place is 15 miles inland from Panama City Beach and about 1/2 mile from a river that may flood with the heavy rain. But the area historically has not been impacted by storm surge. Plus my place is on some highish ground.
Still lots of old growth trees all around. Generally this densely forested area seems to create shelter in normal wind storms, they could be a problem in really high winds.

The current track may bring the Eye very close to Ebro, fingers crossed.

Cheers Richard

150mph sustained winds, gusts to 175 are no joke. 15ft storm surge in Mexico beach. Wishing all involved the best of luck.

Wishing you the best Richard. You were smart to leave.....

best of luck you all.

that footage of the weather-man fighting the wind, while the folks behind him walked by casually is classic. i loved it.

Fingers, toes, and all paws crossed here for you, Rich.

If you have access to the Internet, you should be able to find live coverage on You Tube or Twitter, I would think.

Here's one and there are more....

<iframe width="853" height="480" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/_gkbUpuCvQE" frameborder="0" allow="autoplay; encrypted-media" allowfullscreen></iframe>

^^That was better than any news footage!

Thanks for the well wishes Bob, Baz, and All.
The coverage snippets Im getting from the coast are not good.

It looks like the storm was still at Cat 3 when it crossed the north Fl state line into Ga and Ala. that covers a lot of area and many small inland towns.

The initial impact on the coast has put to rest my year long supisition that They ain't got no real surf in the gulf. Major swells to be seen battering the piers sticking out into the gulf and the coast. Those plus storm surge are inundating big areas.

And with the high winds traveling so far inland, It's going to be a long term recovery in front of us.
Power outages alone may take quite a while to sort out.

I'm thinking I may extend the stay up this way for a little longer.

There is forecast to be some nice cooler weather coming in right
Behind this storm. So at least it won't be miserable conditions to work in for a bit.

So here is wishing the best to those still hunkered down near the coast and in the path of this big one.

Cheers Richard

Tallahassee damage not as severe as expected
As Hurricane Michael churned its way into Georgia Wednesday evening, Tallahassee appeared mostly spared from the storm, with extensive power outages but little of the catastrophic damage that officials feared.

By 7 p.m., Tallahasseans were already venturing outside their homes and clearing debris from their yards in the city's Midtown and Old Town neighborhoods.

Outside of a few uprooted trees, the debris was mostly small, with the capital city's live oaks withstanding the tropical storm-force winds.

Tallahassee International Airport recorded a gust of 71 mph, according to weather.com. It’s a far cry from the near-Category 5 hurricane winds that crushed Panama City 85 miles away.

Leon County officials feared Tallahassee was facing the worst storm to hit the area since 1894.

But more that 58,000 people, or about half the city’s customers, were without power as of 6 p.m., according to the city’s electric utility, which was already sending out crews to get customers back on the grid.

-- Lawrence Mower, Miami Herald

Hope all of you guys are OK...it's just now reaching here...ground is absolutely saturated, and my property will have 50 mph gusts from three different directions later today....the Stihls are ready...but it ain't over...

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Crazy...

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