2007 Hurricane Season

[westguy]

I've been following a lot of discussions about the tropics lately. Today there's a new depression out in the Atlantic that's almost certain to batter the Caribbean as a major hurricane. It's too early to tell where it will eventually go, but it may be a threat to the western Gulf of Mexico. We have another storm forming off the Yucatan, and whatever it becomes, will likely hit the Texas-Northern Mexican coast. What will you do if a big one comes to Houston?

[TheNiche]

I've been following a lot of discussions about the tropics lately. Today there's a new depression out in the Atlantic that's almost certain to batter the Caribbean as a major hurricane. It's too early to tell where it will eventually go, but it may be a threat to the western Gulf of Mexico. We have another storm forming off the Yucatan, and whatever it becomes, will likely hit the Texas-Northern Mexican coast. What will you do if a big one comes to Houston?

Depends on how big the big one is. We're lucky to get hit as infrequently as we do, so even a Cat 2 might be considered a big one by some.

Cat 1: Nothing.

Cat 2: Go to Galveston, get buzzed, ride the ferry back and forth until they shut it down, then go home.

Cat 3: Request some vacation time around the non-working days and go for some R&R in west Texas.

Cat 4: Pack valuables in the car as I leave to get some R&R in west Texas; laugh at residents of Fredricksburg, who have cleared out Wal-Mart's inventory of bottled water, but hardly touched the Gatorade, and won't get hit anyway.

Cat 5: Evacuate in earnest. Wait and see from grandparents' place in Austin.

[CDeb]

Since I live on high ground in Cypress and it'll probably take a Cat 17 to give me beach-front property, I just make sure I'm stocked on batteries, bottled H2O and the propane tanks are full for grilling the thawed meat.

[Native Montrosian]

Well, I work for a huge insurance agency. My husband is an IT systems engineer. Before Rita, he was amongst the last people leaving the deserted premises as he was one of those responsible for securing all the individual PC's, servers, etc. On my end, we had to prepare the office, finish as much work as possible and go home with hurricane packets consisting of phone numbers, paper, pens, loss forms, insurance company numbers, etc. as we would be responsible for handling claims from the remains of our homes on cell phones, if necessary. We had one day to prepare our own homes or make arrangements, and there was no getting out of town by then.

My husband & I will board up the windows, fill about 30 gallon-size freezer bags with water & toss them in the deep freeze, get the battery-powered fans & lamps ready, and hold our noses. We got a new roof in October and replaced our bad windows, have kept the trees trimmed and I've been buying water, batteries & canned/packaged foods since March, so we're as ready as we're gonna be.

We also have a buddy system with my brother and another friend- we each packed 2 big plastic tubs with bedding, a change of clothes, towels, some kitchen & toiletry supplies, etc. for storage at the others' places. If one of our homes is badly damaged, at least someone can get to us with a few tide-over necessities.

[Trae]

I ain't moving my butt if a Cat 5 comes in. I'm on high ground out in Katy. We have an elevation of like 150 feet I think.

[PapillionWyngs]

Since I've been through hurricaines Carla, Alicia and Rita - if I can talk my husband into it we will do the following.

(I didn't want to leave for Rita, I wanted to ride it out). Oh, and we live in Clear Lake.

Cat 1: Nothing.

Cat 2: Nothing

Cat 3: Get out our hurricaine prepardness kit and ride it out.

Cat 4: Pack valuables in the car and take family to Huntsvlle.

Cat 5: Evacuate in earnest. Wait and see from reserved hotel room in Austin.

[KatieDidIt]

I ain't moving my butt if a Cat 5 comes in. I'm on high ground out in Katy. We have an elevation of like 150 feet I think.

1. Go to Specs and stock up.

2. Always have propane tank filled and gas for the generator.

3. Make a reservation at a hotel with back up generators

4. Put the pool cover over the pool so the water can be used for hillbilly baths.

5. All paperwork and policies in the bank vault.

But that being said, if a Cat five comes again we will probably still leave. Cat 3 we'll stay.

[Mr. Chenevert]

Since I've been through hurricaines Carla, Alicia and Rita - if I can talk my husband into it we will do the following.

(I didn't want to leave for Rita, I wanted to ride it out). Oh, and we live in Clear Lake.

Cat 1: Nothing.

Cat 2: Nothing

Cat 3: Get out our hurricaine prepardness kit and ride it out.

Cat 4: Pack valuables in the car and take family to Huntsvlle.

Cat 5: Evacuate in earnest. Wait and see from reserved hotel room in Austin.

Ironic... I had a hotel room reserved in Austin for Rita... not because of the hurricane, but because of Austin City Limits festival. About 36 hours before I was set to check in, the hotel called to inform me that my room was commondered (sp?) and they had to cancel my reservation.

Dont count on your number 5 working out so well.

[Trae]

More info on that storm:

http://www.khou.com/topstories/stories/kho...n.2ffd93bc.html

[MidtownCoog]

Whereever you go, just remember our type is not wanted in Dallas.

http://www.chron.com/disp/story.mpl/ultima...es/4252567.html

[Vertigo58]

1. Go to Specs and stock up.

Best response above yet! lol

and don't forget everyone's favorite word!

Hunker down!

[MidtownCoog]

We leared our lesson about stocking up on the booze during Allision.

All we had was Malibu Rum (yuk) to sip on as we watched the water rise into our townhome.

Never again.

[Pumapayam]

Since I've been through hurricaines Carla, Alicia and Rita - if I can talk my husband into it we will do the following.

(I didn't want to leave for Rita, I wanted to ride it out). Oh, and we live in Clear Lake.

Cat 1: Nothing.

Cat 2: Nothing

Cat 3: Get out our hurricaine prepardness kit and ride it out.

Cat 4: Pack valuables in the car and take family to Huntsvlle.

Cat 5: Evacuate in earnest. Wait and see from reserved hotel room in Austin.

Pretty much agree, except you have to remember Allison was only a TS and we got hammered with rain.

[Mr. Chenevert]

I've had it with chron.com today.

The top headline right now is "Dean forms, and keep on eye on Gulf low"

What did they just say???

[Pumapayam]

I've had it with chron.com today.

The top headline right now is "Dean forms, and keep on eye on Gulf low"

What did they just say???

Yes, now the local news can start their teasers. Dr. Neil Frank is the worst.

I can see it now, "Trouble brewing in the Gulf. . . tonight at 10!"

What a douche.

Anyways, at least the Weather Channel can start it "sweeps" period now.

[Vertigo58]

Not sure what the latest is but the reality iswhere we live, the homes were all built circa 1935-1945.

My house (1940) and it has survived several tough ones over the decades. I'm afraid another big one will end it all. So I am not "hunkering down" in this sucker. No way. Boarding up may stop windows from breaking but we are totally open to huge gusts on our east side and it will be curtains for Sunnyland homes especially two story homes like mine. Water rises very fast here too so it will be totally ruined after a high rising wave. Liek I stated in an older topic, I do not know of any SAFE public place to duck under. Sounds like Dallas will slam the door on us Houstonian's so what in tarnation is one to do?

I'm glad I just bought some film for the camera. Best to take before pictures now.

Anyone know what site to check for nomads like us to run to in case of the inevitable?

[Jax]

My favorite site to monitor the tropical weather is Wunderground (http://www.wunderground.com/tropical/). The blogs are really good, way better than the forecasters on TV at least.

Looks like the majority of the models show Dead heading into the gulf.

[Mr. Chenevert]

I've had it with chron.com today.

The top headline right now is "Dean forms, and keep on eye on Gulf low"

What did they just say???

Thank god, they finally fixed their error... it now says "keep an eye on Gulf low"

[Trae]

Maybe the first day of school will be delayed.

And what the hell is this thing? It is in the Gulf now:

[westguy]

It could turn into anything from a tropical depression to a category 4 hurricane. It depends on how fast it gets here and how far north the center develops.

[Jax]

Are we talking about the same storm?

Tropical storm Dean out in the Atlantic could become anything but the system that is currently in the Gulf (91L) isn't going to have a lot of time to develop before it hits land. It's possible, but not as likely that it will become a hurricane as Dean.

[westguy]

They have to find the center of it first, but hopefully it reaches the coast before it develops too much. Small storms can bomb quickly into very powerful ones.

[Trae]

Like Rita...

[westguy]

Rita was big. If this does develop rapidly it will be more like Alicia. But it could also run into the coast before a lot happens. We don't want this thing stalling out there.

[HtownWxBoy]

Are we talking about the same storm?

Tropical storm Dean out in the Atlantic could become anything but the system that is currently in the Gulf (91L) isn't going to have a lot of time to develop before it hits land. It's possible, but not as likely that it will become a hurricane as Dean.

Correct... Dean is forecast to become a major hurricane and it could affect the Southeast US or push into the Gulf of Mexico next week... too early to tell exactly where it will go for sure. The low in the Gulf could become a Depression or a Tropical Storm tonight or tomorrow... it's forecast to push into the Texas coast late tomorrow evening into Thursday. The chance of it becoming a weak hurricane is slim, though it's not out of the question. Right now it looks like it's going to push inland near Corpus... but there is a chance it could move a bit further north towards Freeport or Galveston. I am hoping it comes closer to Houston b/c I would love to see some rain to break this heat!

[westguy]

We don't know where its going or what the intensity is going to be. Hurricane Hunters are flying into it right now, and when they find the center, the models will be a little more accurate. Small storms are notorious for bombing out into powerful hurricanes. Hopefully this makes landfall before it gets bad.

[HtownWxBoy]

We don't know where its going or what the intensity is going to be. Hurricane Hunters are flying into it right now, and when they find the center, the models will be a little more accurate. Small storms are notorious for bombing out into powerful hurricanes. Hopefully this makes landfall before it gets bad.

The thing w/ this low in the Gulf is that all of the convection (the storms) are north of the center... and sometimes this causes the center to redevelop where the storms are. If this happens, the track moves to the north... closer to Palacious or Galveston. We will see.

[bachanon]

i have a friend who recently moved here from ft. worth. we were discussing how nice a break from the heat would be. i explained to her how we on the gulf coast look forward to a tropical depression for cooler temperatures and rain and then keep our fingers crossed that it doesn't stay or strengthen.....or is that just me?

[westguy]

We'll soon have a tropical storm stalled out right off the coast for the next couple of days. It's supposed to dump about 10 inches of rain on SE Texas, so get ready for another flood event.

[RedScare]

It just became Tropical Storm Humberto.