Well, in the past nine years we've had six direct hits by hurricanes and 2 tropical depressions. Its time for yet another one. And this one's a stinker.

Ophelia is forcast to become a category one hurricane and hit us on the nose sometime late tomorrow or early Wednesday morning. Thank God its only forcast to be a category one storm, but there is speculation among the computer models that this storm may sit on us for a few days.

Flooding could be an issue with this storm in low-lying areas. We're expecting power outages that could last for several days. A number of shelters have been opened and I expect they will start to fill by Tuesday morning.

As a Red Cross Governmental Liason, I'll ride out the storm in the county's Emergency Operations Center. It may sound like an exciting place to be but 90% of the time I'll be surfing s2ki.com and eating donuts. Its the other 10% that makes a difference. I'll be responding to calls for additional shelters, support for emergency personel, meals for fire fighters and relief workers, etc. I hope I'll remain bored to tears throughout this ordeal.

Tonight I set up the generator at my house, tested it and tied down everything loose in the yard. MyBride is really nervous about me not being with her during the storm but I've taken all measures to insure she will be safe and reasonably comfortable. As comfortable as she can be without her big, bad "Snugglewuggles".

The next few days could be REALLY interesting. Wish us luck.

 

 

Best of luck, Badness.

I'm a little south, in Charleston. I've got the boat buttoned up and the canvas lashed down. (I had to get up and close the companionway while I was writing that last sentence. The first rain just started here.)

So far I've still got power, cable & Internet. I'm keeping an ear on the VHF WX station and HAM freqs and an eye on the Weather Channel. My rules are that I stay on the boat through tropical force winds but bug out for even Cat 1 hurricanes. The Hilton is right at the top of the dock and I can head up there if the storm turns nastier than forecast for Charleston.

Everyone hold on to your hats!

 

You guys be careful!

 

Ron,

Take NO chances, my friend. I've seen too many pics of sail boats on dry land. Nasty! (Where's your bride?)

Jay, thanks much!

 

Don't worry. It is SUPPOSED to completely miss us. We are getting some overcast clouds and a touch of rain from it so far but that is it. Besides, this storm is kinda weak. The thing that is so scary about it is how damn slow it is moving. Even with just 70 mph winds, if it chills over wimly for a couple days, you guys are gonna be seriously hurting. Good luck to everyone in the area.

 

I'm sitting here at work, waiting for them to give us the rest of the day off to tie up some loose ends, for those not in the know I'm 45miles from Wilmington and in the path as well. My roomie is blocking the garage with his broken 240, so I'd rather not be pushing the 240 up and down hill in the rain, so I can get the S in the garage.

 

Hang in there Phil........ or should I call you "Snugglewuggles"???
Keep us posted and while you are stationed at the Pender County Emergency Management Center..... eating those stale donuts....... remember to tell my cousin Eddie King I said hello I'm sure those people in the shelters really appreciate all the work you guys do.

 

yeah. If something was headed toward my area I would throw my teasures in the dodge, hitch up the S and and head to Charlotte and stay with my parent just to be safe. Or head to Blacksburg, VA and stay with some college buddies. That way I would have everything I hold dear that is here with me.

 

Coming to you from the New Hanover County Emergency Operations Center LIVE and in color. I checked in at 0800 hours (I love how they talk military talk here) and quickly learned that one of our shelters was low on cots. So I made arrangements to get them what they needed. Other than that, things were realy calm...until the media showed up at the shelters.

Those BASTARDS! I've spent about four hours today putting up with their arrogance and insensitivity. Red Cross policy has been that no media are allowed to video or photograph inside the shelters. Of course, the media hasn't given a flip about the inside of shelters until the Superdome incident. Now we have news crews from all over the country trying to poke their camers in these peoples faces and ask them personal questions. I've explained that they are not allowed in for reasons of privacy and security. I've been told that they don't care, they're going in anyway. Did I mention that they're BASTARDS?

Other than that, the biggest incident so far has been four transformers catching on fire. On the beaches, salt spray accumulates on insulators and it causes shorts and fires. Not a big deal unless your standing under it.

Five people have been admitted to the detox unit and five have been admitted to the psych unit. I figure they were married to each other.

Cross your fingers! The best is yet to come!