ross549 Posted August 25, 2011 Share Posted August 25, 2011 So, Hurricane Irene is headed for the East Coast......http://www.nhc.noaa.gov/graphics_at4.shtml?5-daynl#contentsWho's affected? I know I am!By the time it his the Tidewater area, the strength should be a lot less. I expect to lose power (more on that in a bit), but I'm not expecting significant wind damage at my home.I looked ay my cable modem and router. Both are powered by 12VDC after the power bricks. My plan is to rig up a car battery in my house (will take it from my wife's car- sssssshhhh! Don't tell her!) and hook the modem directly to the battery. I suspect it will power the modem for several days, if needed. I can always start one of our cars to recharge the battery, if needed.We're also working on food and supplies to wait out the zombie apocolypse that will be sure to follow the retreat of the storm. We have some batteries, but we'll be picking up more. I'll fill the tub with water so we have extra if needed. I have a propane outdoor stove, so we can cook meals in a pinch. Cami's stocking up on food too.Other than that, I am not expecting a whole lot. What are you doing to prepare? Adam Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mac Posted August 25, 2011 Share Posted August 25, 2011 So, Hurricane Irene is headed for the East Coast......http://www.nhc.noaa.gov/graphics_at4.shtml?5-daynl#contentsWho's affected? I know I am!By the time it his the Tidewater area, the strength should be a lot less. I expect to lose power (more on that in a bit), but I'm not expecting significant wind damage at my home.I looked ay my cable modem and router. Both are powered by 12VDC after the power bricks. My plan is to rig up a car battery in my house (will take it from my wife's car- sssssshhhh! Don't tell her!) and hook the modem directly to the battery. I suspect it will power the modem for several days, if needed. I can always start one of our cars to recharge the battery, if needed.We're also working on food and supplies to wait out the zombie apocolypse that will be sure to follow the retreat of the storm. We have some batteries, but we'll be picking up more. I'll fill the tub with water so we have extra if needed. I have a propane outdoor stove, so we can cook meals in a pinch. Cami's stocking up on food too.Other than that, I am not expecting a whole lot. What are you doing to prepare? AdamA NHC site with hurricane local statements for the East coast from Miami to Virginia:http://www.nhc.noaa.gov/text/index_hls4.shtmlYour water heater is a source of 40 to 80 gallons of fresh water also. If a family member is on prescription meds, get a 30 day supply now. Extra ammunition for firearms in case of zombie apocolypse. Fill your freezer and fridge with water bottles, they'll help keep it colder longer without power. Top off the tanks in all your vehicles, and fill up your gas cans that are used for your lawn mower/outboard engine/etc.We'll be praying for you folks on the East coast, and hoping that Irene makes a shift further to the East than current projections. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
amenditman Posted August 25, 2011 Share Posted August 25, 2011 Here's hoping it keeps shifting further East. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ross549 Posted August 25, 2011 Author Share Posted August 25, 2011 Actually, the projected track for the storm has been shifting slightly west for each forecast that has been coming out. What that means for VA residents is that the storm will be weaker by the time it gets to VA.However, the storm will be worse for thoseon the coast and in the path of the storm in NC. The track has the eye hitting land around Onslo Bay. They are not going to have fun down there.At this point, I do not expect winds much above Category 1 in the Hampton Roads area. Sure, there will be a lot of flooding (not at my house unless the whole peninsula is under water) and widespread power outages, but the winds will not be as bad as the winds in the southern end of North Carolina.Adam Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
V.T. Eric Layton Posted August 25, 2011 Share Posted August 25, 2011 Hunker down. Have FUN! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ross549 Posted August 25, 2011 Author Share Posted August 25, 2011 Good luck finding any D batteries in the Hampton Roads area....... :thumbsup: :rant: :rant: :rant: :rant: Adam Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
zlim Posted August 25, 2011 Share Posted August 25, 2011 (edited) We have a hand cranked radio and it also has a flashlight just in case our many others all fail. We do have one hand cranked flashlight. We have two camp stoves that use portable propane tanks. They saw use when a tornado came through our part of PA and we had no power for 25 hours. I started cooking off the food in the fridge that would spoil. We wrapped the freezer in blankets and did not open it to try and save as much food as possible. Anything suspect, we just threw out. That's about the longest we've been without power. I have a spare battery (similar to a car battery) that I charge every few months in case we need computer power. The problem is, I'd have to go dialup and very few computers have a modem. I have an external USRobotics but the serial port as gone away too. I guess I'll need to look for a USB external 56k modem. :lol:I've never filled the tub with water. We fill lots of spare plastic juice, ice tea and lemonade containers. Since we love our coffee, we also have several old style coffee pots that you used to use to make coffee on the stove. I can get through anything if I can have my coffee. Edited August 25, 2011 by zlim Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest LilBambi Posted August 26, 2011 Share Posted August 26, 2011 Well, we came home early. We were out on the Outer Banks for work and visiting friends. Had to cut that short. Thankfully the work gone done.We still have time to get more done. But we always have some batteries, and so forth. We have camping equipment, stoves and lanterns both gas and propane. We are on town water, we have some jugs of water that can be used for flushing the toilet if necessary and if they don't keep the generator going long enough if we love power.We have food, water, other supplies and will be getting some more at the store before things go down.We don't know how bad it will get here, but we will likely get the edge of it best case. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ross549 Posted August 26, 2011 Author Share Posted August 26, 2011 Looking at the NOAA site......The storm is down to 100MPH winds. It should still be a Category I by the time it hits Hampton Roads. The hurricane windspeed probability for where LilBambi lives, and the spot I'm at on the peninsula is decreasing. I'm thinking it'll be a weak Cat I storm by the time it gets to us.In any case, my primary concern is the likelihood that i will lose power for at least a while here. My iPhone needs to be fed daily, and I need to be reachable by my command in the case of a recall or something. Not like I could get to the base during the storm anyway, since the tunnels will have their storm gates closed.So, I need to keep my iPhone fed. I devised and constructed a solution using my wife's car battery. Here is a link to the Facebook photo album of my work. I had fun making it!https://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.1...171c&type=1I'll be able to charge my phone when I need to. My wife can charge hers too. I have a separate feed coming off the battery for the cable modem too. Once we lose power, I intend on switching the cable modem over to DC power (12V comes out of the power brick conveniently), and keep us online. We'll post updates here and on facebook to keep family and friends up to date on our condition. We are also charging all our laptops and the spare batteries so we can fire them up and hook up to the modem when we need to. :)We should have plenty of juice to keep us going for days, internet wise. If needed, we can hook the battery up to my car to charge it.We are as ready as we can be... we have water and chips. :"> AdamIt was fun building this rig! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest LilBambi Posted August 26, 2011 Share Posted August 26, 2011 Awesome Adam! :' /> Yes, it is looking much better now ... 100MPH now is not nearly as bad as they were calling for.Let's hope it doesn't pick up any speed before making landfall in NC or after it goes back out over the ocean again on it's way northward. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
frapper Posted August 26, 2011 Share Posted August 26, 2011 Have you thought about a UPS? Just an idea... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest LilBambi Posted August 27, 2011 Share Posted August 27, 2011 Or you could drool with us here! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ross549 Posted August 27, 2011 Author Share Posted August 27, 2011 Have you thought about a UPS? Just an idea... I have three UPSs.The only problem is that they do not last very long. I get 20 mins or so from each one. Also, they make a terrible racket. Running my cable modem directly off 12V power makes it much more efficient, since we are not generating pseudo-sine wave AC power, and then converting it back to DC in a wall wart. UPS batteries, by the way, tend to be 12 volt devices. Hooking directly to the battery simply avoids all that wasteful conversion. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
frapper Posted August 27, 2011 Share Posted August 27, 2011 (edited) Looks like you've got a handle on it. :"> I've got 5 that are all used as short-term backup. Edited August 27, 2011 by frapper Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ross549 Posted August 27, 2011 Author Share Posted August 27, 2011 Thanks. I had fun with the project. :)Looking at the latest from the National Hurricane Center...... Irene is currently sporting 100MPH sustained wind speeds. It is gusting a bit higher. The storm will weaken as it moves further inland. By tomorrow at 2PM, it will have a 75% chance of hurricane strength winds, and that will drop significantly by 2AM Sunday morning. The prediction is that it will be only tropical storm force winds at the highest by that time. The eye should cross our area by then. This same scenario happened with Isabel in 2003. It was a big storm, made landfall in North Carolina, and was barely a hurricane by the time it got to Hampton Roads. We will have a lot of damage. Tress will be blown down. The City of Norfolk practically floods every week, and this will make it much worse. Being near sea level and not having a strong storm sewer system makes things more complicated. There will be widespread power outages due to falling branches on power lines. The power lines by my house are in the ground so I will not be as susceptible to that particular problem.Yeah, it is still a big storm. It will do a lot of damage. However, the talking heads on TV are not looking at the data. They are not analyzing what's actually going on with the storm. Unfortunately, that is causing a larger panic than what is really needed. Mark my words.A great benefit to having this storm roll through is that it has a possibility to put out the wildfire in the Great Dismal Swamp just south of us. We've been suffering with a lot of smoke from that fire. The firefighters are saying that if we get 6 inches or more of rain, the fire could be put out.Adam Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
frapper Posted August 27, 2011 Share Posted August 27, 2011 We've spent a lot of time in/at the Outer Banks (OBX). I sure hope they come through it with minimal damage. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest LilBambi Posted August 27, 2011 Share Posted August 27, 2011 Well, we lost power about 4:30am and it is still out.One of the down sides of living in the country ;)On the lighter side of the news, Jim turned off the MiFi so we'd have Internet when we need it, as long as the pod has power. Adam and Josh, please let folks in chat know we are ok, just no power.Gonna shut back down here now and conserve power. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ross549 Posted August 27, 2011 Author Share Posted August 27, 2011 LilBambi- Got it. Changed topic in chat. I'll post a bit.ly link to this thread in the topic too. This is a good a spot to post updates as any.We still have normal power at my house. We lost power last night at 0100, and got it back at 0200 or so. Cami and I rented the King's speech last night from Redbox and I went out an hour ago to return it. Strong winds, coupled with heavy rain bands made driving difficult. The first redbox I went to had a smashed screen, but I doubt it had anything to do with the storm. I got it returned, so I won't be charged the extra dollar. :"> My sister works in Norfolk and texted me that the tunnels and bridges were in very bad shape. She works at Farm Fresh Supermarkets, and the stores are trying to stay open through the storm. SHe has a place to stay on the southside tonight. She drives a small car, and despite the winds only being about 25 sustained, her little car was having problems on the bridge.Right now, we have the TV on to one of the local news stations. Naturally, the reporters (apparently, the ones that drew the short straws) are out in force and bringing live reports. One reporter even was standing IN THE OCEAN at Virginia Beach, reporting on how bad the water is. One reporter commented that the sand was slapping him in the eyes. :lol:I recreated this last year on my honeymoon while in Niagara Falls. Imagine this picture with the caption "The is Adam, reporting LIVE from the eye of the storm! It is really dangerous! You should not be out here like me!"https://fbcdn-sphotos-a.akamaihd.net/hphoto...8_8056525_n.jpg:lol:We'll keep updating as much as we can through the day. Right now, the storm's eye will pass this area about 8pm. Hopefully by 2AM, the storm will be all but done. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest LilBambi Posted August 27, 2011 Share Posted August 27, 2011 :hysterical:Too funny!!Thanks for letting folks know. Gonna shutdown again so we can come back later. Power came on for like 10-15 seconds and right back out again and that was 1/2 hr ago.Think we may be out of power for the duration now.OK, off to make coffee on our camping stove :)Will check in later ... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ross549 Posted August 27, 2011 Author Share Posted August 27, 2011 New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie says it best..... :"> :lol:Good to see you still online, LilBambi (even if its for only a small time).Adam Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ross549 Posted August 27, 2011 Author Share Posted August 27, 2011 We're starting to upload pictures......https://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.1...4081&type=1For the most part the storm has just been very windy and rainy.Adam Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
V.T. Eric Layton Posted August 27, 2011 Share Posted August 27, 2011 That coffee cake (pie) sure looks YUMMY! :' /> Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ross549 Posted August 27, 2011 Author Share Posted August 27, 2011 Yep, Cami can cook really well!The midtown tunnel in Norfolk has been closed.It flooded during hurricane isabel in 2003.http://sharing.fox43tv.com/sharewavy//phot...255_320_240.JPGhttps://secure.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/w...nnel_(Virginia)Adam Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest LilBambi Posted August 27, 2011 Share Posted August 27, 2011 Yummy the hurricane coffee cake looks delicious!Still no power and they likely won't even attempt to fix it till this is over...sigh.Jim has us still on line for now though :yes:The wind is pretty intense as is the rain. And we have heard several freight trains (we have no trains nearby), but thankfully no trees in our yard are down yet.Jim said there were trees down all the way to next town over to go to the store this morning.Well, thankfully no damage so far, yea!! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ross549 Posted August 27, 2011 Author Share Posted August 27, 2011 The maximum wind speed we've seen is 54MPH. This is from Langley Air Force Base, which is almost spitting distance away. Right now, the probability that we'll see hurricane force winds is less than 30%. Right now the storm is holding at 85MPH sustained wind speed. The eye will go offshore somewhere off the coast of Virginia Beach. Right now, according to Dominion VA Power, 28% of Hampton is without power. As I mentioned before, I have underground lines, so I don't anticipate losing power any time soon. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ross549 Posted August 27, 2011 Author Share Posted August 27, 2011 The maximum wind speed at the core is now down to 80MPH. Just barely a hurricane. This is just like Isabel in 2003.Many homes are without power, but we're still holding strong. I've only seen the slightest of flickers here.Adam Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
amenditman Posted August 27, 2011 Share Posted August 27, 2011 So glad at least some of our "Bruno's" folks are just having quiet weekend with a candle and a good book.Reminds me of 2004-2005 in central Florida. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
frapper Posted August 28, 2011 Share Posted August 28, 2011 Adam, how's the battery rig holding up? Working well? Hang in there. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ross549 Posted August 28, 2011 Author Share Posted August 28, 2011 I have not needed to use it all day. We have not lost power!Right now, it feels like a bad rainstorm. Not a hurricane.Adam Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ross549 Posted August 28, 2011 Author Share Posted August 28, 2011 Irene has been msotly a fizzle for us. Time to get some good sleep. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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