Would SoWal Be Prepared for a 4-5 Hurricane?

[Smiling JOe]

most of the boats would be destroyed or grounded, or treed (if there is such a thing). Many of the boats run up Four Mile Creek in Freeport and tie off, but with a Cat 4 or 5, they would be gone. My kayak and canoe may prove useful if someone can untie them before the flood comes. One thing is for sure, you wont see me sticking around for such a storm.

 

[Paula]

Glad you won't stick around. Take anyone who is tempted to stick around with you, SJ. Everyone would take very good care of you and others!

 

[Smiling JOe]

Glad you won't stick around. Take anyone who is tempted to stick around with you, SJ. Everyone would take very good care of you and others!

I know you would. I thank the many of you who have offered me places to stay. I may take you up on the offers one day. I will be glad to cook, clean, do chores, etc, or just have a glass of lemonade over a long conversation. Bless you all.

 

[Paula]

As I said earlier, you or anyone else is welcome in Michigan. The weather here is very nice in the summer/fall during southern hurricane season. the snow storms typically don't start until Halloween (just kidding -- we almost always get to November before the snow hits!). Our summers here are wonderful because the weather is very nice (can get hot like SoWal, though, but not for so many days in a row typically), it's a university town with all the restaurants, movie theatres, etc., but most of the students are gone for the summer and the town is quiet and easy to manage. We can do hurricane central from here...

 

[Smiling JOe]

As I said earlier, you or anyone else is welcome in Michigan. The weather here is very nice in the summer/fall during southern hurricane season. the snow storms typically don't start until Halloween (just kidding -- we almost always get to November before the snow hits!). Our summers here are wonderful because the weather is very nice (can get hot like SoWal, though, but not for so many days in a row typically), it's a university town with all the restaurants, movie theatres, etc., but most of the students are gone for the summer and the town is quiet and easy to manage. We can do hurricane central from here...

Where are you located? I attended some classes at MSU, which has a beautiful campus.

 

[Uncle Timmy]

I don't want to be doom and gloom, but I also don't want anyone to have a false sense of security. I've resisted posting this because I don't want to scare anyone. However, my husband was told by the head of the Walton County Building Dept. that 30-A (and Hwy 20) would have been "whiped-out" by Katrina. The new building code has helped, but no construction can be strong enough to withstand winds much greater than 130 m.p.h. Concrete construction is definitely the best way to go and if we build another house near the coast, we are going to build one with reinforced concrete.

That said, the large Cat 4 and 5 hurricane are very rare and there is a lot we can do in preparation and construction to withstand the more common smaller storms.

I disagree that 30-A and Hwy 20 would be "wiped out". Again, I wouldn't advise anyone to stay for a Category 4-5, but I would expect that most of us would return to damaged, but intact houses.

As backup to my claim, I would like to direct everyone to aerial images of coastal Mississippi taken yesterday by NOAA. Please go to http://ngs.noaa.gov/storms/katrina and look at images of Gulfport. The debris line (from storm surge) extends a distance inland; but the houses north of that are basically intact, with roofs still on.

I'm not trying to minimize the extend of damage here, but just present a reasonable assumption of what a Cat 4-5 landfall in south Walton might bring.

 

[Kurt]

We sure do have a lot of variety in quality and type of construction around here. Some builders are shoddy and some overbuild. Assuming codes are met, door and window quality and proper installation makes the difference on whether your envelope remains intact. Lose one pane and your (stickbuilt) house is gone.

 

[Paula]

Where are you located? I attended some classes at MSU, which has a beautiful campus.
__________________
I believe Thoreau wrote something refering to that which is important -- (not in so many words) It is not the number of shirts you own, but the number of shirts you wear out.

Smiling JOe


The Business School at the University of Michigan in Ann Arbor. We love it here (except for the cold weather). I have a very good friend who teaches in industrial relations at MSU and lives in Okemos -- it's a great school. MSU is in a beautiful location, too, and they -- along with Ohio -- are our biggest rivals during football season (but I don't pay any attention to football...).

Ok, SJ, we're getting off topic (what did you study at MSU?)... Ok, let's get back to saving SoWal... we need a communication system ready to go and some boats to come in to get people to their homes when they need to get back and it's considered safe (and to bring food and water in). Where would the closest available boats be that we could recruit given all our boats would likely be inoperable?

 

[Uncle Timmy]

Oops,

Let me correct my link:

http://ngs.woc.noaa.gov/katrina

Impressive photos

 

[SGB]

FYI, flood insurance through FEMA is not expensive and it carries only a $500 deductible, whereas hurricane insurance carries a $10,000 deductible. We had some minor damage due to storm surge after Ivan. We received a check for the entire claim before our charge card expenses for cleanup were even received. Everyone should carry flood insurance in a coastal area. I would argue that anyone living in Florida should carry it, for that matter.

We have flood insurance on our houses, but at the time that I got it I was told that there was a cap of $250,000. I've recently heard that you can buy additional flood coverage. Does anyone know if this is true?