Anyone doing any prep for Florence?

[school17777]

We just need to bring in our lacrosse equipment in the backyard and that’s about it.  

I am nervous about the trees behind us in the camp.  They are tall and over 100 years old.  Last year, one fell down in a storm 8” from the neighbor’s house.  They had decided they should sleep in the basement in case a tree fell and one did.  A tree has fallen during a hurricane a door up from them and also at our other next door neighbor’s.  Luckily, the damage from all the trees has been to the yard and minor damage to siding.  But, if any of the bigger trees fall, they are big enough to hit our homes.  I’d rather not sleep in the basement just in case.

My dh has to swerve off the road earlier in the summer to avoid a tree falling in front of him.  The ground probably is that wet again that the trees will start being uprooted and that’s without a hurricane.

[Pawz4me]

DH and I have delayed some travel plans. We're pretty far inland, but right now in the direct path with what is still forecast to be tropical storm force wind and LOTS of rain. Our ground is already saturated. We have lots of big trees, one of which is damaged from a storm a month or so ago. We'd rather be here to deal with any potential problems than be a long way away and get a call from a neighbor. DS22 is in the RDU area, but he's on the sixth floor of an apartment building in a downtown area. At least he doesn't have to worry about trees . . . 

[EmseB]

I am flying to RDU this week for my grandma's funeral, which is supposed to be Friday evening. Then trying to get out of RDU on Satuday.  So I guess I'm doing the opposite of preparing. ?

[sheryl]

Glad we went to the beach Labor day weekend! ?

We're 4 hours inland so it will be downgraded from a hurricane to tropical storm once it makes landfall.  Still, from the "residual" of any hurricane (tropical storm force winds) we may have downed power lines.  So, I may stock up on a bit of water and canned soup (we have a gas stove) and other stove top foods to prepare. Get caught up on laundry, dishes, etc. Batten down the hatches to a point! 

[alisoncooks]

We lost power for a short time every thunderstorm this summer (neighbor has trees on the line and the power company hasn't addressed it). Anyway, I'm prepping for an outage by stocking up on no-cook foods. Bought some water, batteries....and brownie mix. ?

We're supposed to travel to the coast on Saturday, but I guess we'll see. My dad (who is there) said the farmers are picking corn like crazy, trying to get it all in. 

[Ann.without.an.e]

I am in the same situation as Pawz, we are technically in the path but inland and DD is in the RDU area.  I'm more worried about her because we have water, food, etc.  I have no idea what they do for the students if the power goes out ?‍♀️  Because we have a well (no electricity = no water) and we seem to be the last street in our area to ever get power back on, we keep a good stock of water, lanterns, etc.  

[school17777]

I hope it won’t be as bad as some of the forecasts are warning.

Our local store is out of generators already.

[HS Mom in NC]

Yes.  Outside Raleigh.  I got all the shopping done this morning.  The Fire Marshall handed me my case of water at Food Lion. This is our first hurricane. 

[Farrar]

Last year we had a vacation ruined by a hurricane (it wasn't that bad... we didn't lose any money and the trip was mostly able to be moved and done later, but it was a giant hassle). This year, my mother and I are leaving for Europe Wednesday, so right before but not close enough to be too worried. I was like, MOM, we scheduled this perfectly! She lives in Durham and was like, yep! I had to pack everything away anyway and I'll leave before it gets bad and be back long after the power is finally restored. Lol. She just had trees taken down too, so she's less worried about her house.

Good luck to everyone battening down the hatches. It looks like it's going to be really similar to Fran. I was away from home for that one, but I will never forget the hilarity of my college boyfriend at the time, who had the roof cave in partly over him and start raining down on his bed. He just rolled over. I was like, wasn't that an indication that you needed to get up?!? He was like, no, it was an indication that there was water on that side of the bed and I needed to roll over. 

[scbusf]

We are in Virginia Beach and are in hardcore prep mode. I'm pretty sure we're staying put. We bought a generator. Bought food. Still need to bring in the grill and patio furniture. We cleaned out the garage so all the outside stuff can come in. We need to fill up 3 gas cans. Bought extra cat litter and cat food. We are eating as much as possible from the fridge/freezers so if the power does go out, we will only have to power 1 fridge instead of 2.

[JumpyTheFrog]

Here's a good podcast episode about preparing for hurricanes from Radical Personal Finance.

[Junie]

Dh and I will be checking food and water supplies this evening.  We're not in the direct path, but we always seem to lose power during these things. 

And there's a chance that the basement will flood.

I also need to make sure that we have ice cream.  I know that it's counter-intuitive to buy ice cream when you expect to lose power, but it's a tradition for us.  When one of the dc was small, she was very afraid of power outages.  We had a hurricane come by and we lost power, as expected.  It was right at our nightly snack time.  I pulled the ice cream out of the freezer and told everyone that we had to eat ALL the ice cream so that we didn't have to throw it out.  She was never afraid of losing power again.  Now whenever we have a storm approaching she checks with me to make sure we have ice cream.

[Ann.without.an.e]

2 hours ago, school17777 said:

I hope it won’t be as bad as some of the forecasts are warning.

Our local store is out of generators already.

 

 

We are in Charlotte and ours was out this morning ? 

[Carrie12345]

Not in the path, but dh is in the recovery business, so we’re prepping for him to spend a lot of time away. (Plus regular Emergency Preparation Month checks/updates.) And we could do without the residual rain, since we’ve already spent the summer in flood advisories.

With the projected catastrophic flooding zone, I’m worried about the number of people involved and the possible impact on supply chains. 

Stay safe!

[lavender's green]

We're pretty far inland, but I'm a little freaked out by the rainfall predictions. I had hoped to get out and do something fun over the weekend, but it will be much safer to hunker down at home. We live on high ground, don't have a basement, and had our trees evaluated a couple years ago. Leaving home would mean risking flash floods and downed trees/wires.

I'll double-check the pantry and water, but we rarely lose utilities (not that you can count on it for this storm, but still...). Might bug DH about a drainage issue.

I had wondered why my son's school wanted to know our cell phone carrier. Turns out they need that to send emergency messages.

[TechWife]

Sort of. We are pretty far inland, but Fran made it here, I’m hopeful that was a once in a lifetime thing. I refilled prescriptions today and picked up a few things we were out of,  it I haven’t bought anything special, including water. DH is on a business trip so he will bring back batteries when he comes home tomorrow. My son works at Lowe’s and they are out of generators, propane, tarps, batteries and water. At one of the area Costco”s there was a line to get propane tanks refilled that was about 20 deep. We have propane, thankfully, so we will be able to cook. 

Im expecting wind and with the saturation level right now, I figure the area just might loose trees. 

I think I’ll take our deck furniture in, but I have time and I’ll wait until someone is here to help me. 

Edited September 10, 2018 by TechWife

[73349]

I filled our canning jars with water, withdrew a little cash (power outages were up to 9 days with Fran), put gas in the car (needed it anyway), and did an extra load of laundry. And I washed out the cooler.

I'm reluctant to buy the perishable food I intended for meals toward the end of the week because we have an electric stove. I plan to convert some food to ready-to-eat (make muffins and if we have any meat, cook it).

Still ahead: buy some food that will  be okay if I can't cook it and use it as planned (such as sweet potatoes), keep on top of the dishes, etc.

[alisoncooks]

23 minutes ago, whitehawk said:

I filled our canning jars with water....[snip]

I plan to convert some food to ready-to-eat (make muffins and if we have any meat, cook it).

Canning jars = genius! I'll do that. We finished a gallon of milk today, so I'll wash and fill that, too. We're on city water and have never lost it in any hurricane/storm...but still, better safe than sorry.

I think I'll hardboil the eggs in the fridge. They'll make an easy no-cook meal, if needed.

We'll get gas tomorrow on the way back from the orthodontist. Probably pop into Walmart -- I could use another flashlight or lantern. 

I went to the grocery store today and it was Crazy Town. I bet Walmart tomorrow will be fun...

[Chris in VA]

EmseB, Raleigh Durham is cancelling flights left and right, so check to see if you can even get out. 

Dd is in Harrisonburg. The university is in prime flooding area and they are probably going to cancel classes on Friday. She's "up the hill" on the East Campus, so it's likely she'll be fine. She's sick, unfortunately, but coming home would be awful. (And she can't really miss class, anyway, so coming home sooner than Thurs night, when it'll be a madhouse on the roads.)

[G5052]

We're inland and probably will see just rain, but I'm ready. We have cedar trees near the road that seem to break easily, so that may be an issue. In March we had a major windstorm, and several came down. Thankfully the landlord handled it (smile). There are some advantages to renting.

We have a good amount of canned food, dried food, and several cases of bottled water. I have a camping stove and fresh batteries in flashlights and lanterns.

I'm going to go out early on Tuesday and get a few things.

My oldest is being activated with the Army National Guard, and he leaves Wednesday, so we'll be on our own. We have friends near by, so I'm not too concerned. 

I'm off of work Wednesday afternoon - Friday morning so good timing. DD is figuring no college classes on Friday.

Edited September 10, 2018 by G5052

[lmrich]

Getting ready to welcome friends from the SC coast. Headed to Costco tomorrow to feed the crew for a few days. 

[KarenNC]

We went and evacuated our daughter from UNC Wilmington today. They had a voluntary evac starting at noon, and on the way home we saw them announce a mandatory evac starting at 8am tomorrow, with all students having to be off campus by noon. They were having students who didn't have a place to go call the Dean of Students' office to be taken up to UNC Asheville to shelter. Really glad we were able to go today as there wasn't any abnormal traffic yet, though there was a lot more business at the gas station just outside Wilmington where we usually gas up to go home. She is in a first floor dorm room, so we packed up and brought a lot of her dorm stuff with us. We had her put pretty much everything else up on her bed (lofted 3 ft) or desk. I have no idea when she'll be able to go back, given the likelihood of widespread flooding and power outages, but told her to be prepared to be home through next week. At least the dorm insurance covers flooding if that happens, and we rented the microfridge (with their insurance), so if anything happens to that they should bring her another one.

At home (near Charlotte), we're topping up the gas in the cars and bringing the trash cans/grill/etc into the garage. I'm going out tomorrow to stock up a bit on foods that don't need refrigeration, get another propane tank, and get some cash in small bills from the bank. I've already stocked up on cat food and cat litter, meds, and we have a bunch of bottled water left over from a planned park party that didn't happen. We're on city water and have a gas water heater, so that part should stay reasonably okay. I just don't look forward to possible loss of power and therefore of a/c, remembering how hot and humid things were after Hugo (1989), when we were without power for a week in September (and we were part of the lucky ones, some went without for close to a month!). That was still a Cat 1 hurricane by the time it got to us, though, and this shouldn't be that bad 4 hours inland in our direction. We're on the western edge of our electric provider's range, however, so they may be more impacted than the other provider in the area.

 

[Ann.without.an.e]

My sister has a tough decision.  Does she evacuate Charleston, as mandated, and come to Charlotte where all of her family is?  She feels like we are more likely to get hit than her.  She is going to wait until tomorrow night to decide.  

[jewellsmommy]

Yes. Water and bread have been very difficult to locate. We went to 7 different stores yesterday! We found bread but not water. My mom and dd located some water today. We are storing filtered water too of course. My mom has a good amt of emergency prep supplies (next door), and we have some so we will be fine. Our church is in the mandatory evac zone along with  some of our older congregants, and I am worried about them. I have been making calls all evening. Our Pastor just had hip replacement and his wife can only do so much. Thankfully they have good neighbors but we are on standby if they need us. We did our yard prep Saturday just in case and I bought extra pet food. I have checked our meds supplies to make sure no one was close to needing refills. and I will be finishing up laundry tomorrow.

Edited September 11, 2018 by jewellsmommy

[Pawz4me]

UNC Chapel Hill has cancelled classes beginning at 5:00 tomorrow through the end of the week. The dorms will remain open, but they’re encouraging students who can go home to do so. 

[DawnM]

We are on a well, so if we lose power, we lose water.

We will be filling gallon size bags with water, and putting it in the freezer.  That will keep food colder for longer and give us plenty of drinking water as needed.

[school17777]

2 minutes ago, DawnM said:

We are on a well, so if we lose power, we lose water.

We will be filling gallon size bags with water, and putting it in the freezer.  That will keep food colder for longer and give us plenty of drinking water as needed.

 

That’s a good idea!  I might do this too.

[QueenCat]

About 45 mins from Norfolk... The school system that I teach in is off for the rest of the week as some of our schools are in Hampton Roads Zone A for evacuation. Zone A is under mandatory evacuation. 

[DawnM]

1 minute ago, QueenCat said:

About 45 mins from Norfolk... The school system that I teach in is off for the rest of the week as some of our schools are in Hampton Roads Zone A for evacuation. Zone A is under mandatory evacuation. 

 

Off for a week!  Great time for a beach trip.  ?

[TechWife]

I feel as if I should stalk a bread truck in the morning. How does one find a bread truck to stalk? I’m honestly getting a little worried at this point and need to get some basic non-perishables in case we are without power for a few days. 

[TechWife]

ECU and NCSU have both cancelled classes for Wed evening. It’s hard to tell from the listings if they are already canceling Thursday as well. 

[AimeeM]

4 hours ago, lavender's green said:

We're pretty far inland, but I'm a little freaked out by the rainfall predictions. I had hoped to get out and do something fun over the weekend, but it will be much safer to hunker down at home. We live on high ground, don't have a basement, and had our trees evaluated a couple years ago. Leaving home would mean risking flash floods and downed trees/wires.

I'll double-check the pantry and water, but we rarely lose utilities (not that you can count on it for this storm, but still...). Might bug DH about a drainage issue.

I had wondered why my son's school wanted to know our cell phone carrier. Turns out they need that to send emergency messages.

 

Similar here. We're about 3 hours inland (Upstate), but considering the rain we've had today and are expected to continue to get for the next couple of days, I'm pretty worried about flooding when the hurricane does hit. Our house is on pretty high ground, but our backyard is already saturated and the only road in/out of our subdivision is definitely not on high ground, and has some already-angry looking water under the bridge. And despite the subdivision vomit that has come to our area, our main road is still somewhat rural and I worry about downed trees, etc.

I'm going to the grocery store tomorrow and hoping that people haven't cleaned out the bread. And I'm going to call the pharmacy to see if they will refill a prescription two days early ? I'm not super hopeful about the bread situation, as it seems the locals clean it out of most stores at the slightest hint of inclement weather, but we'll see.

[EmseB]

3 hours ago, Chris in VA said:

EmseB, Raleigh Durham is cancelling flights left and right, so check to see if you can even get out. 

 

2

AA says that I'm eligible to change my flight, but I don't know how to see if one has been canceled.

I really don't know what to do. My family is grieving and can't make decisions well right now. If I call and ask them what to do it's going to cause a thing. So I feel like I'm stuck flying in and just doing my best to get home when I get to that bridge. The problematic thing is that DH has a business trip to leave for on Sunday so I'm supposed to be home for that which doesn't seem likely. I don't know how they are going to have a funeral service during a hurricane. It's a mess. And my grandma was the best, my grandpa just lost his wife of 65 years...and there's a hurricane. I'm waiting for the 11p.m. update to post right now to see if it makes things any clearer.

[meena]

17 minutes ago, EmseB said:

AA says that I'm eligible to change my flight, but I don't know how to see if one has been canceled.

I really don't know what to do. My family is grieving and can't make decisions well right now. If I call and ask them what to do it's going to cause a thing. So I feel like I'm stuck flying in and just doing my best to get home when I get to that bridge. The problematic thing is that DH has a business trip to leave for on Sunday so I'm supposed to be home for that which doesn't seem likely. I don't know how they are going to have a funeral service during a hurricane. It's a mess. And my grandma was the best, my grandpa just lost his wife of 65 years...and there's a hurricane. I'm waiting for the 11p.m. update to post right now to see if it makes things any clearer.

I’m so sorry that you are having to deal with the hurricane along with the loss of your grandma. 

I don’t think American has canceled any flights yet.

You can check your flight status and sign up for alerts for changes to the status here: https://www.aa.com/travelInformation/flights/status

https://www.aa.com/travelInformation/flights/schedule

[school17777]

43 minutes ago, EmseB said:

AA says that I'm eligible to change my flight, but I don't know how to see if one has been canceled.

I really don't know what to do. My family is grieving and can't make decisions well right now. If I call and ask them what to do it's going to cause a thing. So I feel like I'm stuck flying in and just doing my best to get home when I get to that bridge. The problematic thing is that DH has a business trip to leave for on Sunday so I'm supposed to be home for that which doesn't seem likely. I don't know how they are going to have a funeral service during a hurricane. It's a mess. And my grandma was the best, my grandpa just lost his wife of 65 years...and there's a hurricane. I'm waiting for the 11p.m. update to post right now to see if it makes things any clearer.

 

My aunt works for FEMA and she said airports may close on Wednesday, so your flight might be cancelled anyway.

eta:  I’m sorry about the loss of your grandma.  I hope your family may decide to postpone the funeral.  

My stepdad’s actual funeral/burial was over a month after he passed (due to the cemetery), but the funeral home just kept him there until the cemetery was ready for him.  So, maybe that’s a possibility for your grandma.

Edited September 11, 2018 by school17777

[Pawz4me]

10 hours ago, KarenNC said:

We went and evacuated our daughter from UNC Wilmington today. They had a voluntary evac starting at noon, and on the way home we saw them announce a mandatory evac starting at 8am tomorrow, with all students having to be off campus by noon. They were having students who didn't have a place to go call the Dean of Students' office to be taken up to UNC Asheville to shelter. Really glad we were able to go today as there wasn't any abnormal traffic yet, though there was a lot more business at the gas station just outside Wilmington where we usually gas up to go home. She is in a first floor dorm room, so we packed up and brought a lot of her dorm stuff with us. We had her put pretty much everything else up on her bed (lofted 3 ft) or desk. I have no idea when she'll be able to go back, given the likelihood of widespread flooding and power outages, but told her to be prepared to be home through next week. At least the dorm insurance covers flooding if that happens, and we rented the microfridge (with their insurance), so if anything happens to that they should bring her another one.

At home (near Charlotte), we're topping up the gas in the cars and bringing the trash cans/grill/etc into the garage. I'm going out tomorrow to stock up a bit on foods that don't need refrigeration, get another propane tank, and get some cash in small bills from the bank. I've already stocked up on cat food and cat litter, meds, and we have a bunch of bottled water left over from a planned park party that didn't happen. We're on city water and have a gas water heater, so that part should stay reasonably okay. I just don't look forward to possible loss of power and therefore of a/c, remembering how hot and humid things were after Hugo (1989), when we were without power for a week in September (and we were part of the lucky ones, some went without for close to a month!). That was still a Cat 1 hurricane by the time it got to us, though, and this shouldn't be that bad 4 hours inland in our direction. We're on the western edge of our electric provider's range, however, so they may be more impacted than the other provider in the area.

 

I'm probably overthinking things, but the bolded is a wee bit concerning to me -- that they're evacuating kids from Wilmington all the way to the other side of the state. I'm guessing there would have been some space for them at other state schools along the way, and I can think of so many that are almost literally right off the interstate along the route to Asheville (UNC, NCSU, UNC-G, A&T, WSSU, NCSA, UNC-C, depending on which route they chose), that they're taking them all the way to Asheville is . . . worrisome. Although it really could be a space issue more than a distance from danger issue, I guess.

Edited September 11, 2018 by Pawz4me

[hshibley]

Raleigh area is going to get a lot of rain/flooding so that's probably a factor in not using UNC, NCSU, or UNC-G. Once you leave Wilmington for the storm if we get the rainfall they predict for the surrounding areas it can be up to 10 days for flooding to subside allowing anyone back it to town.  

[Pink and Green Mom]

Good luck to all of the boardies in SC/NC/VA and the path of the storm.  Hurricane prep is very stressful.  Take good care of yourselves.  

Food tip (we went through Irma in FL last year) - the day before storm hits, make hard boiled eggs, rice, chili/pulled pork/tacos/shredded beef so you have something ready made when things start to go bad.  Comfort food is a plus, whether it is a bag of Recees Peanut Butter cups or a huge bag of chips, or in my case both...To the poster above who can't find bread, it may be easier to find the ingredients to make your own bread.  I am not a baker but was able to make a few loaves that were not great but were better than nothing.

If you have a generator and you still have gas for sale in your area, make sure you have gas cans.  We have a generator but like idiots no gas cans.  Those were some of the first things to be sold out.  The best we could do was buy gas siphoning kits from Harbor Freight so we could get gas out of our cars and into the generator.

Please take good care of yourselves.  I remember how stressful it was trying to get things in order, second guessing staying vs. going, realizing you can't go because there is no gas, etc.  Prayers to you all.

[KarenNC]

32 minutes ago, Pawz4me said:

I'm probably overthinking things, but the bolded is a wee bit concerning to me -- that they're evacuating kids from Wilmington all the way to the other side of the state. I'm guessing there would have been some space for them at other state schools along the way, and I can think of so many that are almost literally right off the interstate along the route to Asheville (UNC, NCSU, UNC-G, A&T, WSSU, NCSA, UNC-C, depending on which route they chose), that they're taking them all the way to Asheville is . . . worrisome. Although it really could be a space issue more than a distance from danger issue, I guess.

From what I've seen, State and Chapel Hill have already announced closing and encouraged students to leave campus https://www.newsobserver.com/news/local/education/article218155640.html  

The others appear to still be monitoring as of the latest info I have seen. 

[Pawz4me]

41 minutes ago, hshibley said:

Raleigh area is going to get a lot of rain/flooding so that's probably a factor in not using UNC, NCSU, or UNC-G. Once you leave Wilmington for the storm if we get the rainfall they predict for the surrounding areas it can be up to 10 days for flooding to subside allowing anyone back it to town.  

 

23 minutes ago, KarenNC said:

From what I've seen, State and Chapel Hill have already announced closing and encouraged students to leave campus https://www.newsobserver.com/news/local/education/article218155640.html  

The others appear to still be monitoring as of the latest info I have seen. 

Yeah, that's what I was trying to say in so many words -- that the PTB really do believe this has the potential to be a huge deal for almost the entire state. It makes me feel even more that it's not fear mongering or just being overly cautious. CH says they're keeping the dorms open (and rightly so, IMO, since no doubt a significant portion of their students would have to go east toward the coast to go home!).

[Dynamite5]

2 hours ago, Pawz4me said:

I'm probably overthinking things, but the bolded is a wee bit concerning to me -- that they're evacuating kids from Wilmington all the way to the other side of the state. I'm guessing there would have been some space for them at other state schools along the way, and I can think of so many that are almost literally right off the interstate along the route to Asheville (UNC, NCSU, UNC-G, A&T, WSSU, NCSA, UNC-C, depending on which route they chose), that they're taking them all the way to Asheville is . . . worrisome. Although it really could be a space issue more than a distance from danger issue, I guess.

I think what they are doing is logical and prudent. There is no way to predict currently where the storm will go, so all of those places you listed could very well be in the path of the storm, at least with copious amounts of rain along with wind. Those places could end up without electricity at the very least. Why move students at all if they aren't going to move them all the way out of the way? There's plenty of places at several of those schools to shelter students, but the whole point in moving them is to get them out of the way of the storm. Moving them halfway, especially since there's no way to accurately predict where the storm will come inland, is good emergency preparedness. 

[WoolC]

2 hours ago, Pawz4me said:

 

Yeah, that's what I was trying to say in so many words -- that the PTB really do believe this has the potential to be a huge deal for almost the entire state. It makes me feel even more that it's not fear mongering or just being overly cautious. CH says they're keeping the dorms open (and rightly so, IMO, since no doubt a significant portion of their students would have to go east toward the coast to go home!).

 

Unfortunately, you are right about the PTB and their projections for the storm.  I'm in the RDU area, my dad works for the power company here and my husband works for the government.  The projected impact is like nothing we've seen since Hugo.  It would be best to be prepared for weeks without power and for flooding. 

My area is already out of gas, bread and water and police have been called to our local Walmart because of fights breaking out over groceries.  I'm trying to keep up with all cleaning before we lose power and I'm baking bread, muffins, etc.   We're filling every container we have with water, charging batteries and praying for the best for everyone.

Edited to add a link to the national weather service official briefing for central NC with potential impact.

https://www.weather.gov/media/rah/briefing/NWSRaleighLatestBriefing.pdf

Edited September 11, 2018 by WoolC

[Ann.without.an.e]

3 hours ago, hshibley said:

Raleigh area is going to get a lot of rain/flooding so that's probably a factor in not using UNC, NCSU, or UNC-G. Once you leave Wilmington for the storm if we get the rainfall they predict for the surrounding areas it can be up to 10 days for flooding to subside allowing anyone back it to town.  

 

3 hours ago, KarenNC said:

From what I've seen, State and Chapel Hill have already announced closing and encouraged students to leave campus https://www.newsobserver.com/news/local/education/article218155640.html  

The others appear to still be monitoring as of the latest info I have seen. 

 

19 minutes ago, WoolC said:

 

Unfortunately, you are right about the PTB and their projections for the storm.  I'm in the RDU area, my dad works for the power company here and my husband works for the government.  The projected impact is like nothing we've seen since Hugo.  It would be best to be prepared for weeks without power and for flooding. 

My area is already out of gas, bread and water and police have been called to our local Walmart because of fights breaking out over groceries.  I'm trying to keep up with all cleaning before we lose power and I'm baking bread, muffins, etc.   We're filling every container we have with water, charging batteries and praying for the best for everyone.

Edited to add a link to the national weather service official briefing for central NC with potential impact.

https://www.weather.gov/media/rah/briefing/NWSRaleighLatestBriefing.pdf

 

2 hours ago, Pawz4me said:

 

Yeah, that's what I was trying to say in so many words -- that the PTB really do believe this has the potential to be a huge deal for almost the entire state. It makes me feel even more that it's not fear mongering or just being overly cautious. CH says they're keeping the dorms open (and rightly so, IMO, since no doubt a significant portion of their students would have to go east toward the coast to go home!).

 

 

Duke isn't budging ?   They are not cancelling classes or anything so far.  They say they are all lights green until they feel the need to change course.  What they have that NCSU and CH don't have is primarily non residents kids so maybe that is why?  So many students out of country or state, whereas at least 70% of NCSU and CH are NC Residents.  

DD was going to get water last night but she said they are out.  Her good friend had already gotten some for her though, he always has her back thankfully. ❤️ 

Edited September 11, 2018 by Attolia

[umsami]

I think we're safe, but it caused me to replenish supplies from last year.   Prayers for all involved.

Don't forget meds, pet food, papers, cash!, etc.  My friends with small dogs also get in pee pads in case it's too windy/stormy to take the dogs out.

Last fall, I had friends who lived in older neighborhoods with big trees.  They were basically stuck there for a week because of trees blocking the roads.  So if you have big trees, I'd also want a gas powered chain saw in my tool kit.  

 

We have a bathtub liner thing that will hold water.  It's come in handy.  It's called a Waterbob, I think.

Edited September 11, 2018 by umsami

[Pen]

I had a large galvanized trash can lined with a big plastic yard and leaf bag filled with water in case of emergency.

 I finally needed it this summer when we lost water for a while. It had been sitting several years, but worked fine for wash water and helped spare smaller amounts of clean drinking water to use for drinking. If the problem had gone on longer I could have filtered the trash can water. 

I m reading ideas and thinking of things to suggest to my mom who is in inland NC. 

[Lady Florida.]

Thinking of you all and hoping the worst won't be as bad as predicted.

Prep is stressful; we had to go through it the past two years but so far this year haven't been in a storm's path. 

It looks like Duke has finally cancelled classes starting after 5pm today. I think that's what I read.

[73349]

13 hours ago, TechWife said:

I feel as if I should stalk a bread truck in the morning. How does one find a bread truck to stalk? I’m honestly getting a little worried at this point and need to get some basic non-perishables in case we are without power for a few days. 

Can you make bread? I bet there's plenty of flour. And then freeze it until the power goes out, since you won't have preservatives in it.

[Ann.without.an.e]

12 minutes ago, Lady Florida. said:

Thinking of you all and hoping the worst won't be as bad as predicted.

Prep is stressful; we had to go through it the past two years but so far this year haven't been in a storm's path. 

It looks like Duke has finally cancelled classes starting after 5pm today. I think that's what I read.

 

 

Yes, Duke has cancelled classes starting tomorrow.  DD isn't sure she wants to leave for fear she won't be able to get back for class on Monday.  I should just go get her, right?  The 3 hour drive will take like a bazillion hours I am sure ?

Edited September 11, 2018 by Attolia

[TechWife]

2 minutes ago, whitehawk said:

Can you make bread? I bet there's plenty of flour. And then freeze it until the power goes out, since you won't have preservatives in it.

I didn't think of that - and I have a bread machine, so it wouldn't even be hard. But, I went to Great Harvest Bread Company today and picked up some of their yummy honey whole wheat. I also found peanut butter, jelly, water and shelf stable milk. I remembered to pick up prescriptions and to get cat litter, too! It was a productive morning, I went to four different stores, including the bakery. My dh is getting batteries while he is on a business trip and will bring them tonight.

[DawnM]

4 hours ago, KarenNC said:

From what I've seen, State and Chapel Hill have already announced closing and encouraged students to leave campus https://www.newsobserver.com/news/local/education/article218155640.html  

The others appear to still be monitoring as of the latest info I have seen. 

 

It would almost make sense to tell places like Asheville and Western to cancel classes, let students who live close-by, go home, so there would be more space for hurricane victims.  My middle son is at Western.  I am far less concerned about him than my son on the coast who is not being evacuated and as of noon today, I can't even get to him since all traffic is only allowed inland.  I know they have busses to evacuate them to Atlanta, but he will struggle with that (15-20 to a classroom on cots and he has Asperger's).  I had hoped that if they decided to evacuate, I could run down there Thur and get him, but that won't be possible.