Tag Archives: storm

Before and After Hurricane Helene

18 Replies

I took Frankie for a walk Thursday morning. At the time I thought I should get him out there before the weather got bad. Unknown to me at the time the weather wouldn’t get bad for quite a while.

I saw on the map that the storm would pass us at its closest point around 3 p.m. We got a little rain and a little wind before then, but I was surprised by how mild it was. Then Frankie started to annoy me because he wanted to go outside. I never took Frankie for a walk twice in one day, but now, during the peak of the hurricane, he wouldn’t stop annoying me. I caved. I looked at the clock. It was 3:45. I looked out the window, saw the rain had stopped, and decided to take him out again.

At first, he hung around under the carport, not sure what he wanted to do, but then he decided to go.

After a while, the rain returned, so I picked him up and carried him home. He only hissed at me once.

To my surprise, the weather got worse after 6 p.m. By 6:30, the wind was blowing hard. Every ten or fifteen minutes, we would hear a loud bang from a tree branch falling on the roof. My next-door neighbor pointed out a tree across the street that had very large limbs broken off. It seemed just as windy at 9:30 when we went to bed.

In hindsight, three things happened that I didn’t consider. First, the winds trailing the storm are stronger than the winds ahead of the storm. This is because those winds travel across the water where no obstacles can slow them down. Second, the storm got stronger as it went farther north, so it was stronger at 6 p.m. than at 3 p.m. Third, the storm was a little slower moving than predicted.

The next morning, my wife wanted to go to the beach to look for shells, which are plentiful after a storm. We went outside before the sun came up, around 6:45. Even at that time I could see tree branches, big and small, scattered about our yard.

We thought there was a chance we would not be able to get to the beach. Sure enough, several police cars blocked access to the bridge. Later, it occurred to me that they needed to inspect all the bridges before reopening them.

We returned home just as it started getting light. On the way, we saw one home with its carport ripped off and lying on its roof. I took some pictures of the area near our house.

After taking pictures, I pulled some of the bigger pieces of debris from our yard and added them to the pile. I then went inside and found Frankie waiting to go outside.

Preparing for Hurricane Helene

37 Replies

I managed to get home from work just before it started raining this afternoon. We are getting rain from the outer edge of Hurricane Helene. It will continue to move north, closer to us, throughout tonight and tomorrow. We should feel the strongest impact sometime tomorrow afternoon.

We are in a mandatory evacuation zone, which doesn’t amount to much because I know of nobody who is leaving, including us. Where would we go? All the hotels are booked, and many shelters don’t take pets. I’m sure bringing our pets to a pet-friendly shelter would be a nightmare. We probably wouldn’t be able to let them out of their carriers except for potty breaks.

The last time I checked, the storm would pass to the west of us as a category four hurricane. We live between Clearwater and St. Petersburg. The graphic I saw showed our area at the edge of hurricane-force winds. I assume that means we will feel category one force winds, which are 74-95 MPH. I don’t think our kitties will enjoy that too much. The storm might turn east, which would be bad for us, but it could also turn west, which would be a big help.

Of course, Frankie bugged the heck out of me to take him out for a walk. I picked him up and opened the door so he could see the rain. I thought that would be the end of it, but he kept bugging me, so I got his harness and took him outside.

Once outside, he stayed under the carport, where it was dry. I tied up our outdoor furniture, which Frankie found quite interesting.

Hopefully, we won’t lose power or a roof or anything like that. Wish us luck.

In the Path of Hurricane Ian

36 Replies

My wife has tickets to go to a trade show in Hollywood, Florida. She planned on driving down there on Tuesday but the threat of Hurricane Ian made her decide to leave a day early so she could get there before the storm made driving difficult. Of course, our cats are always there to help pack.

As she packed last night, the forecast showed what they call the spaghetti model. It was about a dozen different paths, all ending in the Florida Panhandle. We thought the chance of it hitting here was pretty low. We also know that history has shown that our county, Pinellas, never gets hit by a hurricane. Of course, there is always a first time.

You may remember us evacuating before Hurricane Irma. You can read about that here and here. For that storm, we booked an Airbnb in St. Petersburg and then left there for my sister-in-law’s when the forecast shifted the storm’s path directly to where we were staying. In the end, the storm hit farther south and moved east of us. We could have stayed home because we had almost no damage.

I did not watch the weather this morning because I overslept and was rushing to help my wife pack her car and get to work. I also did not watch it while I was at work. On the way home I got an emergency alert which I did not look at because I was driving. My wife saw it, though, and called me and said we were under a mandatory evacuation. I was surprised given the fact that the storm was headed to the Panhandle. I figured since we live in a mobile home they were being annoyingly cautious.

When I got home I checked the weather and the path had shifted east. Now it was projected to hit northern Pinellas County as a possible category three hurricane, about fifteen miles from where I live. Of course, there is that cone of uncertainty that could bring it closer, or farther, but either way, it is a big storm so there is little chance of escaping it now.

We probably should have booked a hotel or another Airbnb but all the models showed it going west so we waited too long. Now the only rooms available are the ones on the beach. Rose’s sister offered her condo for us to use but her condo building is on the water. It might be built strong enough to stand up to a hurricane but the parking lot is under the building so my car would surely be underwater.

As of now I will just be staying here and hoping for the best. The last thing I want to do is try to carry three cats, one of whom is twenty pounds, to an emergency shelter by myself. I will close off the Florida room and bring their food and litter boxes into the bedroom. If it gets really bad I will shut us all in the bedroom. I also have ther carriers in the house, just in case, and will look for their collars. I want them to have collars in case we get separated. My only worry now is someone will come to my house and make us leave.

Hunker Down or Evacuate?

41 Replies

We are watching Hurricane Irma closely. Currently, the projected path is unclear. Some forecast models have the storm turning north and heading up the east coast of Florida. Other models have it turning north and heading up the west coast of Florida. Others have it going straight up the state. We live in Clearwater, on the west coast, and are considering our options about what we are going to do.

National Weather Service Map

The problem is we have four cats and few options on where to go. Rose considered going to stay at her sister’s vacation condo. Her condo is on the eighth floor, well above any chance of flooding. It is also high enough to be less affected by blowing debris. On the other hand, the wind blows harder at those heights and right now Irma is a category 5 storm, so even if it is downgraded, those winds will be very strong. In addition, the condo sits on a peninsula in Tampa Bay, so it is essentially surrounded by water. Worse, the parking garage is below the building so our cars won’t stand a chance.

Her other thought was to stay at her other sister’s house but where she lives isn’t much better than where we live. There’s no sense in packing up four cats to bring them somewhere just slightly better.

The other problem is, we have one large and one small cat carrier. Enough for three cats. One short. I went to Petco today and they were sold out of carriers. According to the woman there, everyone was sold out. It is like gas and water around her. There’s none to be found.

I decided to look online. I found a cheap carrier on Amazon for just over $11. I then paid almost $12 to have it shipped here by Friday. I don’t care how good it is, I just need it to work twice.

Our best option now is to stay with friends who live about six or eight miles east of us. That is a last resort. We don’t want to leave and we will ride it out if we feel safe to do so. We should know more by Friday.

Into the Storm

21 Replies

Our cats are not normal. It’s true. I don’t know how else to word it. Even Puck, who is as normal as they  come, sometimes gets caught up in the craziness.

Yesterday evening, just after sunset, I looked out our back window to blackness. There was plenty of light still coming through the front window but I could see a major storm was coming from the east. Then the rain started, slowly at first but soon it was pouring down and the wind was blowing it through the screens into the patio. Soon there was lightning all around us and the loud thunder was cascading through the house.

Any normal cat would have been under the bed at that point, and that is exactly where I expected Puck to be, but he wasn’t. He was on the patio with Chris and Frankie, standing on the wet floor and watching the lightning show from the best spot in the house. I wish I was able to get pictures of that but Rose shooed them inside before I had a chance to get my camera.

I don’t think I will ever fully understand cats, or at least not my cats.