Hurricane Preparedness

[nakymaton]

Yes.  And here is my Golden Rule:  There is no such thing as "too much ice."  (Part Two of that one is There is nothing worse when you're sweating like a stuck pig than warm beer.) 

The funny thing is, I was reading Leslie's response and thinking about the biggest disaster I ever saw in Vermont, which was an ice storm in... 1997, maybe? Power was out for a week at my house. Longer in northernmost New York state. That? That was "too much ice." Or maybe ice in the wrong places. Ice in the freezer is better than ice on the trees.

Portland, Oregon is sandwiched between the subduction zone (earthquakes like the one that caused the tsunami in the Indian Ocean, potentially... bad, bad news) and Mt Hood (which hasn't erupted historically, but if it used to be a volcano and looks like a cone, you can assume it ain't dead yet). Plus the Willamette River can flood the downtown area. (I think that's the river that enters the Columbia there...) I don't know what the risk from smaller earthquakes is -- I don't know what's known about smaller faults. But between a subduction zone and a volcano, there's a good chance that there are unmapped faults in the neighborhood.

(I, ummm, talk about this stuff for a living. Tell me to shut up if I go on too long... I know I can.)

[delalluvia]

The funny thing is, I was reading Leslie's response and thinking about the biggest disaster I ever saw in Vermont, which was an ice storm in... 1997, maybe? Power was out for a week at my house. Longer in northernmost New York state. That? That was "too much ice." Or maybe ice in the wrong places. Ice in the freezer is better than ice on the trees.

Portland, Oregon is sandwiched between the subduction zone (earthquakes like the one that caused the tsunami in the Indian Ocean, potentially... bad, bad news) and Mt Hood (which hasn't erupted historically, but if it used to be a volcano and looks like a cone, you can assume it ain't dead yet). Plus the Willamette River can flood the downtown area. (I think that's the river that enters the Columbia there...) I don't know what the risk from smaller earthquakes is -- I don't know what's known about smaller faults. But between a subduction zone and a volcano, there's a good chance that there are unmapped faults in the neighborhood.

(I, ummm, talk about this stuff for a living. Tell me to shut up if I go on too long... I know I can.)

Just saw a Discovery Channel special on the area 'American's Tsunami' or something like that.  The scientists examined coring samples, hoping to find evidence of a series of small earthquakes, meaning the subduction area would be releasing its pressure in a lot of little earthquakes instead of one big one, but unfortunately they found nothing but evidence of HUGE earthquakes and nothing in between.  It's not looking good for the people in the far Northwest of the US...

[vkm91941]

The South-eastern seaboard can keep it's hurricanes, the midwest it's Tornados amd the north it's blizzards....Give me my Earthquakes anyday! 

[MaineWriter]

The funny thing is, I was reading Leslie's response and thinking about the biggest disaster I ever saw in Vermont, which was an ice storm in... 1997, maybe? Power was out for a week at my house. Longer in northernmost New York state. That? That was "too much ice." Or maybe ice in the wrong places. Ice in the freezer is better than ice on the trees.

If it the same ice storm we had in Maine, it was 1998.

That was a disaster. I knew people who were without power for 3 weeks. We were very lucky at my house--five hours. That was it.

It was a disaster but the emergency response was amazing (unlike the debacle we saw down south last September). Memory fades now but I remember that everything was coordinated and well organized, people were pitching it to help each other. It was an interesting experience to live through.

L

[Jeff Wrangler]

We have mandatory snowstorm preparedness in Pennsylvania.

At the slightest hint that it might snow, everyone must run out and purchase:

1) Eggs

2) Milk

3) Bread

Why these three items, you ask? Because it is mandatory that when it snows in Pennsylvania, everyone must make French toast.   

[MaineWriter]

We have mandatory snowstorm preparedness in Pennsylvania.

At the slightest hint that it might snow, everyone must run out and purchase:

1) Eggs

2) Milk

3) Bread

Why these three items, you ask? Because it is mandatory that when it snows in Pennsylvania, everyone must make French toast.   

On your Coleman stove when the power goes out?

I heard some crazy woman on the radio yesterday saying the ideal food for a disaster is Vichysoisse. Huh?

[nakymaton]

Hmmmm. I kinda figured that the ideal food for a disaster was cans of beans, myself.

(Yeah, Leslie, that was the same ice storm. 1998. I think it was worse in Montreal, where they had to deal with no heat and no traffic lights in a big city. We just used our wood stove and filled all our plastic containers with snow to keep the refrigerator cold, and lived without showers.)

I wish I had an electronic version of a cartoon that was in the San Francisco Chronicle not long before the 1989 earthquake. (There was a big-enough-to-notice earthquake a month or two before... the cartoon was neither a prediction nor a cause. At least, I don't think it was.  )

It included a picture of two people with all their earthquake preparation supplies:

- Water
- Batteries
- Roll bars on bed
"Children, valuables in safe place?" (picture of children locked in a safe)

My favorite part, though was the series of panels about using your pet to predict the size of the earthquake. (Magnitude 5 - the dog looks up, kind of nervous. Magnitude 6 - the dog jumps up and barks. Magnitude 7 - the dog is squashed underneath the tipped-over refrigerator.)

I think that humor may be one of the best ways to prepare for a disaster, at least psychologically. Cause otherwise, worrying about it will drive you insane.

[Jeff Wrangler]

On your Coleman stove when the power goes out?

No need to worry about the power. We cook with gas down here. 

Reminds me, though, of a "preparedness" story one of my medieval re-enactor pals tells. Many years ago he was participating in a re-enactment over a very rainy weekend. One morning he was the first up in his camp and began to heat water on a tiny little sterno stove to make himself a cup of instant coffee. Immediately he was surrounded by a half dozen "knights," all of them big bruisers, each holding out an empty mug and whimpering like a puppy.

Maybe the ideal emergency food is Campbell's Chunky soup. It's already cooked, it isn't condensed, and you don't even have to be good with a can opener.