Atlantic Maritime Academy

Last week, as the tail of Hurricane Noel grazed by and graced us with 40mph hour winds, every pundit was out there with the “at some point, we’ll get another one like ’38…”  That may be true but it is far more likely and far more common for us to get one like Noel in ’07… and Beryl in ’06…  Cindy in ’05…  Ivan in ’04…  You get the picture…  Almost without exception, we get the tail, shoulder or rump of one or two of the dozen or so that form up in the Atlantic between the Caribbean and Africa and bring so much destruction and misery with them as they thunder west and north…

It is hard to walk in 40 knot winds…  It is also hard to stay dry when you live along the edge of an island that lies across its path…  This column is about that.

A hurricane is, in the words of scientists, an organized rotating weather system that develops in the tropics.  Technically, it is a “tropical cyclone” and it is classified as one of three states, with hurricanes being further classified into levels of destruction… 

1. Tropical Depression:     sustained winds of 38 mph (33 knots) or less
2. Tropical Storm:             sustained winds of 39 to 73 mph (34-63 knots)
3. Hurricane:                     sustained winds of 74 mph (64 knots) or greater

Hurricanes are called typhoons in the western Pacific and cyclones in the Indian Ocean.  Six of one, a half dozen of the other…

We’ve all heard the weather reporter state that “Hurricane ‘x’ is now a Category 3 hurricane and headed for ________.”  What does that mean?

        1               74-95                  Anything not tied down is going         Irene, 1999

                                                    to be lost; don’t get hit by it.

        2             96-110                 Trees will go down.  Roofs in             Floyd, 1999

                                                    trouble.                                             Georges, 1998

        3           111-130                 Many trees will go down, along          Betsy, 1965

                                                   with small buildings                             Alicia, 1983

        4           131-155                Complete failures of some small          Hugo, 1989

                                                   buildings.  Complete destruction

                                                   of many structures

        5           156->                   Catastrophe.  Wrath of God.               Andrew, 1992

                                                                                                            Katrina, 2005 

USCG hurricane aircraft reported Andrew and Katrina had generated winds over 200mph at various times of the storms…

For Islanders, as bad as the winds will be, it is the tides and tidal surges that will do most of the damage, which is why even these tails that go by every year leave so much trouble behind.  The storm tide is added to the astronomical tides.  And when those waves hit something solid, they generate force dozens of times more powerful than wind of the same speed.  Andrew generated a storm tide of 17 feet.  Camille in 1969?  24 feet. 

Add to that the population growth in our area and the increase in the value of homes and it can spell either “an absolute disaster” or “they were prepared.”

Are You Ready For the Glancing Blow?

Look, if a Category-4 or -5 gets up here like in 1938, there are no levels of preparedness except evacuation.  A storm surge like Camille’s basically means that everything “south of the highway”, as real estate agents like to classify the choicest properties on Long Island, is gone for all intents and purposes.  But what if the glancing blow like Ivan’s in 2004 or, Noel’s who just left town, came in head-on?  How can you be ready?

1. Have a family action plan – if you’re at caught at school or at work, who do
    you call?  To grandmother’s house we go?

2. flash lights working?  Canned goods and water supplies?  Cash?  Portable
    radio?
3. Where ARE you going to move the boat?  Don’t even THINK about staying
     on her…
4. How about your prescription medicines?  A first-aid kit is WHERE…!?

            1. Have the radio or TV on.  If power goes out and you don’t have a portable
                radio, I’d get the kids in the car and “to grandmother’s house we go…!”

            2. Propane tanks on your property?  Shut them off completely.
            3. Turn the refrigerator up all the way and don’t open the door idly.
            4. Fill the bath tub with water.  How about the big spaghetti pot?  Anything that
                can hold water and keep it clean.

            5. If ordered to evacuate, do so.  Immediately.  And tell someone where you are
                going.

            6. When evacuating, don’t drive across flowing water.  2’ of flowing water can
                carry your car away.  Yes.  Only 2’ of moving water.  Turn around and go
                another way.

            1. If you’ve been ordered to evacuate, don’t go back until the area is declared
                safe.

            2. If you see someone that needs rescuing, unless the threat of loss of life is
                imminent, call 9-1-1.

            3. See standing water?  Do you know if any power cables lie in it?
            4. Never use candles and other open flames indoors.  Keep the flashlight at your
                side…

This is by no means an exhaustive list.  But Noel just tapped us on the shoulder.