Five Questions: Extreme Weather

By way of yhlee .

1. Have you ever experienced a hurricane firsthand?

Enough that I can't remember how many, but most were tropical storms by the time they got to us. Ike in 2008 was probably the one who hit the hardest where we live. (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hurricane_Ike) Our town is far enough from the coast that it's a place that people usually evacuate to. It doesn't lose power. (God knows how, our power system does not look particularly robust to the naked eye and when I came here as a student the university was always losing power during the Fall semester). When the hurricanes come, you'll see power trucks from other states using the hotels here as bases of operation. Also, we haven't had serious in town flooding since I've lived here. :knock on wood:


2. Have you ever experienced outside heat over 100 degrees Fahrenheit (38 degrees Celcius)?

Yes, probably every summer.


3. When and where was the coldest temperature you have ever experienced?

The upper teens, probably. (Fahrenheit) We have ice storms fairly often in February. And I was almost stuck in a snowstorm in Philadelphia once.

4. Is your household prepared for a possible power outage of two to seven days?

Uh, maybe. We try to prepare for one every time there's a hurricane. We have battery lamps and battery powered fans, but I don't think we do a good enough job on stocking up on non-perishable food. We concentrate on stuff that we'll need if we end up having a lot of friends and animals evacuating from closer to the coast, which is more likely to happen.


5. Do you have a go bag?

We did during the wildfires when our town was surrounded and there was only one way out to Houston, which was also mostly surrounded but also much bigger and a lot harder to burn down. I have a go box of supplies for the cats and a plan. (Cats into carriers into car which I immediately back out of the garage into the street. Then if there's time, laptops, insurance papers, etc.)

comments