Hurricane Michael

[sailnoproblem]

After Sandy hit , the homes on the Jersey shore were rebuilt or raised on pilings. according to FEMA there were different heights in certain areas.
It is supposed to protect from tidal surge. I am not so sure about wind, as my sons house was raised 8' and can feel movement on a breezy day. I can't imagine a Cat 4! Let alone flying trees as Will pointed out.
My prayers go out to all affected in Florida.

 

[JamesG161]

homes on the Jersey shore were rebuilt or raised on pilings

Well many were built right back directly on the beach sand too.
I am glad they finally decided to meet the 1998 Hurricane building standards.
Jim...

 

[shemandr]

I did finally arrive at best design for Hurricane Proof home sitting on a pier.
View attachment 157296
Jim...

Nice. Give it it's own nuclear power plant and of course a patio and you've got something. Is that pic from Electric Boat in CT?

 

[JamesG161]

Give it it's own nuclear power plant

Well we can "miniaturize" things today!! Dial telephone sure got smaller.
I like the "flood proof" nature and the natural tendency to face a wave.
Jim...

 

[rgranger]

Not square, but heavy. I like the look of dome houses.
Here's some video shot during the storm.

-Will (Dragonfly)

Wow! At about 1:27 or so, there is a scene of a large green dumpster being picked up and flung across the street.

 

[JamesG161]

Is that pic from Electric Boat in CT?

I was a Virginia Class sub. Quick web picture of a Sub on the dock. Do they make them in CT?
Jim...

 

[Parsons]

As a former South Florida resident, it is interesting how little hurricane prep I see in the photos from the hardest hit areas. There is an incredible amount of exposed glass and unsecured things on trailers. The boats still have canvas, roller-furled sails, and power cords attached. I wonder if insurance or ignorance plays a part. Decades ago in South Florida, on the day before a hurricane hit every window was covered in aluminum or plywood, boats were stripped, and trailered boats were anchored down. Wonder if that's changed.

Fortunately, although the Weather Channel and news keeps saying "shocking" and "devastating" the damage did not appear that bad compared to other hurricanes. There are still roofs on most of the houses (compared to pictures post-Andrew or Katrina). There's unbroken windows and upright trees. A few plastic signs were blown down, but the store it was in front of is still whole. Sorry for those that did experience losses, not to be heartless, but from the photos and the news that I've seen, it looks like it was a bad coastal storm, not total devastation.

 

[shemandr]

I was a Virginia Class sub. Quick web picture of a Sub on the dock. Do they make them in CT?
Jim...

Yes. General Dynamics has it's Electric Boat Division on the Thames River in Ct. If you take the Cross Sound Ferry to to New London you go right by the plant. It looks a lot like that picture. And there's a Sub base further up the river. That's why when cruising the area it is not at all uncommon to see Subs coming or going. One split the Off Soundings Fall Series racing fleet. If you were on the wrong side - your race was over.

 

[shemandr]

I noticed a lack of prep in the marina shots I could see. To be fair it was a fast mover and many folks may have decided to take care of themselves and their families as a priority. And of course you had some numbskull from the media explaining to the public about the precautions boat owners took for the storm.

 

[dsims]

As a former South Florida resident, it is interesting how little hurricane prep I see in the photos from the hardest hit areas. There is an incredible amount of exposed glass and unsecured things on trailers. The boats still have canvas, roller-furled sails, and power cords attached. I wonder if insurance or ignorance plays a part. Decades ago in South Florida, on the day before a hurricane hit every window was covered in aluminum or plywood, boats were stripped, and trailered boats were anchored down. Wonder if that's changed.

Fortunately, although the Weather Channel and news keeps saying "shocking" and "devastating" the damage did not appear that bad compared to other hurricanes. There are still roofs on most of the houses (compared to pictures post-Andrew or Katrina). There's unbroken windows and upright trees. A few plastic signs were blown down, but the store it was in front of is still whole. Sorry for those that did experience losses, not to be heartless, but from the photos and the news that I've seen, it looks like it was a bad coastal storm, not total devastation.

I think part of the problem was the rapid speed and growth of this storm. It quickly went from a minimal hurricane to a monster just before landfall.

As for the damage, it depends on which videos you see. I've seen aerial videos coming out now of entire neighborhoods reduced to slabs. Probably not a lot of ground video of those areas because they are inaccessible yet.

 

[Scott T-Bird]

Well many were built right back directly on the beach sand too.
I am glad they finally decided to meet the 1998 Hurricane building standards.
Jim...

Well not exactly "built right back". It depended upon the extent of damage. Homes that were damaged less than 50% of the value of the building could be repaired to the original construct. Even that was somewhat controversial. For one building where I designed a repair, the Building Department at first refused the permit application for repairs to a 10-unit condominium building. Repairs totaled $400,000 ($200K for structural repairs, $200K for interior finishes - roughly speaking). The town reviewed the tax assessors data and found that the property was assessed at $500,000 for the building and about $3,000,000 for the land, so they denied the permit based on repairs being 80% of the building's value. It was an old building and the building value was out of date. The owners found some insurance data that indicated that the cost to replace the building would be well over $1,000,000. The town finally accepted the increased valuation and approved the permit application for repairs.
The building is on the beach and one resident stayed in the building in his 2nd floor condo as the waves swept thru the building. Earlier, he opened all the doors to allow the water to escape as the waves pounded thru the doors on the beach side. About 2 feet of sand was deposited on the floor slabs at the 1st floor level. The structural damage was basically a CMU wall partially knocked out and a few collapsed floor slabs from the weight of the sand (they weren't structural, but I'd bet that the underlying sand had settled long ago and left voids under the slabs). In fact, most of the damage that I found and needed to repair was basically deterioration of 4 steel beams (years of exposure to salt air) and degraded concrete grade beams. This was basically a badly deteriorated building due to age. The storm simply exposed the existing deterioration.

 

[Gunni]

All most people need is a few near misses by tropical storms or hurricanes and they convince themselves that they can ride out a hurricane, even a potential Cat4. Reports are that by the time many became sufficiently concerned, the shelters and hotels had filled up. Then there are people unwilling to abandon their possessions to the storm. I saw several pictures of evacuees carrying big screen TVs to a shelter. This part of the Gulf coast is not an affluent area, there had to be a large number of people who made an economic decision that they couldn't afford to travel and stay out of the area.

If you live in hurricane country you need much better tools than the bubble-heads on TV, or that goofy Weather Channel. This hurricane was strong, but compact. 100 miles to the northwest of the track provided by the National Hurricane Center would have put you well out of danger. That isn't me saying so, it was a reliable fact of the known track. And in the end, there was nothing the people who stayed could have done to protect their homes. They just became a liability for the responders who were called to rescue them.

In the days to come we will see pics of shocking devastation. Whole buildings gone from wind, tornado, and surge. But right now the tree damage and wires down are blocking media from documenting the damage.

My parents rode out H. Hazel in 1954, partying with friends and enjoying the day off from work, my mother pregnant with me. Afterwards they had time to reflect on their great good luck at not being trapped by it's 20 foot surge. Scared them silly. After that my dad never again weathered a hurricane in place. He always evacuated early. When I rode out H.Irene in 2011, aboard and outside the track, dad called me every hour checking on the situation and requesting that I show some good sense and step off to higher ground. He was right of course, when the winds went over 90 mph I could no longer get off safely. It made him angry that I had taken such a needless risk.

 

[JimInPB]

My father's step father invented this

to help hurricane victims in Florida. Most deaths were avoidable if help was able to get there in time. People living among the mangroves couldn't be reached.

-Will (Dragonfly)

Now there's an off road vehicle that I could have some fun with.

 

[Will Gilmore]

About 2 feet of sand was deposited on the floor slabs at the 1st floor level.

I stayed in a hotel on the beach in Charleston right after hurricane Hugo. The whole bottom floor was part of the beach. Beds with mattresses still in place but under sand. Not a palm tree top in sight. Wild and scary.

-Will (Dragonfly)

 

[shemandr]

....If you live in hurricane country you need much better tools than the bubble-heads on TV, or that goofy Weather Channel. This hurricane was strong, but compact. 100 miles to the northwest of the track provided by the National Hurricane Center would have put you well out of danger. That isn't me saying so, it was a reliable fact of the known track....

I agree. The forecasting of the danger of these storms is like the "Fog of War." There's as much bad information as good information. Gunni cited the perfect example: A hundred miles would make a HUGH difference in a compact yet viscous storm. The storm was called massive by the media. They didn't say a much safer situation existed a half tank of gas away. I think they need to be called on that. People make important decisions based on what information they can get. Some performer standing out in the storm repeating why no one should go out in the storm is absurd. That clown should be saying a much safer situation will be 100 miles to the West. Go! Take for example Irene, that devastated towns in Vermont and Upstate NY. Wind Ski area lost ski lift poles. Bridges were washed away. Londonderry Vermont became an island. The landfall for the eye was in Brooklyn, 150 miles to the south of Vermont. It was the unbelievable rain which caused the problems. We almost evacuated LI for that storm but couldn't find motel availability. We stayed without consequence but the area I was looking at for evacuation flooded and lost power for several days. We would have been much worse off. We need good information and there's no room for showmanship. A half tank of gas can make a big difference.

 

[SFS]

A hundred miles would make a HUGH difference in a compact yet viscous storm.

My brother was in Pensacola all week, looking for a house to buy. They put in an offer on Wednesday then went back home to Virginia. Pensacola is about 120 miles from Mexico Beach, where Michael came ashore. The house he wants to buy is still standing, undamaged.

 

[Gunni]

Yeah, H.Irene was a real freakshow. H. Hugo did a similar number on hill country, as did H. Florence.

We have a kid who just moved to Pensacola, like many he has never lived in hurricane country. I contacted him as H.Michael approached and gave him links to the NHC and some other easy to use weather sites like Mikes. Suggested he watch for wobble in the track and be ready to bug-out west. The AP was posting pictures of people standing on Panama Beach taking pictures of the approaching storm! Hopefully they are still with us, and have learned a lesson.

If you have people who are new to hurricane country you should consider monitoring their situational awareness. Weather savvy is complicated, but sailors have that in their toolkit. At some point the door closes on evacuation and by then they should be well out of the red zone.

 

[Scott T-Bird]

Here's a picture of the famous roller coaster that was swept into the sea at Seaside Heights during Sandy. The spit of sand between the roof I'm standing on and the yellow building was once an historic inlet called Cranberry Inlet. Surprisingly, it was navigable between 1740 and 1812, having been opened and closed by storms.
http://inletsandoutlets.blogspot.com/2013/01/cranberry-inlet-herring-inlet-and.html
This photo was taken just 2 weeks after Sandy, when the area was still restricted. This was the first opportunity for the residents to get in to find their belongings. They were able to substitute me for one of the residents because they wanted me to look at potential structural damage, and they didn't know what they would find. We discovered the collapsed corner and we designed a temporary support, which could only be done during their next opportunity to visit the site, only during the daylight hours for a single day. We had to get prepared to do this work during a limited visit.
My client needed their building repaired, not re-built, and because of the limited repair effort needed, they were able to do it without raising the footprint. It was already on piles, but the grade beams were at dune level. Damage included the 2nd story hanging in space at one corner. The following weekend, we were able to get a beam and temporary columns in place to safeguard the building. It had to be done in a single day with limited equipment and a lot of manpower. Photos are before and after temporary support. The collapsed area had a steel beam supported by a CMU wall at the corner. The wall was gone, the beam is buried in the sand and the grade beam collapsed with the porch slab. The concrete pile cap was washed about 100 feet away (we found out it had only been marginally attached to the pile). The timber pile is just barely poking out of the sand where the corner once was. The building was originally built in the 1960's or thereabouts, with a few additions and modifications.

 

[JamesG161]

Whole buildings gone from wind, tornado, and surge

What I saw in Mexico Beach FL, so far, on a few "post only" beach slabs, was old construction not up to specs, but could have been retrofitted for less <$1000.
I also saw Mini-tornados and...
Micro Bursts damage.
When see medium trees "snapped" at the same elevations... tornadic.
Trees on houses, wet soil push overs.
But...
They don't show the survival businesses and houses that had little damage.
____
I did see one collapsed boat garage. My guess they didn't engineer the various stacking weight of boat in their support structure under such lateral wind forces.
____
I have seen much marina boat damage yet.
_____

The timber pile is just barely poking out of the sand

The sand was storm surge pushed there, but they had minimal damage in those pictures.

Jim...

PS: Mexico Beach was built on a marsh area.

 

[Will Gilmore]

They made the Humvee into a street-legal vehicle, so will we being seeing this in the dealer's showrooms anytime soon ???

The rights to the LVT Alligator was sold to the marines for $5 and helped the Marines take islands in the South Pacific theater of WWII. It didn't have an insistent Hollywood action star demanding to own one. I did have the original owners manual around somewhere and every piece was diagrammed. You could make one with a decent machine shop.

-Will (Dragonfly)