Comments on: Mandatory Evacuation of the Florida Keys

By: Bryan

Bryan — Sun, 07 Sep 2008 05:28:02 +0000

At least hurricanes spend a little time destroying your house and all its contents.

By: cookie jill

cookie jill — Sun, 07 Sep 2008 04:16:21 +0000

True….24/7/365….but for 30-60 seconds or so.

By: Bryan

Bryan — Sun, 07 Sep 2008 03:27:45 +0000

I have been avoiding saying that it looks like the consensus several times today is the mouth of the Mississippi again. No one needs that. Like you say, it’s hard for most stores to operate without power, so you are going to run out of batteries. Down here most gas stations have installed generators to pump gas without resorting to opening the fill cap and using a hand pump which some did after Ivan, but I doubt they’ve done that many other places.

I had the gas so I could recharge the cell phone and the computer while taking a nap in the air conditioning of the car after Ivan, but I didn’t have a radio on more than an hour a day in the house to avoid draining the batteries which I couldn’t buy if the power hadn’t been restored by the time the third set died.

That’s the thing about earthquakes, there’s no down time. Come Christmas the season is over, and you can relax a little. With earthquakes it’s 24/7/365.

By: Badtux

Badtux — Sun, 07 Sep 2008 01:33:45 +0000

My relatives still don’t have power from Gustav. Got a call from one who was just fed up with no power in the Louisiana heat, and is relocating to Dallas until after Ike comes through. Unfortunately this reveals a bit of a hole in the evacuation procedures for South Louisiana communities — those procedures assume that people have power for their radios and televisions and can hear the evacuation notices. If Ike takes a Louisiana-ward turn after it finishes with Cuba (two models currently show it going that way, three others show it turning more towards the mouth of the Rio Grande), it’s gonna be bad…

As for earthquakes, I don’t hear or feel them because I’m under the end of the airport runway and my apartment is always rumbling and shaking anyhow. But the good thing is that you get some warning with hurricanes. You don’t get any warning with earthquakes. All I can do is keep a week’s worth of food in the place (and water treatment gear so I can purify a week’s worth of water fairly easily from local sources) and hope that it doesn’t all get smashed to pieces by the building shaking apart…

By: Bryan

Bryan — Sat, 06 Sep 2008 21:43:56 +0000

The problem I had with them is the number of buildings on hillsides or the tops of canyons.

I knew too many people with “deathwish” houses in San Diego.

By: cookie jill

cookie jill — Sat, 06 Sep 2008 20:27:58 +0000

True, Bryan…but it was a little wussy shaker. A little reminder wake up call that they can get much worse.

By: Bryan

Bryan — Sat, 06 Sep 2008 14:02:25 +0000

Pat is pretty careful about elections, and the plan involves having Okaloosa County election officials at the voting sites to verify eligibility just like early voting.

Some people in Oakland may have a different view this morning, Jill.

By: cookie jill

cookie jill — Sat, 06 Sep 2008 09:22:26 +0000

I have fond childhood memories of Key West. You know, give me an earthquake anyday over a hurricane.

By: hipparchia

hipparchia — Sat, 06 Sep 2008 08:09:58 +0000

someday, when we all have our own personal gyrocopters and can fly out in any direction at a moment’s notice, i’m going to move down to key west.

By: hipparchia

hipparchia — Sat, 06 Sep 2008 08:07:26 +0000

i thought i remembered your writing about the internet voting before. if it’s an electronic vote with an absentee ballot for the paper trail, it sounds like good idea. in case of discrepancy, the paper ballot would be vote counted, and in case of delays in delivering the absentee ballots, the electronic vote would function much the same way as getting your tax returns postmarked by midnight april 15, even if the actual paper doesn’t get to the irs until days or weeks later.