I am Becoming Angry

Apparently, in Miami-Dade people are upset they have to wait in line to get water. They knew for 96 hours that the hurricane was coming but they apparently didn't think of stockpiling water ahead of time? Does the fact the mayor, who seems to be the chief whiner, is a Democrat have anything to do with it?

Without even going out of my house to buy some jerry cans I have enough containers to store at least 20 gallons of water, more than enough to last several days for a family of 4. Freaking fill up your bathtub with water before the storm hits for god sakes!!! Just what is with all of this whining about ice, what is with the ice? Ice is only needed for people who need to store some kind of perishable medicine. You don't need it just so you can have cold drinks people!!! It hasn't even been that hot down there so you don't need ice to cool off heat casualties!! We are wasting time and effort to store ice that could be better used to provide food and medicines. Food and water were prepositioned ahead of time but not enough apparently to supply the lazy and ignorant that were too lazy or stupid to provide a few days of non-perishable food before the storm. This is basic survival skills here people and it shouldn't require a college education to understand it. What happened to preparing on your own? What happened to self reliance? The storm happened 2 days ago and you are already out of food? I have a couple of weeks in the house now simply because that is how we shop. Are you too stupid to go out before the storm and get a couple of days of canned goods?

Some guy is upset he can't get gas because the power is out. Just what should the government do to prevent power lines from being knocked out? 6 million are out of power people, do you think that kind of repair will happen overnight? Roads are blocked by trees and lines are down all over the state. Repairs are not going to happen overnight. Get a grip and stop whining! Take care of yourself before the storm. If you do not have any food or water stockpiled prior to the storm gues whose fault that is, it's yours!!!!!!!

 

Thanks to the Blizzard of 1978, we're the exact opposite around here. Whenever a storm approaches, people get into a panic, raiding the grocery stores of bread and milk. Yes, bread and milk. My questions are;

1) When the power goes out, where do you plan to store the 15 gallons of milk you've hoarded?

2) Do you honestly think you can drink 15 gallons of fresh milk before it goes bad, even if it is refrigerated?

3) Are you people going to live on French Toast?

I always keep 25 gallons of spring water in reserve, and rotate them every few months. We have one of those dispensers that takes 5-gallon jugs, and it works without power. I also keep probably a couple of weeks worth of cheap canned food in the basement, I just chuck it and replace it when the expiration date comes. I also keep a few cases of Duraflame logs, just in case.

And most importantly......a couple of manual can openers.

 

Same here...

Same here, except it was the Ice Storm of 1977. My family was without power for almost a week. These people don't even have to worry about freezing and they are whining. It is disgusting. No wonder they can't get a job. The guy whining about gas said it shouldn't be that hard. How the heck does he know? After that stupid statement you know he doesn't have a clue.

Personally, I bet most of it is being orchestrated. I would like to look in the pantry's of these so-called starving and thirsty people. Somebody told them to go stand in line and complain knowing the ever-compliant media would show up. Give me a freaking break.....

 

I was in Hurricane Iniki and in a shelter for several days - no water/no power/no gasoline/and worst of all no flushable toilets.

About one-third of the people there piched in digging latrines, cooking food, and doing other chores, one-third sat aound and were waited on, and one-third bitched about everything (even the food which donated by the Sheraton hotel).

Re the comment about milk: I keep a supply of powdered milk.

I also keep fuel for my stoves including a gas BBQ grill.

Oh yes: I live about 1/2 mile from the San Andreas earthquake fault (which interestingly is a source of water here in the desert)

 

French toast. LOL!

When we had a hurricaine hit here in Virginia (last year?), my wife and I filled a bathtub with water. Power was restored quickly--ours was never out. But because water is pumped through the system with electric pumps, they went out, causing the water to back up and make it non-potable. Water was running again in hours, but you couldn't drink it. We didn't get the all-clear on it for 3 or 4 days. Thankfully, we had a bathtub full of water.

 

What do you mean "becoming angry"?

Hey there DTechBA,
Having lived now through several natural catastrophes, I find that I agree with every single one of your points - for once!

However, I am mystified by your use of the word "becoming" when you say you are "becoming angry". I kind of thought you were already pretty pissed off in general, especially at liberals like me!!! LOL!

 

Maybe they were too busy whining about something else when the hurricane was coming.

BTW, my favorite bumper sticker:

"Come back to Miami, we weren't shooting at you."

 

I like that one too! The true "Miami spirit"..... Or this one - "Keep honking - I'm reloading".

One of things that struck me when I first moved to that area a couple of years ago was the newspaper front page on the 4th of July (Miami Herald). In typical fashion it announced various events around the city - face painting here, a parade there, fireworks on the pier, etc. Oh and yes, also this - "Please refrain from shooting your guns in the air tonight - bullets can come back to earth and kill or injure bystanders". I mean, it isn't like the message was "you shouldn't have guns in the first place!" Oh no, the message was "we know you scoundrels are all armed, but please, for the love of Christ, don't shoot the damn things in the air tonight if you can at all help it...." TOO much!

 

You're right, I'm already PO'd

Just talked to my brother. He moved to Alabama last year just in time for Ivan (has since moved back). His comment, "I'm a dang redneck from the Midwest and even I knew to go out and get food and water before it hit". He also said a lot of people in his apartment building hadn't and they were without power for almost 4 days. He had a generator and common sense so even though he didn't like it he wasn't really suffering.

Just saw an interview of a radio broadcaster from Palm Beach she said she had been putting out over her broadcasts for days to get food and water for 3-5 days. People apparently didn't listen. They interviewed the emergency management guy from Florida and he said it wasn't that the trucks with food hadn't been dispatched but several of them got lost. Maybe FEMA should pass out common sense pills...

 

Re: You're right, I'm already PO'd

I don't know. I'm guessing that if I was driving a truck into a city that I'd never visited before and it had just been hit by a major hurricane (missing street signs, lots of wreckage, etc.) it might not be too hard to miss a turn here or there.

Beyond that, I'd like to say that my favorite part is when they show the people putting up the plywood over their windows. You can tell, it's always brand new plywood. Did they throw away the plywood from the last hurricane season?
"Glad that's over, we'll never need this stuff again."

Jack

 

Re: Re: You're right, I'm already PO'd

I know someone that put up plywood last year...used a screwgun to tighten up every window. He lost power for a week and had to live in a HOT, DARK BOX until power was restored and he could plug in his screw gun to get the plywood off!!

As for south Floridas defense, it hit the West coast and was suppose to break up by the time it hit the east coast. My niece lives in Ft Lauderdale and I asked her if she was OK a few days before it hit. She said, oh this won't be anything at all. She just moved there in the summer and is already learning some lessons.

 

Re: Re: Re: You're right, I'm already PO'd

This is one of the problems. Florida is growing by 1000 people a day. Most of them have the attitude that a hurricane is just a rain storm.

 

Re: Re: You're right, I'm already PO'd

Well, there is an explanation at least for the "new plywood". Having lived in South Florida for a couple of years, the story I got was that plywood warps very quickly when stood up in garages between hurricane seasons in that humidity, so it is pretty much a one shot deal, unless it is laid flat (which no one has room to do).

Plywood is the least easy hurricane shutter material to put up (it is HEAVY), and sort of a shutter of last resort vs. the aluminum/steel panels and other more permanent/lasting shutters that most people (with any $ at all) seem to have these days down there. I had a bunch of metal shutters on my house, and it took about 6 hours to put them up once you knew what you were doing. Leather gloves are a must - otherwise your hands will be shredded to ribbons on the sharp edges after the first hour of work. Try doing that in 90 degree heat - I was drenched within the first 15 minutes, with sweat running out of my shoes - and there was another 5.75 hours to go of work.

There is a sense of the unreal as a hurricane approaches. You know it is coming, it becomes difficult to sleep, you keep thinking of other things you should do, and there is always something left forgotten by the time it hits. Buying food, water, and gas in bulk could very easily be one of them since it is just so hard to imagine no gas stations working, and no groceries available - but that's what happened last year in Florida too, even in the relatively minor hurricanes (Frances, Jeanne) that hit South Florida in 2004.

Back to shutters - of course there is always "hurricane proof glass", examples of which can be seen in all those condos with the windows blown out and curtains flapping in the breeze along the intracoastal and on A1A...... They are supposed to withstand a 140 mph wind, but I've seen a lot of them go down well before 100 mph, especially when they are up high on those high rise condo buildings.

 

hot dark box

Couldn't you set a controlled fire and burn the plywood off?

 

Re: Re: Re: Re: You're right, I'm already PO'd

You are right on. Fairly typical, though, of Americans who don't bother to even know who their local representatives in Congress are, much less the finer points of hurricane systems and the science of it all. In my humble opinion, most of the pampered elite that come to live and thrive in South Florida are much more concerned about their tan, their hairdo, and the type of car they drive than anything so mundane as understanding, fearing, and preparing for severe weather.

Until they've been through one like they just were - experience is a great teacher.

 

Re: Re: You're right, I'm already PO'd

I wasn't talking against the truck drivers. People will get lost, even if you have a map and supposedly know where you are going. We have had a hurricane and some roads will be blocked causing the driver to seek alternate routes.

I was addressing the people screaming because they can't get trucks there.

Yes, I am angry...

 

Not just liberals

I don't thiink this is liberal whining thing. I'm as liberal as you can get and when we lost power for a week after Jeanne (hit the east coast and came across) we never asked for water or ice. We had plenty. We were ready. We are ready by May of each year.

As for not knowing this storm was coming or thinking it would break up - did no one watch TV? It was a Cat 3 going across the Everglades where there is nothing to break it up. When there is a storm heading for the east coast, I get ready for one on the west coast. Jeanne and Frances were still Cat 1 by the time they hit here after crossing the whole state.

No being ready and then whining about it is has nothing to do with political slant. It has to be with not being ready and not understanding hurricanes. If you live in Florida there is no excuse for not having food and water for at least 3-4 days.

Deb

 

Not to be a conspiracy theorist here....

I am not necessarily the liberals whining but the whining is being abetted by the liberals. If people said, "Hey, you were warned, why didn't you stockup?", most of the whining (and the activities listed below) would stop.

Personally, I think this is being driven by several factors:

1. It is in some people's best interest for large groups of people to go stand in line and whine to the press when they inevitably show up. Do you think it is mere coincidence most of this seems to be coming from the predominately Democrat areas? One more chance to embarrass the current administration and just as a bonus you get his brother too.

2. Some people love to get something for nothing. I would like to follow some of these people home and see just how bare are their cupboards. I noticed that the overhead view of one of the lines also had a shot of surrounding homes. The damage seemed to be predominately to power lines, trees, outlying structures etc. There did not appear to be major damage to homes that would render any food in them inedible. If all of their stockpiled food was perishable w/o refrigeration, go back to my stupid comments.

3. The press is intent on smoking out the people which are not being fed. The greater part of Florida was impacted by Wilma. Inevitably there will be problems somewhere and the press will sensationalize it.

 

Re: Re: Re: You're right, I'm already PO'd

I'd like to encourage you to forward this to "This Old (Hurricane) House" Surely there's a better way and, in the end, that was my point. People who live down there, perhaps for generations, and yet they don't know anything about storm-proofing their homes?
Jack

 

CNN and the shortages in Florida...

CNN had a piece on the shortage of gas in Florida. People screaming the government should do something. Hey morons, the power is out, the pumps that pump the gas rely on electricity. I guess the government started the hurricane that knocked out the power. Worse, they showed a station where a guy pulls in in a mini-van, fills up, and then proceeds to fill up eight 5-gallon gas cans!!! That guy needs to look up the word hoarding. Of course, the station which had received a supply of gas that morning was out by that afternoon. Maybe if the idiots would take what they need and no more, and not waste it sitting in line for more gas, there would be plenty for essentials.

Then there was a dingbat Democrat Florida legislator screaming that not enough was being done to feed the people. I didn't see anyone starving, in fact, there were secenes of people getting food from the ARC and FEMA. He said there needed to be more people and trucks. Does this buffoon realize that MILLIONS of people were effected by this hurricane? Does he realize how many thousands of people would have had to be on hand waiting on the taxpayer dime to serve that many helpless people? What, should FEMA now hire 10's of thousands of people to sit artound and wat for a disaster so they can jump in and wait on people hand and foot?

These people need to get a clue and stock up. They interviewed people that said they just didn't believe the hurricane would come their way, so they didn't prepare. What, they thought all of those advisories from the government to evacuate or stock up on food were a joke? There were just dosens of excuses but not one of them worth $.10. AGAIN I ASK YOU, WHY ARE WE SPENDING 100's OF THOUSANDS OF DOLLARS DISTRIBUTING ICE IN 70 DEGREE WEATHER!!!!!

Give me a break, the government can't protect people from their own stupidity...