Hurricane Madness

[Wanderer]

So, it occurs to me that people in Dallas don't often prepare for hurricanes, and so consequenty have no idea what to do.

I've been through this drill a number of times, so I'm not sweating it. We'll have wind gusts and some heavy rain, but nothing major. So I go to the grocery store...I'm going to pick up some canned goods, some water, etc. You know, in case we lose power for a day or so.

The gallon waters were gone, which I wasn't surprised by. So, I got some bottled waters..was about the same price per gallon, no sweat. I expected that. But what I didn't expect was what else people were buying..it was madness. The entire bread aisle..wiped out. I saw people pushing around carts full of (no exaggeration!) 30 lbs of ground beef and 6 dozen eggs. Oh, my goodness! What in the world??? My family can't eat that much normally in a week, much less with no power to cook it by. Even cooked, ground beef is perishable.

Snack foods such as chips, jerky, single-serving non-refrigerated fruit cups, nuts..these were untouched. Likewise, canned foods such as beans, corn, etc, also untouched.

I'm just...dumbfounded. I hope we don't really have an emergency, because these people are going to be in trouble if we do.

[Lambchop]

But what I didn't expect was what else people were buying..it was madness. The entire bread aisle..wiped out. I saw people pushing around carts full of (no exaggeration!) 30 lbs of ground beef and 6 dozen eggs. Oh, my goodness! What in the world??? My family can't eat that much normally in a week, much less with no power to cook it by. Even cooked, ground beef is perishable.

Snack foods such as chips, jerky, single-serving non-refrigerated fruit cups, nuts..these were untouched. Likewise, canned foods such as beans, corn, etc, also untouched.

I'm just...dumbfounded.

WMP! What a hoot! That is EXACTLY what happens HERE!

Yes, the ENTIRE bread aisle will be wiped out. People will be feeling around under it for anything that might have fallen under. I've seen them start fights for the last squashed, ripped-open loaf of Wonder Bread.

I've seen them steal bread out of other people's carts!

They'll be standing three-deep at the meat counter window, getting special orders cut. Whole turkeys. "We're going to deep-fry it!" (When??? ) And, yes, loads of ground meat--the form that spoils the fastest. Absolutely.

This is a known phenomenon, Wan. It's FAMOUS in Florida.

When I was growing up, my father found this so incredible that we would, after we were all ready for the storm, pile into the car and drive off to the grocery store so we could see all the outrageous things people were buying. It was better than going to the movies.

One of our chains here must have some kind of emergency readiness plan, because they will deploy baggers to the front displays -- the ones you have to walk past to get into the store -- who will fling the current specials into carts and haul them to the back as stockers rush out to create displays of appropriate food items, like water, tuna lunch packets, nuts, canned fruit, beanee weenies, and so forth. They hang a big sign over it saying "Hurricane Supplies," give out checklists, etc. They'll even help people who come in saying they don't know what to do.

And they bring in extra water and bread. Lots and lots of bread. I think the Wonder factory here goes into overtime production.

[Denny]

They need to get out more!
Out where you carry the food, stove & fuel...

Ground beef not jerky, eh!

[Lambchop]

Oh, and -- this is tragic -- wait until afterward when the electricity goes out and all those people with new generators will put them IN the house, or in the garage, or on the back patio, or under a window, or upwind of the house . . . and the carbon monoxide will kill everyone.

Or they'll fire up the gas grill in the kitchen.

Or light up charcoal briquettes in the kitchen.

Everybody dies.

And all those people burning candles in the storm and after because they're afraid of the dark will burn their homes down, killing everyone inside half the time.

And then, all the yahoos will rush out to wade around and gawk at the damage afterward. And several will die from electrocution by fallen power lines in the water.

Just you wait. Happens every time. Nobody learns. We had three in a row here last year, and the same damned thing happened each time.

[fearfaoin]

Everytime a hurricane or snowstorm is supposed to affect Raleigh in any way
we have what my friend calls "the great French-toast cookoff". The stores
immediately sell out of bread, milk and eggs. Oh, and toilet paper, but that's
a different story.

[Lambchop]

It is now nearly 4 a.m. and, according to CNN, which has been filming it, the traffic is still bumper to bumper across 8 lanes, moving less than 5 mph on the freeways going out of Houston and parts thereabouts.

(That's about 6 k/hr to you metric sorts . . . oh, maybe not . . . what is you use instead of hours?)

[buddhu]

It is now nearly 4 a.m. and, according to CNN, which has been filming it, the traffic is still bumper to bumper across 8 lanes, moving less than 5 mph on the freeways going out of Houston and parts thereabouts.

(That's about 6 k/hr to you metric sorts . . . oh, maybe not . . . what is you use instead of hours?)

Er... in imperial British time units we measure things in yonks...

[brianc]

It is now nearly 4 a.m. and, according to CNN, which has been filming it, the traffic is still bumper to bumper across 8 lanes, moving less than 5 mph on the freeways going out of Houston and parts thereabouts.

(That's about 6 k/hr to you metric sorts . . . oh, maybe not . . . what is you use instead of hours?)

Every news video I've seen shows the southbound lanes completely empty (of course, no one's going toward the storm)- so why doesn't the highway patrol open ALL the lanes going in one direction? It seems they could move the traffic more efficiently that way. Sure, getting off the highway would cause some issues, but if people are driving more than, say, 50+ miles inland, then the traffic would be somewhat lessened by that distance - and they could have state or local police man those 'backward' exits... its weird watching 3 or 4 open lanes and the other direction is a parking lot.

[Flyingcursor]

It is now nearly 4 a.m. and, according to CNN, which has been filming it, the traffic is still bumper to bumper across 8 lanes, moving less than 5 mph on the freeways going out of Houston and parts thereabouts.

(That's about 6 k/hr to you metric sorts . . . oh, maybe not . . . what is you use instead of hours?)

Er... in imperial British time units we measure things in yonks...

OH my. I nearly spit coffee on my screen with that one. Bravo!!!!


edited: still laughing out loud.

[missy]

since it's hard to predict tornados - our emergencies tend to focus on snowstorms.

We call it "The White Death".

When there's a prediction of snow, all the bread and milk will disappear from the grocery stores.

Of course, as soon as the first snow flake falls, all traffic will slow down to 10 mph top speed.

Last year at Christmas was real fun - NOT!

[chas]

I was gonna say the same thing as Missy. I grew up in New England, so I think nothing of a few inches of snow, but in the DC area, people go sh*t. One time a couple of years ago I stopped in the grocery store, same as I do most afternoons after work. There were NO eggs, NO milk, NO bread, people with laden carts. I couldn't figure out what was going on, but then overheard someone saying they were predicting something like 3-4 inches of snow.

Rather than wait a couple of yonks in line, I just went next door to the beer store.

[I.D.10-t]

I was gonna say the same thing as Missy. I grew up in New England, so I think nothing of a few inches of snow, but in the DC area, people go sh*t. One time a couple of years ago I stopped in the grocery store, same as I do most afternoons after work. There were NO eggs, NO milk, NO bread, people with laden carts. I couldn't figure out what was going on, but then overheard someone saying they were predicting something like 3-4 inches of snow.

Rather than wait a couple of yonks in line, I just went next door to the beer store.

I would rather be in Minnesota with 3 inches of snow than in DC with ½ inch. DC drivers cannot drive logically in that stuff.

[emmline]

I was gonna say the same thing as Missy. I grew up in New England, so I think nothing of a few inches of snow, but in the DC area, people go sh*t.

So true. And since when has it snowed SO much in the Mid-Atlantic that we couldn't at least trudge to the store after our provisions run out in a couple days? Not in my lifetime.

[beowulf573]

Ha! There's no water, tape, or gas to be had in Houston. We didn't go nuts, we did make a grocery run and buy some more granola bars, peanut butter, canned beans and soup, but we'll use those over the next couple of weeks regardless. I filled up my car wed evenin just to top off the tank.

I did buy one item, a hand cranked <a href="http://www.rei.com/online/store/Product ... /Shortwave radio</a>. I've been meaning to buy one for a while and used the hurricane as an excuse to grab it. Oh and I replaced the batteries in the flashlights.

I would do one thing different, I may over the next couple of months buy some plywood that fits over the windows and keep it in the garage for the day we actually get a dead on hit.

Postscript:
Looks like it's going to hit well east of Houston now, unfortunately there was a bus fire south of Dallas and the oxygen tanks used by the elderly people on board lit up killing 20 people. I-45 is closed.

[missy]

I did buy one item, a hand cranked <a href="http://www.rei.com/online/store/Product ... /Shortwave radio</a>. I've been meaning to buy one for a while and used the hurricane as an excuse to grab it. Oh and I replaced the batteries in the flashlights.

I ALWAYS have a battery powered radio (with working batteries) on hand. Anytime I head to the basement during tornado warnings I grab it.

The family radios we got for Tom's trip to Biloxi are NOAA emergency capable. That'll come in handy, too.