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LinuxDig.Com : Linux Hurricane News : Go Away Hurricane Frances, Join us during the storm! (Updated
Author: HumanX | Thursday September 02, 2004
Updated Sep 4th 3 pm est. As LinuxDig.Com prepares for Hurricane Frances (Not Francis) we are going to try to keep you up to date! We have got cameras and are hunkering down for the storm.
For those of you in the IT world, a hurricane is probably the worst possible scenario. You get wind, lightning and lots of rain, all of the things that do not help improve the performance of your computer.
And LinuxDig.Com is in the path of Frances. We are backed up, hunkered down and the cameras are in high gear. Now, if we could only do something about the 145 MPH winds, things would be a little easier.
If I have electricity and internet coconnectivity, I will keep this page up to date.
Some Facts about Frances and Charlie
- Third hurricane to hit Florida in a month.
- First Time two category 4 storms hit the US in a year. (Makes you wander about Global Warming)
- 145+ MPH winds with 160 mph wind gusts recorded.
- Expecting 10-18 Hours of hurricane force winds.
- Frances was born in Africa.
- 13 Foot Storm Surges Expected (The wind pushes the ocean onto the land, much like when you push your hand across the top of water.)
- Much of Florida is still under repair from Hurricane Charlie. Which means there is debris everywhere. In a hurricane, normal outdoor items (chairs, grills) become missiles.
Before
Floridians, that are those of us who live in Florida have been nervous about this storm for the last couple of days. This storm has the potential to be devastating. It is big, slow and powerful, everything you do not want in a hurricane.
Hurricane Charlie which hit Florida 2 weeks ago was moving at 22 MPH and was a category 4 storm. At that speed, the hurricane blew through in hours and leveled Punta Gorda (West Coast Florida) and lay wreckage across Florida and many other southern states. In comparison, Frances is 10 MPH, Category 4 (140 MPH) and probably twice as large. This storm is going to lay waste to the state of Florida if it is a direct hit.
* Hurricane Charlie Killed 12 people.
Sept 2, 2004
12:50 PM - It is final, it is time to board up the house, finish backing up data and get away from the beach. The first effects of the storm are only 24 hours away and the winds have already increased to 15 mph here. Tomorrow this time we should start to feel tropical storm force winds. Because Frances is so large and slow moving, we can expect winds of 100 MPH+ for 10-18 hours and 4-6 ft storm surges.
6:46 PM - Frances has turned to a more North Northwest-Direction which keeps us out of the main part of the storm, for now. Tomorrow morning we should have a better idea of Frances's destination. It has started to rain and the winds have picked up a little. For those of you who have never been in a hurricane, they have systems of bands which circle the heart of the storm.
The bands extend out from the storm and can pass in 15 minutes (more or less). The bands can be felt a day or so before the storm and in some instances, they are very clear to see in the sky. The bands often are full of rain, wind and often times pack tornados. Depending on which side of the storm you are on, the bands can be more deadly then the hurricane itself because of the deadly tornados. This is what happened to Miami about 10 years ago with hurricane Andrew. A band with numerous tornadoes destroyed homestead. Destroyed like a bomb, large area's of homes were literally blown away.
Gasoline is becoming harder to get because either of long lines or stations are sold out. Once this storm passes there may not be gasoline available until the end of next week.
Sept 3
3 AM : Boarding up is now complete, prepared for a hurricane. As it is now, Frances is rolling over the Bahamas and loosing steam. The current wind conditions are 120 MPH.
10 AM: It is a beautiful morning, blue skies and a light breeze. It is a little eerie, because behing these blue skies lies Frances, which has slowed even more to 8 MPH. Though the storm has weekend, the concern now is that because of its decrease in speed it could build its strength. Also, the slower a storm moves, the longer it is over land and that means water, lots of it. We expect 30 inches of rain.
Frances is still moving Northerly and the Forecast puts the eye about 150 miles north of us, so it looks like by tonight or tomorrow morning, 80+ MPH winds and water.
** Video Footage from the Bahamas is showing the hurricane did not wreak havoc on the islands. The storm lost some of its momentum as it approached.
6 PM Update
Wind gusts are picking up and the storm is still crawling along at 5 MPH. It is supposed to get interesting at midnight tonight and wild by sometime Saturday early afternoon. The feeder bands are getting closer and closer together which is a sign that the hurricane is approaching. As I am writing this, a feeder band is moving towards our area.
Sept 4
2:45 PM est: I skipped earlier updates because Frances has been so slow to get here. As of now, we are just outside of Frances. About a 1/2 hour ago, a tree just outside my room was blown over and landed on the building. I have some good pictures of that, opening the front door and their is the top of the tree just outside my doorway. The blessing is, the tree that fell is holding up the other tree next to it.
We have gusts between 50-70 MPH. Some trees have been pushed over and their is a great deal of debree through the general area. As I am writing this, the wind is howling and I can here things bouncing against the building. Since we still have electricity, it is not to bad.
Even better, I still have Internet Connectivity and TV!
Sept 8th
Well this will be the final entry (except the pictures when I upload them). We had no electricity since Saturday and updating the blog became the last priority.
So, on Sunday we made our first drive through the city and electricity was out everywhere, even now as I write this, some 2 million Floridians have no electric including 80% of the city I live in (though I now have electric).
The area around my house has tree's down everywhere, it is not an uncommon site. Stop Lights are out, stores are still closed and I must say it is a little sad. West Palm Beach is under curfew, I got thrown out of circuit city last night because of it. I have lived in Florida my whole life and have never seen devastation in my hometown (except Andrew, but I do not live in Miami).
* By the way, this year our average temp is around 90 degrees F with 70 percent humidity. Without electricity - no air conditioning - try sleeping in 90 degree heat. Their are allot of people in pretty bad moods down here.
But the good news is, there was not a great deal of damage to the homes or businesses in the area! Both my primary and backup facility we knocked offline (They are about 4 miles apart). The primary facility was down about 20 hours or so.
Something interesting did happen the server cam down a few times because of fragmented packets, allot of them. I guess during the storm as the lines were being smashed into tree's it caused allot of chaos to the internet in our area.
So to close, I am working on a new backup facility to move to as they were the first to go down and were down for 4 days.
In storms like this, their are people who are heroic and are never recognized for the work they do. Electricians and Telephone repairmen are the first people out after the storm. These are dangerous times when live electrical wires are in puddles and hidden dangers lurk anywhere and everywhere. These guys work 24-72 hours straight restoring power for the people. It is pretty amazing.
To FPL (Florida Power and Light) and Bellsouth, keep up the good work, a job well done.
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