To Those Where Hurricane Irma Will Hit

[draynay]

NOT that I'm disputing what you're saying (afterall you live there) but surely the BAD earthquakes are worse than the BAD fires?

There's only been one in my lifetime, the fires are a yearly occurrence.

[Enthusiastic Steward]

If you'll humour me then, "Yes the bad earthquakes ARE worse than the bad fires but they only happen once in a hundred years" is the reason people are more concerned about fires?

Basically yes, that is correct. Wildfires are an almost annual occurrence, to some degree or another. Earthquakes also happen with some frequency, but most are minor and a non-issue.
Another way to look at it is when a minor earthquake happens, there's some rumbling, maybe something falls off a shelf, and then its done and over (aftershocks from minor quakes are negligible, if felt at all). When a minor wildfire happens, its an ongoing thing and requires continuous efforts and resources to contain, can rapidly change direction, and are in a constant nebulous state of flux. Its not like when a minor earthquake happens response teams have to be deployed each and every time to keep it from growing into a major earthquake; this is the case with wildfires.

[Yvaelle]

@Arikan

I do like the idea of an emergency team out there during a minor earthquake trying to sooth the earth and calm it down by lullabying the earth back to sleep. But then Leroy makes a loud horrible noise, and the Earth wakes back up angrier than before - and that's where major earthquakes come from: fucking Leroy.

[Enthusiastic Steward]

@Arikan

I do like the idea of an emergency team out there during a minor earthquake trying to sooth the earth and calm it down by lullabying the earth back to sleep. But then Leroy makes a loud horrible noise, and the Earth wakes back up angrier than before - and that's where major earthquakes come from: fucking Leroy.

Leroy is just trying to help!

[Orby]

Most wooden houses can take up to a cat 3 pretty well, even a cat 4. It's the cat 5 hurricanes that destroy wooden houses and they're rare.

And even a masonry house will lose it's roof and all that rain will ruin everything inside.

I will never understand the idea around wooden housing for you Americans... You thought about using brick, the one country that will probably need brick housing and you never do :P

I guess it has to do with your temperature climate, and no one in America needs double insulated brick housing unless you wanna melt within :P

Regardless, to those out there. Keep safe

[Independent voter]

I will never understand the idea around wooden housing for you Americans... You thought about using brick, the one country that will probably need brick housing and you never do :P

I guess it has to do with your temperature climate, and no one in America needs double insulated brick housing unless you wanna melt within :P

Regardless, to those out there. Keep safe

I don't know if masonry homes even get a discount on their insurance. A hurricane is going to tear the roof off a masonry house and with 32" of rain, which is often the case, everything inside is going to get soaked.

[Rasulis]

I somehow doubt there would be catastophic failure even with a Cat 5 on many man-made structures. A reinforced cement loft with boarded windows just won't get damaged to a significant extend at the low range of Cat5

I should have been more specific and said framed structures. Yes, reinforced concrete & brick, and steel structures are in a different category. The scale was developed by Saffir during a study of low-cost housing in hurricane-prone areas. So the scale is based on wind speed that showed expected damage on wood framed structures.

[Molis]

I will never understand the idea around wooden housing for you Americans... You thought about using brick, the one country that will probably need brick housing and you never do :P

I guess it has to do with your temperature climate, and no one in America needs double insulated brick housing unless you wanna melt within :P

Regardless, to those out there. Keep safe

I do not have any hurricane experience. However a brick house would crack open like an egg in a California Earthquake.
I will keep my wooden one

[Orby]

I do not have any hurricane experience. However a brick house would crack open like an egg in a California Earthquake.
I will keep my wooden one

yes I guess Earthquakes would kinda be a bummer if the wall of your house fell in on you lol. You make a good point in that case haha

Worst storm we had here was the Great Storm of 1987 here in the UK, the infamous Michael Fish weather report storm. Think that was a cyclone though. I was only 6 years old when that happened, and that was scary enough

I even caught Monsoon season while staying at the Maldives in 1994, and we all took shelter in a building made from straw and wood... Wanna see some flying deck chairs that was probably the scariest stuff. :P

[Frolk]

Should start building these in areas that get hurricans often.

[Fluffernut]

So if hurricanes struck areas with sturdier structures there would be a point to have additional categories since there would be thresholds of wind speed when even those structures would be damaged, ergo expanding the scale to cover those possibilities should have some merit.

I am not suggesting it should, I am just saying that categorically denying that expanding this taxonomy as pointless, when there is scientific value in its expansion, even if improbable, should be avoided. An effect scale like the Mercalli scale could theoretically be expanded to cover all natural disasters after all and pragmatically speaking the best measure of natural disasters is distinctly unitary; the time-adjusted value of damages incurred.

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A reinforced concrete house could certainly handle a Californian earthquake.

Yes. I lived in a reinforced concrete house on Guam. Made it through a 60 second 8.2 earthquake with nary a crack.

[Rasulis]

So if hurricanes struck areas with sturdier structures there would be a point to have additional categories since there would be thresholds of wind speed when even those structures would be damaged, ergo expanding the scale to cover those possibilities should have some merit.

I am not suggesting it should, I am just saying that categorically denying that expanding this taxonomy as pointless, when there is scientific value in its expansion, even if improbable, should be avoided. An effect scale like the Mercalli scale could theoretically be expanded to cover all natural disasters after all and pragmatically speaking the best measure of natural disasters is distinctly unitary; the time-adjusted value of damages incurred.

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A reinforced concrete house could certainly handle a Californian earthquake.

Probably. Although a hurricane strong enough to raze down a reinforced concrete or steel frame building will pretty much sweep the entire region clean. There will be nothing left standing.

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I will never understand the idea around wooden housing for you Americans... You thought about using brick, the one country that will probably need brick housing and you never do :P

I guess it has to do with your temperature climate, and no one in America needs double insulated brick housing unless you wanna melt within :P

Regardless, to those out there. Keep safe

Wood is much cheaper.

Bricks require skilled labor. Not a lot of skilled brick layers around anymore outside of the Midwest.

Bricks, even reinforced bricks, performed poorly in an earthquake.

[PACOX]

Theres been lines for gas since last night. We have rain in the forecast until the storm hits. Its going to be a gray week. The storm shouldn't be tooo bad in most areas, dealing with power outages and clean up will suck.

Theres another hurricane behind Jose....That usually means it will curve up and away but this season is looking like 2004 (or 2005 whatever year it was) where storms did follow each other...Didnt have power for weeks then and lots of take out/fast food.

[Ham on Rye]

lol a 5.0 earthquake? So, your desk rattled around a bit and maybe some stuff fell of shelves?

No, the second floor of the building I was in shook pretty well. The epicenter was closeby. But that's my point - the surprise factor gets you and makes them very scary, especially for people who aren't used to it.

[Lahis]

Yeah that's why I said improbable I wonder if we have had hurricanes historically that had such strength.

Has Earth ever been much warmer? The warmer the seawater is, the stronger the hurricanes.


In other news, Katia and Jose are now Cat 1 Hurricanes. Katia is going in circles in the Gulf near Mexico's coast and Jose is heading west from the Atlantic, following Irma.

[Tierbook]

Has Earth ever been much warmer? The warmer the seawater is, the stronger the hurricanes.


In other news, Katia and Jose are now Cat 1 Hurricanes. Katia is going in circles in the Gulf near Mexico's coast and Jose is heading west from the Atlantic, following Irma.

The most recent model has Jose crossing the Bahamas into the Gulf of Mexico as a Cat 2 or 3 at 240 hours.

[Lahis]

The most recent model has Jose crossing the Bahamas into the Gulf of Mexico as a Cat 2 or 3 at 240 hours.

Hello Houston? You need some more water?

[THE Bigzoman]

Theres been lines for gas since last night. We have rain in the forecast until the storm hits. Its going to be a gray week. The storm shouldn't be tooo bad in most areas, dealing with power outages and clean up will suck.

Theres another hurricane behind Jose....That usually means it will curve up and away but this season is looking like 2004 (or 2005 whatever year it was) where storms did follow each other...Didnt have power for weeks then and lots of take out/fast food.

Bro,

I just got into Atlanta after 14 hours. I-75 is congested as shit. Wasn't any gas for miles except for the hood in Tampa. Had people literally camping out at gas pumps waiting for the trucks to arrive in the early AM hours.

Shit might only get worse if other counties are told to evacuate.

[Dextroden]

Bro,

I just got into Atlanta after 14 hours. I-75 is congested as shit. Wasn't any gas for miles except for the hood in Tampa. Had people literally camping out at gas pumps waiting for the trucks to arrive in the early AM hours.

Shit might only get worse if other counties are told to evacuate.

It's not just evacuation. It's also everyone stocking up for generators and whatever else needs gas. It's guaranteed to get worse judging by Jacksonville.

[ComputerNerd]

I never understood why government ever allowed houses to be built in flood zones.

Finite amount of space.
People have to go somewhere.

It's literally impossible for it to be a Category 6.

I would hope so, but if the trend is upwards then something beyond the current anticipated limits should be considered a very real possibility.
The conditions anticipated with those categories perhaps aren't reflecting what we are seeing now.