Hurricane Isabel

[Boy Wonder]

Oh boy. However, this storm can't be as bad, though it will still be bad. Right now it is a level 5, but it will be 3 or 4 when on land. Anyone opinions, questions, comments, concerns, rants, or praises?

[Mek]

I live in Maryland, right near where it's going to hit.

Personally, I'm not afraid.

I've gone through several horrid storms when I lived in Florida, so I guess that's why I'm not to scared about this one. At the worst, I'll probably have to evacuate /w the family for a day or so. Hell, maybe we'll be staying at the house and the least there'll be power outages.

Ahh well. But that's just me.

[Joe Mama]

I used to live in Maryland, until I turned nine years old, and now I live in Florida. I thought this was gonna hit me, but now my heart goes out to my former home.

[Blue]

I live in charolet,nc right smack dab where it's gunna hit! New's is saying this could be worse then hugo i was only 2 at the time but from what i'v read it was really bad my cousin in puerto rico called a few hours ago his place in gone.!

Here's the cnn news story.

If the hurricane's path remains unchanged, the U.S. Navy will order its Middle Atlantic ships out to sea, perhaps as soon as Tuesday, according to Navy officials. The current track projects the storm to hit the Middle Atlantic area Thursday.

The National Hurricane Center's latest advisory, issued at 11 a.m. EDT Monday, rated Isabel as a Category 4 hurricane, with maximum sustained winds of near 140 mph (220 km/h), about 15 mph (24 km/h) slower than they were late Sunday.

Isabel has slowed its forward speed to 8 mph (13 km/h) and appeared to be beginning an expected turn to the northwest after maintaining a relatively steady track to the west-northwest for several days.

That northwest turn would aim the storm at the U.S. coast, most likely making landfall near North Carolina's Outer Banks.

U.S. Navy and Air Force commanders are considering activating hurricane evacuation plans for military ships and aircraft as Isabel approaches.

If plans are activated, hundreds of fighter jets, transport planes and helicopters would be sent to inland bases, and ships would be ordered to sail to safety outside Isabel's projected path.

Military officials said that the storm is too strong to risk leaving ships in port or aircraft tied down at coastal bases and that it would be safer to move them out. Military weather forecasters are watching the track of the storm so they can advise commanders about possible evacuations.

"It's a little too early to know whether we're going to have a direct hit on the Eastern U.S., but it's increasingly likely that the area from the Mid-Atlantic to the Northeast will be affected by Isabel," said Ed Rappaport, the National Hurricane Center's deputy director.

Isabel is about 780 miles (1,248 kilometers) south-southeast of Cape Hatteras, North Carolina, and about 505 miles (815 kilometers) east of Nassau, Bahamas, according to the hurricane center's latest advisory.

The hurricane has twice reached the Category 5 threshold of 156 mph (250 km/h), but forecasters said the storm likely would experience a gradual weakening before landfall. Category 5 is the most powerful hurricane rating on the Saffir-Simpson scale of strength.

Forecasters said the storm could be a Category 3, with winds as high as 130 mph (208 km/h) when it comes ashore, and was unlikely to be much less powerful.

Category 3 storms are capable of doing structural damage to homes and buildings and blowing down large trees. Low-lying escape routes are cut by rising water at least three hours before the eye of the hurricane hits.

But Rappaport said that minor fluctuations in strength would make little difference in Isabel's effects.

"Once you get to a Category 3 or higher, you can expect extensive damage and adding 5 mph or taking away 5 mph is not going to change that," he said. "This will be one of the strongest storms seen in the landfall area in the last several decades."

The hurricane center warned that large ocean swells and dangerous surf conditions were likely over parts of the Greater and Lesser Antilles, the Turks and Caicos Islands, and the Bahamas over the next several days. Those surf conditions also were predicted to affect the Southeastern U.S. coast.

National Hurricane Center Director Max Mayfield advised residents on the East Coast to take time to check their hurricane plans and know what to do should Isabel strike their communities.


Mark Twisdale carries a piece of plywood as he prepares his vacation home in Atlantic Beach, North Carolina, for Isabel's possible arrival.
People from the Carolinas to Long Island, New York, and New Jersey are not taking any chances.

"I went online last night to get the preparedness kit and downloaded it to see what we needed," one North Carolina man told CNN.

Southeastern retailers reported that residents are stocking up on supplies, according to The Associated Press.

"They don't want to get caught with their pants down," Steve Myers, co-manager of a lumber store in Georgetown, South Carolina, told the AP. Despite higher plywood prices, Myers told the AP that prices are still "cheaper than a $300 window." (Full story)

The last Category 5 hurricane to strike the United States was Andrew in 1992.

Rappaport said the Isabel's strength -- and the relative inexperience in dealing with strong hurricanes -- could pose problems.

"We don't have many people who have gone through that," he said. "The people who went through Andrew went through Hugo, but we haven't had a major hurricane of this strength since those two hit the United States."

Andrew -- which stands as the costliest natural disaster in U.S. history -- killed 58 people in Florida and Louisiana and caused $26.5 billion in damage, according to the National Weather Service.

Hurricane Hugo came ashore as a Category 4 storm in South Carolina in September 1989, devastating Charleston, ripping through Charlotte, North Carolina, and then tracking well inward over western Virginia, through the Midwest and Great Lakes area and into Canada as it diminished.

It was the second-costliest hurricane in U.S. history, causing $7 billion in damage and killing 60 people, according to the weather service.

Hurricane Floyd, which had dropped to a Category 2 status by the time it came ashore in South Carolina in 1999, was the third costliest hurricane, at $4.5 billion, according to the weather service. The deaths of 47 people were attributed to the storm.

In 1996, Fran, a Category 3 hurricane, made landfall in North Carolina. It caused $3.2 billion in damage and killed more than 30 people, the weather service said.

[Weatherman]

Being another resident of Maryland I too share mek's concern about where this one's going. Fidures too, one of my cousin's is getting married this weekend over on the easter shore and I'm planing to go to the Maryland football game. Still better then having it blow through this past weekend though when i was at the Springsteen concert.

[Red2]

Bring it on!

*puts up dukes*

[Clayface]

I'm another Maryland resident, and I'm kind of excited about the prospect of it blowing through here. But I'm not too worried about it (I do originally come from tornado country afterall).

[pabcool]

I'm also from Maryland, but thankfully not near the coast, so it won't be too bad.

[Krypton710]

Im a bit on the worried side considering I live pretty close to the coast :sweat: but most likely this whole thing will blow over with no major problems alot of thimes when things get this hyped up it ends up being little to nothing of a problem

[Artemis]

I'm also from Maryland, but thankfully not near the coast, so it won't be too bad.

Same here, but did you see the news? They showed a picture of what the hurricane over Maryland would look like. It was all over the entire state, including parts of Virginia! :eek:

[Squall]

I read on one weather website that Hurricane Isabel has the area of the State of Louisiana... that's an enormous (and dangerous) storm!

On a superficial note, will this hurricane have any impact on Week 3 of the NFL? What if the Panthers, Redskins, and Ravens have home games scheduled for that weekend? Do you think the NFL would postpone, or outright cancel, these games?

[Blue]

It would be cool to go threw a hurricane gain.

[Carolina Red]

I'm about three hours or so from Dare County, the first county in North Carolina that has received evacuation orders. Dare County is located on the Outer Banks. I actually went there a few months ago; it's a great place to take a vacation to, even better than Wilmington (NC).

It's looking like the winds and rain will not be too serious here in Raleigh as it will be on the Outer Banks, but Isabel will have a strong impact on the weather here. The odds are very good that we will still see a great amount of rain this upcoming Thursday, when it is expected to hit. And we're not the only ones in the area that will be impacted - the Tidewater region (Norfolk-Virginia Beach) is much closer to the center of the impact zone, so it will get a greater amount of rain and wind than other large cities in the area. Charlotte and Richmond will probably get a great amount of rain too.

[Mek]

I'm another Maryland resident, and I'm kind of excited about the prospect of it blowing through here. But I'm not too worried about it (I do originally come from tornado country afterall).


Another one from Tornado Alley? Cool!

Heh, I used to live in Nebraska for a long time before I moved to Florida. :sweat: So I guess huge storms don't really bother me that much these days. ^^;

[Boy Wonder]

Well, good news! It is a level 2! The storm is disorganized, and it losing punch by the second! So, even if it is still a hurricane, opinions changed?

[Killtacular]

It will pick up again once it nears land.

[DarkPoet89]

I live in the New Jersey area and just heard that it's going to hit hard on Friday morning. Hopefully it won't be as bad as the hurricane that hit a couple of years ago. That one broke a dam and flooded all the streets in my town! I remember wanting to swim in the streets, but I couldn't because I had a sprained foot.

[SilverKnight]

Gah. Hurricane Isabel.

Crap.

Thank God I don't live near OC anymore. Well, even if we did, we would all probably board up the house, pack up and go stay with family somewhere in Baltimore for a few days. Ugh. Hurricanes SUCK.

[Bubblegum Girl]

I'm a little nervous because my parents are always out and I don't want them getting in a car crash during a storm and I don't want the hurricane trashing my car.

[Maxie Zeus]

I lived in Durham, NC, back in 1996 when Hurricane Fran went through. Durham is inland quite a bit, so we got far from the full brunt of the storm. I spent a good part of the night on campus working, which is when the major part of the storm went through, and I really didn't notice much. Drove home about 1:00am and the wind was really hard and there was lots of water coming down, but it didn't seem bad.

However, don't confuse the nastiness of the actual experience with the aftermath. It was a wreck. Trees down everywhere, power out, stores cleaned out. A bunch of the other grad students and I wound up basically camping out in the department and sharing stuff. One of our group had a near encounter, in that the storm blew down an enormous tree that was on their property, and it narrowly missed taking out a big chunk of the house they were sharing. Even months later -- I mean months later -- crews hadn't gotten around to cleaning it out, and we had an end-of-semester party in the backyard with the trunk of this four-foot-diameter tree laying almost on top of the patio.

Heh, Clayface and I have basically switched places. I'm living in Norman, OK, now. :D

[Squall]

The U.S. Government's emergency department, FEMA, estimates that up to 50 million Americans will be directly affected by Hurricane Isabel (given its unusual size, strength, and its path going directly into the highly populated areas of the eastern U.S.). Are you part of that 50 million?

P.S. -- 50 million people is almost 1/6 of the U.S. total population (which was 270 million people in 2000)... Whoa.

[Brainiac]

I guess it's hard for me to really understand what it'd be like to have to evacuate your home/worry about the hurricane and its effects (I live in Los Angeles...), but my hopes and best wishes to all those in the area that nothing bad happens!

-Brainiac

[Blue]

I'v been in on's of hurrican's but this one is really sartin to scare me alot just finished preparing our supplies but now we gotta go into raligh to see if we can try and find my brotherand cousin's. Man i am going to love this storm...still thestte of emergency does kinda frek me ou but hey it's just a hurricane. :D

[Boy Wonder]

Well, I hope the North Carolina people and anyone north or south are OK. Besides, the NJ Shore will get whacked hard, and NY will get different chunks at different areas.

[Blue]

My god it's hsorrible outside the rain is hitting our truck really hard i hope my bro dosent crash.