Are your flood plans adequate?

[George the original one]

First time I've bothered to livewatch a hurricane. It's been interesting seeing how the storm surge advances slowly as Irma works its way up the coast. A lot more subtle & longlasting than I'd realized because the hurricane moves so slowly.

[bryan]

Must be hard to resist to run out into the anti-surge, if you are there.

I just spent some time trying to find an article I read about a year ago describing a low tide walk somewhere in the UK. It was infamous in earlier times for walkers being caught by the incoming tide and losing their way back to shore. The walk sounded very long which combined with poor visibility from weather meant not being able to see any land. I recall that the author mentioned it was also a favorite walk for some author/poet back in the day. Very creepy.. but alas, I can't find it.

[TopHatFox]

And how do the non-car owners proceed with their own evacuation?

I was thinking about how to make a car-less evac. Maybe an e-bike conversion? You could easily bypass gridlock on highways.

You could also car pool with someone getting out early. Or buy a plane ticket early. Maybe even rent-a-car early, or Uber! (lol)

I think the key is simply not living in an area that can suffer from terrible mass weather events. And to have a plan if you do.

RV ultimate survival vehicle?

[George the original one]

At least an e-bike has the minimum speed to outrun a hurricane, but I don't think it has the range to get you from, say, Miami to the panhandle before you're exposed to the elements. Food/water/clothes/sleeping bag is barely adequate when you got to a shelter.

Rental cars at the wrong time, wrong place, are virtually unobtainium. For instance, after an accident the weekend before Labor Day weekend, it took me 4 days to get a rental car. Day 1 they were closed (Sunday), and the next 3 days were spent waiting for a vehicle to become available. So... I certainly won't rely on finding a rental car!

Car pooling is a strong option. You need to network potential rides ahead of time so you have fallbacks if first choice isn't available.

Plane tickets seemed okay as long as you have enough warning and can reach the airport.

RV is, in my opinion, too large. You can't get through tight spots or blaze your own trail and it is very thirsty on the road, especially in hills or stop & go traffic. On the positive side, if you're living in it, you can just take off and keep going well away from the danger zone without leaving precious stuff behind.

If an evacuation is needed, my plan is to walk/ride into town to a shelter (15 miles) or, more likely, skip far away with the car. The new car's full tank range is 450-550 miles (city/hwy) and so far our fuel economy is at the upper end of that range.

[J_]

Living in the Netherlands and bordered by (a part of) the Atlantic Ocean (the North Sea), I am surrounded by "bathtubs" below sea-level, called "polders". Some of them exist over a thousand years, most of them over 400 years some less than 50 years. Emptied during the year by check valves, later by pumps, first windmills, then steam, then diesel, now electric. Those Polders are compartmented, and our sea-dykes, dunes and polder-dykes are permanent reviewed and if necessary renewed/changed. We have, separate from our normal government, a specialized government chosen by land and home owners. Their task is water-management and they apply their knowledge about the newest ways to defend us against rising sea levels and more rainfall. Those waterboards have rights to levy special taxes from every land-or home owner, so that they have enough funding for their task. They have also a task to maintain a minimum water-level in the polders so that agriculture prospers. Nevertheless we are advised by those Waterboards to maintain a minimum reserve of food and water enough for about a fortnight on the first floor or higher to be prepared in the case of flooding.
Added to that I have close by a (motor)boat in which I can live, with a stove, heating, water and food for another fortnight. A boat is rather useless in severe storms, but luckily we have not much of those here.
The last big flooding in our country was in 1953 with a death toll of 1850 people and a lot of cattle. I remember that my parents gave clothing and household stuff for the people who lost their homes.

[enigmaT120]

Was there a movie made about the 1953 flood? I remember seeing one about a flood in the Netherlands when I was a little kid but can't remember if it was a movie, documentary, nor where I saw it.

[J_]

@Enigma:historical film about flooding in The Netherlands in 1953 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XcX5wb1k9UM

[leeholsen]

Buried streams are less of a problem than paved-over swamps. Houston, New Orleans, Miami, D.C. are all paved-over swamps with limited high-ground. They are just big bathtubs waiting to be filled up.

Living in Houston, I can tell you it is not a paved over swamp; it's essentially coastland and it, like most of the gulf coast and Florida have two problems:

1. On average, it's less than 50 feet above sea level for most of these areas until you get about 75 miles inland or better, so there is no real runoff potential for storms.
2. Because of the gulf coast and Florida's location, hurricanes will be a constant threat. The Carolinas and farther north you have to consider hurricanes hitting there unusual; but the gulf coast should expect it.

If I were an insurance company, I would have jacked up everyones rates that are in Florida or within 100 miles of the gulf coast at whatever the highest rate is for beachfront property in hurricane territory. It should be almost detrimental to live in those areas because of the insurance because as you see, they hit hard and it's going to be tough for insurance companies and cost that taxpayers a lot from the federal bailouts.

living there is a big risk, there should be a big cost associated with it.

(and yes, i'm moving away once my parents pass on)