Sfdebris.net

Hurricane Irma is an “extremely dangerous” Category 5, barreling toward the northern Lesser Antilles and Southern Florida. It’s already the strongest hurricane ever recorded outside the Caribbean and the Gulf of Mexico, and it’s likely to make landfall somewhere in Florida over the weekend.

If it does, the impact could be catastrophic.

The storm is life-threatening for the United States, including Puerto Rico, the U.S. and British Virgin Islands, the Dominican Republic, Haiti, Cuba and the southeastern Bahamas. Hurricane warnings have been issued for the northern Leeward Islands, Virgin Islands, and Puerto Rico. A hurricane watch is in effect for Hispaniola and southeastern Bahamas.

With maximum winds of 185 mph, Irma is tied for the second strongest storm ever observed in the Atlantic. And in its Tuesday morning discussion, the National Hurricane Center said the storm is in an environment “ideal for some additional intensification.”

LittleRaven wrote: Sidenote: what do we call ourselves again? Debrisers? That sounds terrible.

Rocketboy1313 wrote:I live in Florida and the line of best fit has the storm passing directly over my town sometime before midnight on Sunday.
There is a non-zero chance my childhood home (my current home) will be destroyed or heavily damaged by the storm in much the way hurricane Charley tore up our roof when it obliterated an area 8 miles south of me.

I am anxious, mostly having to do with the irony of the whole situation. I just got offered a job with the city government's planning department. The idea that my home town would be destroyed just as I was about to get a job working there makes for a sick sort of joke at my expense played by the universe. I am sure there are these sorts of stories at the ground zero of any disaster, war zone, or terrorist attack, but my pessimist nature has had me wondering when the punchline would come for me my entire life.

I am not happy about any of this.

for those of you who might need to evacuate: pack clothes/towels/electronics/excess food/candles/first aid kits/etc in your car before the storm hits so if you have to evacuate you have access to them

for those of you with pets, if you end up absolutely stranded and need food, pet food will do (its not very nutritious and it tastes awful but its better than starving to death, probably)

climb to the roof in case of flooding, try not to stay inside (unless its extremely windy/dangerous to be outside otherwise, of course)

if youre inside of a car while there is flooding, the doors/windows will vacuum seal shut from pressure/weight so roll down the windows and try to escape from those, or open the door with the windows down asap

if all the stores are sold out of water, buying soda/gatorade/whatever will do in a pinch. its not as good but its better than dying of dehydration

get candles/first aid kits/weather radios/whatever you need of course

make sure you have easy access to your pets before the storm starts, if you have to evacuate you can grab them considerably easier if theyre out and about than if theyre hiding under the bed or something. be aware of where your pets are and keep them close. getting your pets chipped might be a good idea if you still have time to do so

place smaller electronics/things that can be water damaged in a double ziplock-ed bag or any other waterproof container

make sure your critical medication is easily accessible in case you need to evacuate so you arent stuck without it

learn your evacuation routes

dont bother to donate to the red cross, there are plenty of better organizations that help more

feel free to add/correct any information, im kind of making this in a rush because im preparing for the storm myself

Fuzzy Necromancer wrote: for those of you with pets, if you end up absolutely stranded and need food...