Hurricanes - Advice and prep

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Hurricane Advice and Prep

All about hurricanes and how to prepare for them

Overview

Considered the most powerful meteorological force on earth, hurricanes bring high winds, torrential rains and devastating storm surges. Freighters get tossed about like toys. Buildings wash away in a period of minutes. Strange objects become impaled in trees. Even the very nature of the seafloor is altered. If that wasn’t bad enough, hurricanes also spawn lightning, tornados and widespread flooding? Welcome to sunny South Florida!

It’s not THAT the wind is blowing - it’s WHAT the wind

is blowing.

It's Gonna Be a Long Decade...

In the Atlantic basin, a normal season average 10 named storms. After the past few brutal years, most Floridians would be happy to for an “just an average” year. As numerous meteorologists have noted, we are entering a natural period of increased hurricane activity, one that is expected to last a decade or more.

Hurricane Season
Hurricane season officially runs from June 1st to November 30th, though on occasion hurricanes have occurred outside of this window. The peak of hurricane season is early September.

The severity of hurricanes is driven by three factors. The first two are obvious, wind-speed and geographic size (or footprint). The third factor is related to the speed of the hurricane itself as it. A slow moving hurricane that lingers over a particular spot tends to do more damage to that location than an equivalent fast moving storm. Note that the state of the tide at the time of landfall can also affect the outcome – at high tide the storm surge may do more damage.

Saffir-Simpson Scale

"Cone Of Death"
Modern computer weather models, along with satellite imagery and long range aerial reconnaissance, enable forecasters to identify storms well out at sea as they form. Warnings are measured in days, not hours. While forecasters cannot yet predict the exact landfall of a given storm, they can and do identify the potential storm track with high reliability, even if this track encompasses a fairly wide area – the so-called “Cone of Death.”

Furthermore, today’s mass media widely disseminates storm forecasts. As storms approach, local channels switch to 24-hour coverage. Indeed you’d have to be a blind hermit living in a cave to get caught unawares. Local TV and radio stations, cable news, the Weather Channel and numerous websites all provide ongoing updates. Onboard your boat you can monitor the NOAA marine weather forecasts by VHF. It has almost gotten to the point of information overload. Ninety percent of the info being broadcast is derived from the National Hurricane Center. Simply go to their website and get the info straight from the horse’s mouth.

The National Hurricane Center
www.nhc.noaa.gov

You can also check the weather channel and NOAA marina forecasts. The bottom line is this – hurricanes are NEVER a surprise. The only unknowns are the exact point of landfall and the final intensity as the storm reaches land.

Hurricane Prep

Hurricane provisioning should be done at the start of hurricane season. Do not wait until the last moment when panic sets it and supplies run low - especially lumber, bottled water, batteries, cooking fuel and such. For boaters, the same advice goes for critical items like anchors, chain and dock lines.

Securing Your Boat
Rule number one, never attempt to ride out a hurricane on your boat. Boats are replaceable, people are not.

The best possible place for your vessel is on dry land, well in from the coast. If you can move your boat ashore, by all means do so. If you can fit it in a garage, that is ideal. If outside, make sure to firmly lash down your boat and trailer. Dinghies and such can be filled with water to prevent them from blowing away.

Ropes blocking canal click to enlarge

The highest recorded storm surge was 42 feet during

the Bathurst Bay Hurricane of 1899 in Australia!

Assuming that your boat will remain in water, your task will be more difficult due to the developed nature of the ICW in southern Florida. There are precious few hurricane holes to anchor in. The reality is you will probably have to locate a slip, not always an easy thing to do in these parts. The further inland your slip, the better.

Note too that once a formal evacuation is announced, drawbridges will be under lockdown to facilitate automobile traffic. These lockdown schedules are broadcast along with normal storm alerts. As the storm gets closer many boaters run dock lines from their vessels completely across the canal - at this point you may be hemmed in regardless of the status of nearby bridges.

The basics of securing your boat are as follows. Double or even triple all lines. Use chafe gear wherever lines rub against the dock, seawall or your boat. Use of snubbers can also help. Putting out an anchor, even while in your slip, can provide additional stability. Same with running lines to sturdy points along shore. The goal is to prevent your boat from slamming against pilings, seawalls, other boats or anything else that could cause damage.

It’s a little bit of a Catch-22 situation – you want to allow more slack for the increased tide/surge, but at the same time less slack so that your vessel doesn’t slam into nearby objects. It is for this very reason many boaters move their boats out into the center of the canal and run lines across to land on both side. This allows more room (slack/stretch in the lines) for the boat to move with the increased tide/surge while at the same time providing a greater safe distance around the boat free of objects that could cause damage (seawalls, pilings, other boats etc.).

In terms of gear and equipment, remove all items from on deck and secure them inside or take ashore. This includes biminis and dodgers, sails, eisenglass, antennas, outriggers etc. Anything that can’t be moved from deck should be firmly secured. Batteries should be fully charged, bilge pumps checked and in good working order and all seacocks closed. Shut off all electrical circuits with the exception of the bilge pumps. Batten down all hatches and make sure to keep your vessel documentation with you, not on the boat in case the worst happens.

Storm Definitions

Hurricane: Tropical cyclone with sustained winds of 74 mph or more.

Hurricane season: June 1st to November 30th

Hurricane Watch: An announcement for specific coastal areas that hurricane conditions are possible within 36 hours.

Hurricane Warning: Hurricane conditions are expected in specified coastal area within 24 hours or less.

Storm Tide: The actual level of seawater resulting from the astronomical tide combined with the storm surge.

Storm Surge: An abnormal rise in sea level accompanying a hurricane or other intense storm.

Tropical Depression: A tropical cyclone with maximum sustained winds of 38 mph or less

Tropical Storm: Tropical cyclone with maximum sustained winds 39 to 73 mph

Tropical Storm Watch: An announcement for specific coastal area that tropical storm conditions are possible within 36 hours.

Tropical Storm Warning: An announcement for specific coastal area that tropical storm conditions are expected within 24 hours or less.

Dangerous side of the hurricane: Generally the right side of the storm where the counter clockwise circular winds are amplified by the forward movement of the hurricane.

One Last Piece of Advice
If you can, the best choice may be to "get the hell out of Dodge"


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