Hurricane Irene Watch Party Thread

[ThrillsNSpills]

everybody the hurricane's coming.
Run out and get all the bottled water you can because it's going to rain for 12 hours straight.

hope everyone's ok. but you're gonna drown from something anyway so try to make it a Guinness.

Is there an entry in the Guinness book of records for someone drinking the most Guinness?

hmmm

[chefcraig]

If I kept my kids in every time we had weather like that, they would never be out.

Just a bit of wind and rain, you're all a bunch of drama queens.

Not really. One of the reasons so many people are without power is due to downed power lines. So yes, it is a generally smart idea to keep people inside and not wandering about tripping over them or frying their skulls out by stepping into a puddle concealing them. Sometimes you simply have to protect people from their own stupidity.

[ThrillsNSpills]

Sometimes you simply have to protect people from their own stupidity.

If that was a paying job I think you just saved the economy.

[Va Beach VH Fan]

Not really. One of the reasons so many people are without power is due to downed power lines.

We have buried power lines, at least in my neighborhood, and we still didn't have power for 28 1/2 hours...

[chefcraig]

We have buried power lines, at least in my neighborhood, and we still didn't have power for 28 1/2 hours...

We don't bother to bury them because our citizenry is so daft, they'd simply dig them up in order to get electrocuted.

[PETE'S BROTHER]

We don't bother to bury them because our citizenry is so daft, they'd simply dig them up in order to get electrocuted.

our tweeker society woulda dug 'em all up by now.

[Little Texan]

We don't bother to bury them because our citizenry is so daft, they'd simply dig them up in order to get electrocuted.

We have geniuses around here that will get electrocuted trying to steal copper from live power lines! There have been many the last few years.

[chefcraig]

our tweeker society woulda dug 'em all up by now.

We have geniuses around here that will get electrocuted trying to steal copper from live power lines! There have been many the last few years.

No kidding, guys. This is from my local paper this morning.

Underground electrical wire target of widespread thievery

By Jennifer Sorentrue, Sun Sentinel

4:58 AM EDT, August 29, 2011


Thieves have cast 33 miles of Interstate 95 into darkness in Palm Beach County by yanking out the underground copper wire needed to power the overhead lighting.

The wire can be sold to metal recycling companies for as much as $3 a pound. State officials say it will cost $200,000 to replace the wiring and install anti-theft devices to prevent thieves from removing it again.

During the past four to six months, state transportation officials say, 18 sites in Palm Beach County have been hit by thieves, who removed 175,000 feet of wire.

"It has been an ongoing problem for a while," said Barbara Kelleher, a spokeswoman for the state's Department of Transportation. "It used to be aluminum being stolen. Now it is copper wiring."

The thefts along I-95 are so rampant that West Palm Beach police put out a media release last month urging drivers to call them or the Florida Highway Patrol if they see vehicles stopped near light poles.

The problem isn't confined to South Florida. Traffic officials across the country have reported similar thefts.

The Institute of Scrap Recycling Industries, a Washington-based trade group, has set up a website where law enforcement officials across the United States and Canada can report thefts and have the information relayed to recycling sites within 100 miles of where the incident occurred.

In Florida, metal recyclers are required to take photos and thumbprints of their customers before buying metals. Local recyclers, who declined to speak on the record, said they work closely with police to help catch thieves.

Since June, the Florida Highway Patrol said it has received at least 15 complaints about wire theft along I-95 from Palm Beach to St. Lucie counties.

The economic downturn is to blame for the recent uptick in thefts, FHP spokesman Lt. Tim Frith said.

"Obviously, the economy has driven this," Frith said. "It does present itself as a kind of crime of convenience."

Palm Beach County engineer George Webb said the county had three sections of lights along Southern Boulevard and SR 7 hit by thieves 18 months ago. To help curb the problem, the county began installing anti-theft devices in light posts in vulnerable areas, Webb said.

"Nowadays when somebody sees a complete series of lights out, my first speculation would be that the cable has been stolen," Webb said.

The light posts are connected by large sections of underground copper wire. Boxes on the side of the posts or in the ground between each unit make the wire an easy target for thieves, officials say. The thefts occur during the daylight, when the lights are off and the wires are not live.

Frith said that posts along the interstate are more vulnerable because drivers travel at such high speeds that criminals go unnoticed, or passers-by don't make the connection.

"A passing motorist might think that person just broke down," Frith said. "Anyone that is out there working, there should be some type of warning to passing motorists that work is occurring."

[FORD]

If I kept my kids in every time we had weather like that, they would never be out.

Just a bit of wind and rain, you're all a bunch of drama queens.

You're lucky I don't have the power to change this thread title...

Yeah, for all the hype of how bad this storm was going to be, the actual results don't look much worse than the storm I drove through in December 2007 to get to the Van Halen concert.

And I swear I saw animals walking in pairs along the side of the road for that one.....

[FORD]

everybody the hurricane's coming.
Run out and get all the bottled water you can because it's going to rain for 12 hours straight.

hope everyone's ok. but you're gonna drown from something anyway so try to make it a Guinness.

Is there an entry in the Guinness book of records for someone drinking the most Guinness?

hmmm

There would have been, but I was too drunk to remember to phone it in

[Va Beach VH Fan]

I still don't understand...

Were 25 deaths not enough ?? Is every hurricane nowadays gonna be compared to Katrina??

Millions without power, floods all over the place, damages in the billions....

[ThrillsNSpills]

I still don't understand...

Were 25 deaths not enough ?? Is every hurricane nowadays gonna be compared to Katrina??

Millions without power, floods all over the place, damages in the billions....

Nobody's making light of the tragedy, just the sensationalism in the media while I'm trying to figure out what's actually happening. Here they would run a crawl during a TV show warning about a "puddle alert" and it was to shake people up so they'd watch the news, it wasn't about safety, wasn't even a big storm (this happened in the 90's). So when something big happens, it's almost like the boy who cried wolf. I'm not trying to watch 3 hours of fearmongering just to find out what I have to do to be safe.

[ThrillsNSpills]

We have geniuses around here that will get electrocuted trying to steal copper from live power lines! There have been many the last few years.

We call that natural selection in motion.

[Va Beach VH Fan]

The only part of the meteorologists' coverage that they overestimated was the strength as it passed Virginia....

We got "close" to hurricane strength winds, but by the time it hit Jersey, it was already down to a Tropical Storm...

Not that it stopped the storm from causing billions more in damages though...

[SunisinuS]

You could see it was touching land and so lost it's strength. Sorry Just a pilot here. Hope those that are affected find their way.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-s3KgXkjUUY&feature=related