Friday, June 22, 2012

Storm Warning


We have enjoyed extraordinary luck with weather since our community began in 2006. A current mass of developing weather in the Gulf of Mexico has some potential to change that.

It will also serve as a good reminder to make storm preparations.

The National Hurricane Center says that the disturbance shown in the image above has a 70% chance of becoming a tropical system, and weather forecasters say that most computer models show the storm moving east toward Florida over the weekend.

Even if it does not grow into a hurricane or strong tropical storm, forecasts call for anywhere from 4-7" of rain over the weekend. High winds could come, too.

If you have patio furniture or decorations on patios or porches that could blow away, you might want to secure them or bring them inside. Rains will test the capacity of our storm drains and retention ponds. We've had rains here, but nothing close to what forecasts call for now.

We have no reason to expect problems but you should beware of the weather, and make plans in case we lose water and electric service. Although the community has a property manager paid to help us, it manages other communities, and if those suffer damage and outages, too, it will take a while for us to get attention. Same with other emergency services.

Some tips: Stock up on bottled water, non-perishable food, a NON-electric can opener, batteries, flashlights, and a battery-powered radio. They also make radios with hand cranks that recharge them so you don't need batteries. These radios can even charge other devices like cell phones.

You probably won't need them, but better to keep them handy, and know where they are, then to presume that our good luck will continue, and face real problems when you haven't prepared if the luck turns bad.

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