Musings from Myrtle Beach

Last Updated: 7:50 PM GMT on August 23, 2012

	August 23, 2012

Posted by: MBSCEOCHam, 7:50 PM GMT on August 23, 2012

Good afternoon all. This blog is going cover general musings/preperations/etc. about tropical systems in general and any named storms that could potentially affect the East Coast.

If you ask "What was the last major hurricane to impact Myrtle Beach?", you'll most often get Hugo [1989] or Floyd [1999] as replies. And they're both wrong. Hugo was a strong Cat 1 or weak Cat 2 in Myrtle Beach. Floyd was a strong Tropical Storm here. The last major hurricane to impact Myrtle Beach was Hazel [1954]. That's not to minimize the effects of the damage both those storms caused. It's just to emphasize that while they were major storms, they were not major storms here.

And now we have Isaac between the Lesser Antilles and Hispanola. I know what the models are saying and what the NHC is saying. I also know gut instinct and history. Looking back at projected paths and what actually happened, more than 75% of the time, the path shifts to the right as the recurve begins.

Even though any effects of Isaac are 6-7 days away, being self employed, and being on duty at the EOC [Emergency Operations Center] means it's time to start thinking about preparing.

I have a mental checklist of what to bring with me from home [i.e. the stuff that insurance cannot replace]. Today I'm making notes of where it's located. They will get packed into watertight plastic totes, then placed into large, heavy duty garbage bags, and get sealed with duct tape and then in the car. That won't happen until the storm is 3-4 days out. What kind of stuff can't insurance replace? Autographed books, signed and numbered limited edition artwork, photographs. Even though I have scanned all my photos and my parent's wedding album into digital, there are still certain pictures where the original comes with me.

My computer is backed up to an external hard drive. I back it up once a month. If it looks like Isaac will be a threat then I'll do a backup on Sunday night. Monday morning the hard drive will be in the mail to a friend about 1500 miles away. Overkill? Maybe, but as the cumputer and the hard drive have my business records, as well as all my photos, it's a reasonable precaution. Even though the computer comes with me to the EOC, the fact that the external drive is out of harms way does wonders for peace of mind.

The last thing I do when a storm is this far out is to start filling up whenever I reach half a tank of gas.

Hope to see y'all tomorrow.

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About MBSCEOCHam:

I'm a General Class ham operator stationed at the Myrtle Beach EOC during storms. In real life I'm a pro photographer/freelance writer and wx junkie.

My Local Weather:

Myrtle Beach, South Carolina

61 °F

Clear

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